Blue Ridge Rock Festival has cancelled their 2024 edition. The festival has been in hot water ever since their cancellation midway through the 2023 edition, resulting in everything from health department investigations to loads of pissed off fans waiting on their refunds.
According to a statement from festival organizers, refunds for ticket purchased for the 2024 edition in 2023 will be fully refunded… which I'm sure is comforting for anyone reading about everyone still waiting on their refunds from last year. All we know for certain is that Blue Ridge Rock Festival plans on coming back in 2025 – so I guess we'll see what happens.
The full statement from organizers is as follows:
"Blue Ridge Rock Festival and Virginia International Raceway are saddened to announce that the 2024 Festival will not take place as originally planned. Our number one focus and priority has been, and remains, settling the insurance claim and ensuring resolution for everyone affected by 2023's weather cancellation.
"After thorough consideration and discussions between both parties, we have mutually agreed that hosting the festival in 2024 is not feasible at this time since we are still awaiting a resolution for 2023. As a result, all items purchased for the 2024 Festival will be fully refunded. Contrary to online reports, 2024 tickets were placed on-sale at the very start of the 2023 festival (not any time recently), just as we did in 2022. This 2024 on-sale took place well prior to the weather-induced partial cancellation of the 2023 festival. The sales that did take place for 2024 have been held in escrow. We are working with the merchant processing company to streamline and process refunds. Please stay tuned to your email for 2024 refund information forthcoming.
"We would like to express our gratitude to Virginia International Raceway for their partnership and unwavering support through this unexpected, and unequivocally challenging time. What has occurred behind the scenes over the last several months with Blue Ridge has often been incredibly unique and unprecedented for a Music Festival, but VIR has graciously understood, maintained faith, and worked through each situation with us.
"While Blue Ridge Rock Festival will not take place in 2024, we look forward to revealing what the future holds in 2025. We are very grateful for an incredibly passionate fan base that organically took a tiny one day Festival, in rural Virginia, to unbelievable heights, through fan engagement and innovation in its lineup, experiences, and overall curation.
"Thank you to all our supporters, attendees, and partners for your understanding and infectious support of Blue Ridge Rock Festival. We look forward to soon resolving 2023 and 2024 for all."
To recap – Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2023 was cancelled midway through (the September 9 and 10 dates never happened) due to what organizers called "continued severe weather." Though a report surfaced a few days later suggesting that stagehands working the festival were planning to walk out on September 9 due to poor working conditions. The report alleged that stagehands presented a list of demands to organizers the evening of September 8, saying conditions need to be improved or a strike would happen.
Blue Ridge Rock Festival attendees then complained about not getting refunds from organizers, an issue that stretched into January 2024 (and beyond). This was all compounded by the fact that Blue Ridge Rock Festival was also under investigation by the Virginia Department Of Health after people reported gastrointestinal issues in the days after the festival.
