The FYF Fest, ‘The Best Weekend Of Summer’, Is Cancelled
Florence and the Machine was one of the headliners of the FYF Fest
After much speculation since the split between Goldenvoice and FYF Fest founder Sean Carlson, the fate of the summer festival didn’t look very good. I remember people asking if the FYF Fest was even happening this year and there was a cloud of concern about its future. But, last month, we were told it was happening, and a line up was finally announced. However, it turns out that the FYF Fest is not happening after all. This is what was posted on their Facebook page:
‘After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cancel FYF Fest 2018.
Our team of many women and men have worked tirelessly on this event for many years but felt unable to present an experience on par with the expectations of our loyal fans and the Los Angeles music community this year.
We will be announcing some special local shows soon, featuring some of the amazing artists from the 2018 line up.
Ticket purchasers will automatically receive full refunds, including all service charges, beginning this Monday, May 7th, 2018. There is no action necessary on your end to receive a refund. You will receive an email notification from Festival Ticketing once your order is cancelled and refunded. Please allow 5 to 7 business days for the funds to appear in your bank account.’
Again, it is not too difficult to speculate about the reasons of the cancellation. First, the high price of the tickets ($275 for 2 days) is probably one of the main reasons of slow sales, plus a not-too-exciting line up this year, dramatically different from last year’s excellent lineup, and basically going in the opposite direction of the festival’s punk roots and indie spirit (Janet Jackson was one of the headliners) has probably not encouraged ticket sales.
A few days ago, Florence and the Machine had even announced a date in May in Los Angeles, an odd move for one of the headliners, as the FYF was scheduled just 2 months later, in July. This was not a good sign and I suppose the band had already heard some rumor.
Whether you liked the lineup or not, whether you had decided to go or not, this is a disappointment, I hate to see music festivals disappear, the FYF was always advertised as ‘the best weekend of summer’ and a cancellation is always a loss, regardless of your music tastes.
But is this a R.I.P. FYF fest? Or can we hope for a better FYF fest with an improved lineup in 2019? At this point nobody knows.
