Organisers of the Wireless Festival knew ‘for months’ that one of its headline acts wasn’t going to make the event last weekend. Have you ever suffered a last-minute artist cancellation?
Organisers left it until Sunday, the day of the performance, to let fans know that DJ Khaled was going to be a no-show, blaming the absence on ‘travel issues’.
Yet a mere 14 hours before, the musician shared a picture of himself in an infinity pool with his son with a beach and palm trees in the background captioned: ‘Still on vacation!!!!!!!!’
Hours later he then shared a picture of himself and wife toasting in a private jet. Drake stepped in to fill Khaled’s spot and reportedly performed for 20 minutes.
Fans had already had disappointing news earlier in the year when it was announced that Cardi B, who was also advertised as a headliner, would be unable to perform due to pregnancy.
Unfair marketing?
Furious fans took to Twitter criticising the Wireless for the discrepancy between Khaled’s tweets and their reason for his absence.
Wireless this week clarified they’d known for a ‘few months’ Khaled wasn’t likely to make it.
Due to a scheduling conflict related to filming of the The Four, DJ Khaled was not able to commit to perform at Wireless Festival. Although we have known for a few months and tried to make it work, it wasn’t possible.
— Wireless Festival (@WirelessFest) July 8, 2018
Fans are rightly annoyed that despite knowing their headline act probably wasn’t going to appear, the festival continued to promote him as an act.
Festival goers on Twitter are saying they feel they’ve been misled, but unfortunately they don’t have any right to claim compensation because Wireless managed to wrangle another act and they delivered the majority of the event.
Your event refund rights
You can only claim a refund of the face value of an event ticket if it’s cancelled, rescheduled or has changed location.
We have more information about the ins and outs of event ticket refunds on our Consumer Rights site.
What are your thoughts on Wireless’s behaviour? Have you ever felt let down after an act you really wanted to see pulled out last-minute? Let us know what happened, if it was resolved, and if you were happy with the outcome.