This year festivalgoers who were looking forward to catching the likes of Janet Jackson, Future, and Florence + The Machine on the same bill will have to get a rain check on those plans as FYF Fest has announced plans to cancel this year’s iteration of the Los Angeles-based music festival.
According to Billboard, festival owners Goldenvoice and AEG Live have shut down all operations as a result of paltry ticket sales only a few weeks after the lineup was first announced. Despite a timeline of two months left on the schedule, the decision was made that April’s ticket sales were indicative of an impending failure for the festival first created in 2004 by Sean Carlson.
Set for July 21-22, festivalgoers will begin to be issued out information in regard to obtaining refunds for this year’s festivities as early as May 7th. This latest blow arrives after Carlson resigned from his position with the brand following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct brought up against him. Goldenvoice eventually bought out Carlson’s share of the festival at the end of 2017 and brought in talent buyer Jenn Yacoubian. Yacoubian’s new position showed promise after the lineup took a contrasting decision to highlight more female headliners and performers than any other festival this year with 20 additional acts either being led by a female talent or featuring a prominent female player in addition to Janet Jackson and Florence + The Machine.
“This wasn’t something that we were consciously tallying," Yacoubian told previously told Billboard. “When we laid out everything, this is what made sense for the festival and this is what we thought was going to be the best booking." She added, “We’re super happy to have so many talented women and men on the festival -- it wasn’t like there was any sort of criteria.”
In a statement issued out via social media, the festival confirmed pans for the cancellation, citing that its team was “unable to present an experience on par with the expectations of our loyal fans and the Los Angeles music community this year.”
They went on to add that they would putting on “local shows,” featuring some of the talent on the lineup.