Jay-Z to replace Beastie Boys in U.S. festival debut

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Rapper Jay-Z will replace headliners the Beastie Boys at the 2009 All Points West Music & Arts Festival in New Jersey next weekend in his first U.S. festival debut.

Organizers tapped Jay-Z to replace the Beastie Boys after founding member Adam "MCA" Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland. The band was forced to cancel other summer tour dates and delayed the release of its forthcoming album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part 1."

The July 31-Aug 2 festival will mark Jay-Z's first music festival performance in the United States although he a headliner at the 2008 Pemberton Festival in Pemberton, British Columbia. Other major festival appearances last year included the U.K.'s Glastonbury, Denmark's Roskilde Festival, Norway's Hove Festival and London's O2 Wireless Festival.

Other artists confirmed for the second annual All Points West are Coldplay, Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello, Echo & The Bunnymen, MGMT, MSTRKRFT, the Black Keys, Fleet Foxes, Neko Case, the Ting Tings, the National, Silversun Pickups and Arctic Monkeys, among others.

In light of the Beastie Boys' cancellation, organizers are offering refunds at point of purchase for July 31 single-day tickets only, according to a news release.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant at Reuters)