The Party is Over: Cancelled Festivals From Around the World

Permits, DJ set times, sound equipment, toilets… there's a lot to be arranged when throwing a music festival. Sometimes things just don't work out. Generally, festivals are cancelled due to any number of reasons. From low ticket sales, withdrawing headliners, or even something more tragic. It's nobody's fault (except when it is), but even the best fests go down too. Here is a list of some notable festivals from around the world that stopped too soon.

For the 2010 edition of the much-adored but often cursed Berlin-born festival was held out at a different German city, Duisburg. The hope was that it would go as well as previous versions in Berlin. However, the city was not prepared for so many people on the street—an estimated 1.5 million. In one of the city's tunnels there was an overflow of people, which caused a stampede in which 21 people died, and more than 500 were injured.

Created to celebrate the union of Berlin after the wall fell down in 1989, the purpose of Loveparade had expanded from its free and free-love origins. It was so popular throughout Europe that it traveled to other cities like Sydney, Buenos Aires, Santiago, San Francisco and even Mexico, with five editions both in Mexico City and Acapulco.

After the Hamburg incident, organizers cancelled the fest and said that it wouldn't happen ever again. Days after the accident, Paul van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold and Armin van Buuren collaborated on a track to honor the victims of this tragedy and donated proceeds to the victims' families.

Monegros or Groove Parade was a festival organized in the region of Huesca, Spain during the month of July. This event was born as a gathering for the patrons of a club called Florida 135 who loved electronic music. Throughout the years, these gatherings included some DJs, until it became a major event with DJs and bands such as Brodinski, Carl Cox, Feed Me, Pendulum and Digitalism.

In 2015 the festival was planned with 70 confirmed artists, but some months before, the organizers sent a letter communicating that it had been cancelled. Apparently, the promoters did not have authorization from Florida 135. Even after event organizers attempted several negotiations, the festival was called off. Fans are still waiting to see if it will happen next year or if Monegros will only linger as a memory.

A spinoff of one of Glastonbury's stages, Glade Festival was carried out since 2004 in several parts of England. Its purpose was to create a small festival for the electronic music fans with the participation of Glastonbury artists. In the beginning, it was thrown in Berkshire, later in Winchester and eventually in Norfolk. Typically in the month of July, Glade included other genres besides electronic music.

The 2013 edition was cancelled with organizers citing complications obtaining the proper permits. Permit issues had previously prompted the fest to changed the venue frequently, but ultimately, Glade's organizers decided to focus just on Glastonbury and Glade was ultimately cancelled.

In addition to Stereosonic, Australia had another big electronic festival, Future Music Festival. Started in 2006, the fest happened in some of the country's biggest cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Each city had the same lineup, so fans didn't have a hard time picking which to visit. Lineups typically included artists like The Chemical Brothers, Kaskade, The Prodigy and Yellow Claw, among others.

There were even several Future Musics in Malaysia between 2012 and 2014, but after several attendees suffered drug-related fatalities, the country's government forbid it from returning.

In 2015, the festival happened in Australia in March, but once it was over, the organizers sent a letter communicating that it would be the last edition. The main reason, they said, was that in some cities, several DJs cancelled their appearances, but ultimately, there was not enough profit. There is still hope for the Future, as the farewell statement implied the fest could return as a non-travelling festival next year.

Kazantip is a festival that was born on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine in 1992. It was famous for its length, as it happened over two to three weeks. During that time you could enjoy more than 300 DJs on a vacation spot overlooking the beautiful Black Sea. Accommodations were made so attendees could actually live inside the festival for the festival's duration.

In 2014, however, shit got real when Russia invaded Crimea and reclaimed it from Ukraine. Kazantip was cancelled with confusing statements from organizers declaring Kazantip an independent republic immune to geopolitical conflict.

Undeterred, organizers decided to bring the 'Tip to the other side of the world in 2015 to an island in Cambodia. Everything was ready to carry out the first edition outside Europe. Everything was ready but on the event's first day the location was closed off by police and a cancellation order was issued. Cambodia's government and the office of tourism decided that Kazantip could lead to indecent behavior from people and they didn't want any unwanted attention, potentially from recreational drug-related activity.

WEMF was a Canadian festival, which claimed to gather the best electronic artists. It began in 1995 and happened at several locations within Ontario, settling in Algonquin Park. For over 15 years the festival hosted acts such as Moby, Hybrid, Rusko, and Infected Mushroom.In 2013, they announced that the festival wouldn't happen because of a economic reasons. The following year there were no news of its return, but at the beginning of 2015, they announced the festival's return. Still, to date, there is no news regarding WEMF 2015.

Born in 2000, DEMF began with the idea of creating a free event that would happen every summer for people to get together and enjoy electronic music in Detroit, the home of techno. After three years, DEMF folded and in its place, Movement was born and still runs today.

