At about 9pm PST last night, just hours before the Lovers & Friends music festival was slated to open its gate at 11am on Saturday, May 4 — festival organizers at Live Nation decided to cancel the sold-out festival in Las Vegas due to a high wind warning. The highly anticipated event was set to include performances by Janet Jackson, Usher, Gwen Stefani, Nas, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, and many more.
In a social media post shared at approximately 9:30pm the night before Lovers & Friends was supposed to begin, the festival shared they had been “monitoring the weather for several days and proactively preparing for a windy Saturday.”
“However, the National Weather Service has now issued a High Wind Warning, including dangerous 30-35 mph sustained winds with gusts potentially more than 60 mph. Following advice from the National Weather Service and in consultation with local public officials, we must make the safest decision for our fans, artists, and staff, and cancel tomorrow’s Lovers & Friends Festival.”
“Ticketholders who purchased their tickets directly through Front Gate Tickets will receive a refund within 30 days to the original form of payment.”
ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BEST NEW MUSIC
Mother Nature deciding to shut down a music festival is nothing new. In 2023, the Cruel World music festival at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena was canceled due to inclement weather (lightning) just a few hours before the headliner was scheduled to take the stage. But unlike Lovers & Friends, the Cruel World festival organizers (Goldenvoice) made the costly, on-the-fly decision to have the event occur the following day, a Sunday. Not only were festival attendees treated to a mini festival with additional bands on top of those who couldn’t perform the night prior, but fans were also treated to free parking and other perks.
Lovers & Friends attendees have expressed their outrage via social media, citing festival organizers as “unprofessional” and “inconsiderate.”
Naturally, after all the money and planning that goes into getting to a music festival like Lovers & Friends, fans were outraged. Ticket holders report not receiving an immediate email informing them of the cancellation. Instead, they had to rely on randomly seeing the announcement on social media with just about 12 hours notice of the gates opening.
“Why not tell us there was a possibility of cancelling days ago???” ~ @daisyann5
“Who came up with the decision to cancel this the night before at 10pm? When people obviously already traveled in for the festival? If you are going to cancel for weather okay, but give people some fair notice ?????” ~ @katiegattusoduncan
“What’s wild is you’ve yet to send out a formal email??? Think of all of the people who don’t use social media and have absolutely no idea you just cancelled the festival damn near 12 hours before it’s supposed to start” ~ @erkamarielo
This post may contain affiliate links, and Grimy Goods may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our independent, fan-powered media network.
“@erkamarielo a lovely lady I met in a club told me. I wouldn’t have known otherwise and would’ve went to the venue looking dumb 😭” ~ @j.worthen15
“The severe wind better blow my ass all the way back to LA” ~ @laura_rad
“What wind?! I better see Dorothy and Toto out my effin’ LV hotel window tomorrow morning 🌪️” ~ @phatrose
“When I go outside tomorrow my lashes and wig better blow off 😂” ~ @richlike_golden
“Booked a flight, paid for a room, took off work and secured childcare . This is fkn stupid.” ~ @upayislay
Many fans pleaded that festival organizers make the festival happen on Sunday. Others couldn’t understand why Lovers & Friends didn’t opt to rebook the event at a nearby indoor venue like Allegiant Stadium or spread it across various venues. After all, Las Vegas is one of the world’s entertainment capitals, with countless performance spaces at its disposal.
“Y’all need to relocate each stage to an indoor venue!!!! NOW for Sunday this is unbelievable I have never seen a show with so much drama in my life!!!!” ~ @4evertodd_83
“Votes for rescheduling to Sunday?!!!!!” ~ @lorenz.mateo
“Imagine people that bought it from offer up or fb marketplace. They won’t get their refund but instead the seller will get their refund and made money selling it.” ~ @ayenoc
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for further updates.
Grimy Goods contacted C3 Presents, a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., and the organizers behind Lovers & Friends, to reschedule the event, but the company has yet to respond to comment.
In 2010, Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment merged to become Live Nation Entertainment. As reported by AXIOS, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning to sue Live Nation, on antitrust grounds.
In recent news, Live Nation set another revenue record, reporting $3.8 billion in first-quarter earnings, besting the previous mark of $3.1 billion in Q1 2023. Poll Star reports, that’s a 22% year-over-year increase as the company says leading indicators point to a strong 2024.
This post may contain affiliate links. Ads and affiliate links are how independent blogs like Grimy Goods can operate. Thank you for supporting our work and being a part of our music community.
