Millions of people along the eastern coast of Canada and the United States boarded up their homes and businesses, laid sandbags, and in many cases even evacuated, in preparation for Hurricane Irene this past weekend. Those preparations also hit the music industry pretty hard, as many shows by many big names were either postponed or cancelled altogether due to the storm.

The Dave Matthews Band was one of the first to change their plans to try and prepare for Irene. They were scheduled for a weekend-long Caravan on Governor’s Island in New York. They did take the stage on Friday and invited all ticketholders for the weekend to attend. For those who couldn’t however, they are going to postpone Saturday’s and Sunday’s performance for a later date.

Kenny Chesney was also one of the big names scheduled to perform this weekend; he was going to be at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on Sunday. That show did not go on but Chesney did not disappoint fans, as he moved the show up to the Friday evening before.

News was not so good though, for those that were planning on attending the STYX performance at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts on Sunday. The band’s management tweeted that the safety of their fans is always their first concern and due to that, the show would not go on. The show has just been cancelled with no plans for rescheduling the date.

Another cancellation of shows included musical icon Pat Benatar, who was scheduled to appear on both Saturday and Sunday in Williamsburg, Virginia. Those shows did not go on and no postponement date will be set.

Hurricane Irene also caused many other festivals to be cancelled including: Out in the Streets and Afro-punk, two festivals held in Brooklyn; Rib Rock Festival in New York and New Jersey; the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York City; and the Siloppana Music Festival in Maryland.