Good Vibes Festival (GVF) has announced today (July 1) that its 2024 event has been cancelled.
Originally slated to be held on July 20 to 21 in Resorts World Awana, the music festival received a letter dated June 27 from the authorities that large-scale performances involving international artists are not to be held on July 20, 2024, and must be rescheduled to a later date.
This is out of respect for the Coronation Ceremony of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
However, the festival organisers, Future Sound Asia (FSA), pointed out that GVF involves multiple touring acts, so rescheduling would not be possible.
Headliners of the festival included international acts such as Joji, Alec Benjamin, Bibi, J Balvin, Peggy Gou, and more. Malaysian artists such as Talitha., FUAD, FORCEPARKBOIS, and many more were supposed to perform during the festival too.
As a result, FSA is fully cancelling their event, with no plans to reschedule.
All ticket purchases for the event will automatically receive full refunds to the payment method used for their purchase.
The full details of the authorities’ letter has not been released, so it’s unclear whether the festival would be allowed to continue should they only feature local artists.
It’s also unfortunate that FSA has chosen not to keep the second day of its festival.
Twice in a row
This cancellation is the event’s second in a row, following last year’s more sudden cancellation of GVF after the fallout of The 1975 frontman Matt Healy’s controversial remarks and unruly conduct.
GVF 2023 was cancelled after a directive from the Ministry of Communications & Digital.
Last year’s cancellation didn’t just affect the performing artists—local vendors were also left in the dust, with ingredients bought and prepped but no one to sell to.
Not to mention, many had sunk time, money, and effort into R&D and travelling for the event, among other things.
Several spoke out on the issue, and thankfully, the Malaysian community pulled through, ensuring that the small vendors’ expenses didn’t go to waste.
One business we spoke to at the time was Sausage Sizzle, whose founder Nazri shared that the team had spent over RM15,000 on food stocks for the event.
That amount didn’t even take into account the cost of rental, accommodation, staffing, logistics, and of course, the time and effort spent.
At the time of writing, it’s unclear if any vendors for this year’s event have been affected yet.
The state of Malaysia’s live events industry
Addressing the Matt Healy incident in a press conference for GVF last year, Arts, Live Festivals and Events Association (ALIFE) chairman Para Rajagopal said, “Every promoter walks on a very tight rope from the time we book the event until we deliver the event. We have a very tight job to do. Every day we hope that nothing pops up.”
There’s no doubt that Malaysia’s live events industry has been taking hit, after hit, after hit.
The pandemic several years ago severely affected the industry, and just as things seemed to be on the mend, unforeseen happenings rocked the industry again.
Sensitivities have been heightened following The 1975’s stage incident, and we can all agree that things haven’t been quite the same since then.
On the bright side, at least this year’s festival wasn’t cancelled due to a negative incident.
But regardless, this cancellation is still a shame for Malaysia’s live entertainment industry, which has received fewer opportunities compared to neighbours like Singapore.
Many singers already skip Malaysia on their world tours, so having a festival like this helps encourage and enable them to bring their music to the country. And more than entertainment, these events bring in more money in terms of food and accommodation, too.
This cancellation, while not as sudden as last year’s, could still leave a bad taste in the mouths of international artists, travellers, and even local vendors, and dissuade them from taking part in future Malaysian events.
We can only hope that this wouldn’t be the case, and perhaps the third time’s the charm.
So, fingers crossed that we see Good Vibes Festival make a grand return next year.
- Learn more about Good Vibes Festival here.
- Read articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Good Vibes Festival