In late 2013, DEMF's original organizers said they would return as a July 4th weekend alternative to Movement, which happened over Memorial Day Weekend. The road to recovery wasn't that easy though, as the DEMF forgot what it takes to put on a festival in a city like Detroit. It seemed they were out of practice and less than six months after announcing DEMF's return, it was confirmed that it would not, in fact, be back, citing permit issues.

There is no expectation that DEMF will ever happen again, but Movement seems to be doing more than ok without it.

At the turn of the new century, Colombia wanted to have its own electronic music festivals, following examples from Europe. Thus, in 2004 Ultramar Festival was created as a concert with the same artists as other festivals but in the paradisiacal city of Cartagena, on the Caribbean Sea. In its seven editions you could catch great DJs such as Deep Dish, Sasha, and Tiësto, among others.

Notwithstanding its big turnout, it had some logistical problems and in 2011, it had to be cancelled. The worst came in 2013, when it was supposed to have its ninth anniversary, and organizers announced it would be the last year for Ultramar. Lucky for Colombians, a festival with the same format in the same city, and on the same dates was created: Summerland. It's a festival that happens in January which is technically the winter, but when you're that close to the equator, summer is practically year-round.

In the last few years, São Paulo has become one of the world's most influential cities. It's not for nothing that festivals such as Lollapalooza and Tomorrowland have picked this city for their Brazilian editions. Before these two events happened, a much-loved festival came from Europe, Sónar. Its first edition was in 2004 as part of a global expansion from its home in Spain. While it was embraced by Brazil, organizers were unable to mount a repeat in 2006 and 2008.

It was not until 2012 that the festival returned, featuring artists such as Björk, Four Tet, Modeselektor, and Squarepusher. They subsequently announced dates for 2013 and confirmed artists like the Pet Shop Boys, Paul Kalkbrenner, and Explosions In The Sky. However, due to logistic problems, the festival was cancelled, leaving Brazilians to think this was the last time they would see Sónar.

A lot can change in two years though as Sónar has announced that it would return in November of 2015, along with editions in Santiago, Buenos Aires and Bogotá. Lineups are expected to be revealed on June 20.

The original Creamfields happens in late August in Liverpool, England. This event was born from the creators of the Cream Club in London, famous for hosting the best DJs in the world. The idea for the festival was to do the same but as a concert with several artists. From its beginning in 1998, Creamfields became famous around the world. Its success was such that they began throwing editions in cities all over the world, like Warsaw, Andalucía, Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Istanbul.One of those editions happened in Mexico City's Foro Sol in 2004. The lineup included Massive Attack, Infected Mushroom, Paul Oakenfold, Christopher Lawrence, and other local talents like Nopal Beat, Martin Parra, and Nortec Collective.

Due to the strong turnout, the festival came back in 2005. The second lineup had Paul Oakenfold, Audio Bullys, and Hernan Cattaneo, along with bands like Stellastarr*, Zoé, and Los Dynamite, among others. This was the last time in Aztec territory as promoters had to change venue to one pavilion from the Palace of Sports reducing space considerably. Another reason Creamfields met its end was that many of the talent cancelled—never a good sign.

Before EDC and Electric Zoo came to Mexico City, event promoter Ocesa had the idea of creating its own electronic music festival. The result was Festival Nevada, a concert that happened at the Rodríguez Brothers Racetrack in the month of November. The lineup comprised Above & Beyond, Rusko, Etiénne de Crecy, and many others. Despite being a small festival it had good artists and only two stages, therefore, it was easy to see all the talent. However, the event didn't have a lot of diffusion, and the majority of the tickets were not sold, causing a more than imminent cancellation.

In October 2006, the LA Weekly sponsored an outdoor fest in Downtown Los Angeles called Detour. The eclectic lineup ran the gamut from Beck and Basement Jaxx to Nortec Collective and a DJ set from artist Shepard Fairey.

In its three years, Detour brought Justice, DJ Mehdi, Teddybears, Kavinsky, The Presets Cut Copy, Hercules & Love Affair, and many others to the streets of LA, right in front of City Hall and a then-under construction LAPD headquarters. Once that building was complete, however, the once-empty streets were harder to clear for festival use and Detour went into permanent hiatus starting in 2009.

Chicago is not known for being a beach city, but for about 12 weeks every year, there's just enough sun to enjoy the shores of Lake Michigan. In 2012, the organizers of Wavefront seized on this short window of good weather to create a festival in the sand

Despite credible lineups that included Matthew Dear, Lee Burridge, and Chris Lake, as well as major sponsors like Vitamin Water, Citibank to help foot the bill, ends didn't meet at the end of the 2013. That's not atypical, but organizers opted to take a year off in 2014, promising to return in 2015. So far, there's no word that Wavefront will be back and its status as the only beach festival in Chicago will be usurped this summer with the arrival of new event Mamby.