After disputing “rumors” of Moonrise Festival being cancelled due to lack of even applying for the proper permits, the festival has officially been cancelled. The festival was supposed to take place on June 8-9th, less than three weeks away. Yesterday, the festival claimed on its social media pages that the rumor was “absolutely ridiculous”. Today, they announced the festival was cancelled because of… lack of permits.
The festival is run by Steez Promo and changed locations and names (from Starscape) because of complications with police, the city, etc. City officials said Starscape, the long-running electronic dance event at Fort Armistead Park, could not return because of issues at last year’s concert, including overcrowding and drug overdoses. “They have to walk the walk,” council Vice President Edward Reisinger said. “Their credibility is shot with me.” Reisinger said he was shocked last year when Starscape’s organizers allowed 14,000 people to attend a concert with a permit for 7,500. The people behind this year’s event “can promise the moon. I don’t believe them,” Reisinger said.
According to the Baltimore Sun, “Councilman William H. Cole IV, who represents Port Covington, said Gottlieb informed him about his plans for Moonrise. But Cole said he doesn’t believe organizers have a signed contract with the Baltimore Sun Media Group to use the property. He said he wants to see an actual permit application before making up his mind.”
A lot of acts were booked for this festival including the first ever Destroid (Downlink, Excision, and KJ Sawka) show. Other notable names include Snoop Dogg, Borgore, Avicii, Papadosio, Crookers, STS9, Pretty Lights, Lotus, Eric Prydz, Krewella, Chuckie, Datsik, Excision, Porter Robinson, The Crystal Method, Flosstradamus, Paper Diamond, Eoto, Lucky Date, GTA, Alvin Risk, Infected Mushroom, Nero (DJ), Emancipator, and more.
TC was the first person to break the story yesterday during a podcast. Listen in at the 56:00 mark.
View the official statement below:
It is with a heavy heart that we regret to announce the cancellation of this year’s Moonrise Festival. Although we have put everything we had into this event trying to make it happen we have hit a roadblock that we just cannot overcome as the final permit needed will not be approved.
We are devastated by what has happened but with just under 3 weeks out from this event we cannot move forward without this final permit. We want to both thank and apologize to the fans, the artists, all members of the media, and everyone else who have supported this event. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We have battled to keep this event alive and we are absolutely crushed by this turn of events.
Refunds can be received from directly from the Ticketfly webpage or through the outlet that you purchased your ticket from.
We are working on some alternative events in the area that will feature artists who were scheduled to perform on the festival. Please stand by for further information on these events as information confirms.