Hurricane Irene 2011: Concerts, Festivals Rescheduled, MLB Next?

Hurricane Irene is on her way to the East Coast, and musicians and festival organizers are not taking any chances with the impending weekend storm.

Evacuation warnings have also been popping up in parts of North Carolina, New Jersey and even New York City, as the Category 3 hurricane strengthens by the hour, ready to make landfall as early as Saturday morning.

Country singer Kenny Chesney was forced to push his Boston stadium show from Sunday to Friday.

I want the last weekend of the 'Goin' Coastal' Tour to be a great experience for everybody. But I also want to be the safest experience for everyone, Chesney wrote on his Web site on Thursday.

Tickets for the original date will be honored on Friday, and fans that are unable to make the new show will be given a full refund, the singer confirmed.

The 18th annual Essex Music Festival, about 35 miles north of Boston, also announced its cancellation on Thursday. The bluegrass, folk and American roots festival was scheduled for Sunday.

Are people going to stay at home and secure their properties, or are they going to go to the music festival in the rain? We'll wait a week, festival coordinator Dana King told the Gloucester Times.

In Mansfield, a popular hard rock and heavy metal festival has also been postponed by two days. The Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival will now take place on Aug. 30, the Boston Herald reports.

The Major League Baseball is also playing the rescheduling game. The Philadelphia Phillies announced on Thursday that Sunday's game against the Florida Marlins will now be played on Saturday. The teams will now play a day-night double header, at 1:05 p.m. and 7:05 p.m., the Phillies confirmed on its Web site.

New York, Boston and Baltimore also have games scheduled for this weekend, including a Yankees-Orioles doubleheader on Saturday. The two teams are expected to play five games in the next four days. The Yankees are pushing for a Friday doubleheader.

I don't know what you do if you don't [play a Friday doubleheader] . . . I don't know if they would be made up in our ballpark. I don't know if you would make them up in December, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told CBS Sports.

In Flushing, N.Y., U.S. Open organizers have been updating fans with information related to the forecast. No changes have been announced to the schedule, as qualifying rounds reached day three on Thursday. Round one of the U.S. Open is scheduled to begin on Monday.