Home

In a perfect world, by the day a festival is set to begin, it should essentially be on autopilot (for the most part). The groundwork should be laid, the employees should know their roles, the artists should be paid and have their flights, etc., etc. In a worst case scenario, a festival knows they won’t be able to put on a proper show and bows out at a reasonable time and refunds those who’ve bought tickets. And then there’s VestiVille.


The Belgium music festival, which featured Cardi B, Future, Meek Mill and Jason Derulo on its lineup, abruptly cancelled the entire event the day it was scheduled to begin. According to tweets from the festival, the mayor apparently suddenly decided not to let it go on.

What really happened will come out in time, but the fact remains that thousands of people who’d showed up to the event we left with no food, water, or transportation available.

The Brussels Times reports that three of the organizers have now been charged with fraud involving false invoices, forgery, money laundering, and abuse of trust as a result of complaints brought by unpaid suppliers. A full investigation into the festival and its organizers is likely to follow.

These days, it’s not uncommon for the slightest hiccup in a festival to draw the “fyre festival” comparison in mean-spirited comments on social media. In this case, however, the similarities bear fruit.