COVID-19 case, poor organization leads to festival cancellations and spectators stranded south of the border

This is not a situation that everyone wants. The question is, is anyone at fault?

With the announcement of the cancellations of various festivals and concerts – like the Dead and Company’s Playing in the Sand Festival in Mexico – due to the increase in COVID-19 cases (thanks to the Omicron variant), many spectators and festival-goers who have arrived at their intended destination destinations ahead of the festivities are now blocked.

A many outlets have reported that many are expressing anger at the way these cancellations have gone. For example, fans and attendees were told about the cancellation of the Playing in the Sand festival a day before this weekend kicked off.

“The show should have been canceled a few days ago. I’m not surprised they canceled, just that they did it so late, ”said one ticket holder, currently in Cancun. Rolling stone.

Other festivals south of the border, featuring artists like Dave Matthews and Wilco, are also struggling. Some fans, including a Wilco spectator identified as Mitch Timbanard, were hoping to get a positive COVID-19 test so they could presumably get a refund for the SkyBlueSky festival scheduled for January in Cancun, which also includes Kurt Vile, Thundercat, Spoon, and a a number of other well-known groups.

While it might be understandable for most to have the festivals canceled (or, at best, postponed), there is growing frustration on the part of fans with the way the shows were canceled. Over the past week, as cases increased, information poured in from unverified sites, questions abounded, no words were sent until, for many, the last minute.

For Dead and Company, the choice was made the day before the festival as news circulated that the positive number of COVID-19 among staff was on the rise. Then, when Dead and Company co-frontman guitarist John Mayer contacted the virus, there was even more speculation about the festival being canceled, but no official word came until the start.

For others, one wonders if spectators should have even waited that long to make their decisions, or should have assumed the worst and guessed that the festivals would be messy, or worse, closed.

What happens next, anyone’s guess. This also seems to be the truth of the state of the world for the foreseeable future.

With great sadness and after great consideration of all possible scenarios, the @PlaytheSand shows in Riviera Cancun on January 7-10 and January 13-16 have now been canceled by @CID_Presents due to the selection of COVID-19 cases. … ”Dead & Company shared in an Instagram post.

Photo by C Flanigan / FilmMagic