Capulet Fest organizers are not having a very fun few days. The festival is set for June 28 and 30 (so today through Sunday) originally at the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT – which has a capacity of 13,000 people – and with a lineup of 55 artists. Then on June 27 (yesterday), festival organizers announced a venue change to The Webster in Hartford, CT, which houses a significantly smaller 1,200 people.
"Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park would like to confirm that the Capulet Fest is no longer happening at our facility," wrote Thompson Speedway on their Facebook page. "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."
Since the announcement in April, the following 20 bands have dropped off the festival (thanks to The PRP):
- 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
- Oyarsa
To make things worse, publicity for the event Cowgirlzen Entertainment Publicity has announced they've also ceased working with Capulet Festival, saying: "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."
Naturally fans have been railing against the festival in the comments sections, feeling they were either misled or outright lied to. Or as one fan put it: "Bands rarely come to CT, and when they do this is how they are treated? I feel bad for the bands and especially the fans who spent money for a festival type experience they were promised. Disappointed big time. If there were issues, it could have been communicated, canceled & refunded well in advance to give both fan and bands adequate time."
Nothing More also issued the following statement regarding the venue change and how they felt they were treated by promoters.
"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."
