A gay old time without Sinead

Irish singer Sinead O’Connor is dropping out of most of the gay pop-themed Wotapalava Festival, Launch.com reports. O’Connor attributed her withdrawal from the tour to unforeseen family commitments. She is in discussions to perform at a handful of the tour’s stops. The Pet Shop Boys, a reunited Soft Cell, Rufus Wainwright and the Magnetic Fields headline the tour, which will start July 13 in Miami and end Aug. 11 in Woodlands, Texas. “The idea of the festival came about a couple of years ago during a conversation with Elton John,” the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant said Thursday in a statement. “Wouldn’t it be great to put together a bill of out gay performers? Who would agree to do it? Would the performers have anything in common apart from their sexuality in this sort of Lollaplooza-with-a-difference? The festival evolved from this idea. It will feature the diverse talents of artists, many of them gay, and celebrate the dream of basic fairness and equality for all people.”