UPDATE: Capulet Fest cancels final day on Sunday.
Bands are dropping out of Connecticut’s Capulet Fest in droves after the festival made a last minute change to its venue. Originally scheduled to be held on June 28-30 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, which has a capacity of over 10,000, on Thursday organizers announced they were moving it to The Webster, a 1,200 capacity club. The Speedway made the announcement before the festival itself, writing on Facebook at 10:39 AM on Thursday, “🚨 ATTENTION 🚨 Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park would like to confirm that the Capulet Fest is no longer happening at our facility. All additional details about the future of the event will be coming directly from Capulet. Thompson is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Capulet Fest or Capulet Entertainment.”
The festival’s statement, which followed at 3:30 PM on Thursday, read “We are moving Capulet Fest to The Webster this weekend! “Don’t freak. Lineup is coming today!”
The Webster, meanwhile, also has another event on their calendar on Sunday (Tokischa’s “Pride Tour”); it’s unclear whether that will conflict Capulet Fest’s Sunday schedule, which currently has one stage vs two stages on Friday and Saturday.
Bands who have dropped off the festival since the lineup was originally announced, via The PRP, include Nothing More, Senses Fail, 10 Years, Cold, Saint Asonia, Impending Doom, Gideon, Sleep Theory, Until I Wake, Life In Your Way, Zero 9:36, VCTMS, Horizon Theory, Every Avenue, Makeout, Glasslands, The Ongoing Concept, Lightworker, University Drive, and Oyarsa. Sharing their updated Sunday lineup on social media, organizers wrote, “We are stoked about our intimate, unique Sunday lineup! It isn’t lost on us that losing the ultimate homies in Senses Fail and Nothing More is a letdown, we know that what remains is still worth making memories! We chose to keep the fest happening. Sometimes in life, you need to pivot. Our new venue is amazing, and we’re so grateful to The Webster for opening their doors. Come out. Come rock. Get sweaty.”
In a message on their Instagram stories, Nothing More, who were originally scheduled to headline on Sunday, wrote:
To our fans who were planning on attending Capulet fest —
Despite our best efforts, we unfortunately we won’t be playing this show. The band and our crew were all in Nashville rehearsing when we got the news that the promotor had lost access to the venue. Capulet Fest were able to find an alternate location for Friday and Saturday, but not for Sunday when we were scheduled to play.
Earlier today we were sent a proposed statement from the festival that was a blatant attempt to minimize their responsibility for the situation and even more egregious than that, it offered no solutions for refunds for people who bought single day tickets for Sunday, nor did it offer refunds for people that bought VIP Meet & Greet tickets through the Capulet Fest website. This is simply an unacceptable way of doing business and we have lost all respect for the way they are handling the situation. While we may have lost tens of thousands of dollars in crew costs, flights etc, this is nothing compared to a fan losing their hard earned money they spent on tickets to see a show and have a great time with friends and family.
We will continue to apply pressure on the promotors to do the right thing and hope that you will join us in pursuing the festival to issue refunds to all those who deserve them. We are so sorry to have such bad news on the eve of releasing our new album and we look forward to seeing you on tour as soon as possible.
~Nothing More
The festival had sold camping tickets (the listing is still on their ticket page) and while they haven’t given information on refunds for those who had purchased them, a Friday morning update on their Facebook reads, “We have a fenced in area on site at The Webster. Vip parking get priority and then beyond that GA until it is full. We also have a space for RVs. We can accommodate up to 10 standard size to help our Campers. If you traveled and need a place to stay, we do also have the ability to get you a room at our original hotel partner Wellsworth. It is about a 50 or so min drive, but if you need a place to stay, we are doing everything we can to help during this transition. Send an email to capuletfest@capuletent.com.”
A publicist who had been working with the festival also cut ties with them amidst the chaos, writing, “To the press list regarding the festival this weekend. On Wednesday morning 6/26/24 due to absolutely no information or communication from the promoter responsible for the 3 day festival, I made the decision to no longer work on this project, and notified everyone on the media list I had been given only two weeks prior. Please contact Capulet Entertainment regarding the festival and anything associated with it.”
The current lineup for the festival includes Archers, Until I Wake, Haste the Day, Blessthefall, August Burns Red, American Dream Machine, Gina Fritz, If Not For Me, Ekon, and Hollow Front on Friday; Major Moment, Valoria, Deadlands, Uncured, Mike’s Dead, It Dies Today, Upon a Burning Body, Adelitas Way, Red, Skillet, Oystopica, Magnets for Maniacs, Rookie of the Year, Set for the Fall, Saved by Skarlet, and Livekill on Saturday; and American Arson, Bloodlines, Limbs, Nowhere Left, Of Virtue, Islander, Letterkills, Eyes Set To Kill, Lacey Sturm, and Taproot on Sunday. Stay tuned.