With the ongoing spread of COVID-19, many concerts and music festivals are canceling or postponing their tours and events. The latest festival to cancel is Electric Forest.
Electric Forest announced, on their website and Twitter page, on April 21 that the festival will be canceled this year. For those who purchased tickets and plan on going again next year, they’re offering an exchange. Otherwise, tickets can be refunded.
For those with tickets to Electric Forest, you have until May 21 to file for a refund, for those who don’t take action your tickets will automatically be retained for the 2021 festival.
“I’m really sad about it being canceled, but I think everyone was expecting it,” said Brooke Bateman, a 20-year-old Grand Rapids native who was hoping to attend Electric Forest this year. “The year we can all go back will be even more fun and exciting now.”
Electric Forest isn’t the only festival that has been affected by coronavirus. Coachella is being postponed until October.
As of now, other festivals in Michigan are not seeing dates change. Mo Pop and Lollapalooza are both still scheduled for July.
For information on tours that are going to be affected by this, it’s best to check the venue website where the shows are being held for updates. Many venues are canceling or postponing shows following the dates of the stay-at-home orders.
“This situation is changing every day,” said Scott Hammontree, General Manager and talent buyer of The Intersection. “Everything depends on the executive order at this point. Of course, our business was one of the first to be forced to close and we will be likely the last to reopen. A large percentage of the live music business is just on pause right now. Every market has different restrictions so even as certain parts of the country “open” back up it will be hard for touring acts to route tours when factoring in the restrictions that will be unique to each region.”
With the stay-at-home order in Michigan being extended until May 15, concert schedules could get pushed back if that is extended even further.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 6:30 p.m. on April 24 to include comments from Hammontree and the new, extended date of the stay-at-home order.
