The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 2018
FYF Fest cancelled its 15th edition two months out — ticket sales never caught up
AEG's Goldenvoice cancelled FYF Fest 2018 in May after weak sales on a lineup led by Janet Jackson, refunding every ticket two months before the gates.
FYF Fest · Goldenvoice · AEG · 2018-05
What happened
FYF Fest began in 2004 as Sean Carlson's punk shows in Echo Park venues and grew into a major two-day festival at Los Angeles' Exposition Park. The 2018 edition, its 15th, was set for 21–22 July with a lineup led by Janet Jackson, Florence + the Machine and Future.
Tickets went on sale at the start of April. Sales ran weak, and on 6 May 2018 Goldenvoice and its parent AEG cancelled the festival, saying they 'felt unable to present an experience on par with the expectations of our loyal fans and the Los Angeles music community'; reports said low ticket sales were the factor.
Full refunds, including all service charges, began processing automatically on 7 May. Organisers promised local shows featuring artists from the cancelled lineup. The cancellation — two months before gates, at one of LA's established festivals — landed as a marker of the late-2010s festival shakeout, where even major operators pulled the plug rather than run a half-empty site.
Why it happened
- Fixed costs committed before demand was proven: the July lineup and Exposition Park booking stood while April ticket sales stalled.
- The sales window was too short to recover: tickets went on sale barely three months before the festival, leaving no time to fix a slow start.
- The promoter cut the loss: AEG chose refunds over running a visibly under-attended 15th edition.
The lesson
Festival bills come due before demand is proven: FYF had a July lineup and April sales; when tickets stalled, not even a major operator could close the gap in eight weeks.
Aftermath
FYF Fest never returned. The 2018 cancellation is routinely cited in the wave of US festival shutdowns that followed, where weak presales killed events before their gates opened.
Sources
- Variety, 6 May 2018 — FYF Fest Canceled (cancelled by Goldenvoice/AEG; planned July dates at Exposition Park; tickets on sale since start of April; low ticket sales reported as a factor; full refunds including service charges from 7 May; founded by Sean Carlson in 2004; 2018 was to be the 15th edition; lineup included Janet Jackson, Florence + the Machine, Future)
- ABC7 Los Angeles — 2018 FYF Fest canceled due to poor ticket sales (scheduled 21–22 July 2018; owners Goldenvoice and AEG cancelled citing poor ticket sales; full refunds including service charges began processing 7 May 2018)
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