Sueños Music Festival goers have been left feeling angry and disillusioned this week after organizers announced fans who bought tickets through Front Gate Tickets will be refunded only 25% of the ticket price after the concert was canceled because of rain.
Heavy downpours forced organizers of the Latino fest in Grant Park to cancel the event Sunday evening just before the world-renowned headliner, Grammy-winner Peso Pluma, was set to perform.
The rainout was a massive disappointment for the tens of thousands who had attended Sueños, now in its third year. Nearly 70,000 people attended the Latino music festival on Saturday alone, bringing Latinos from all over the country together.
In an email sent to festival goers, the Sueños team announced that those who bought tickets through Front Gate Tickets will automatically be refunded 25% of the ticket price in as little as 30 days.
While some fans say they’re satisfied with the refund, others are angry, flooding social media with negative criticism. They also urged organizers to add stages and more security to control the crowd.
The organizers’ decision came after heavy storms had already battered Chicago and the suburbs throughout much of the day, forcing organizers to delay the festival and cancel several earlier performances.
Around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, as the crowd cheered Maluma’s performance, the music suddenly stopped and a message appeared on a red screen urging attendees to evacuate the park.
Most, however, were in disbelief. Peso Pluma was set to be the closing act, an anticipated performance after two canceled concerts in Chicago last year.
At a brief presentation in an after party at The Mine nightclub, Peso Pluma spoke of his disappointment on the cancellation and promised the crowd that he will be back in October.
“I’m embarrassed about what happened at Suenos, but just so you know how much I care about the people from Chicago and how I love you all, I’ll be back soon,” he said in Spanish to a cheering crowd.
Despite several public announcements asking patrons to disperse, thousands of festival-goers refused to leave the park for a considerable amount of time. Many chanted the artist’s name, “Peso, Peso,” in unison and in protest of the decision to stop the concert.
In an Instagram post, the Sueños team said the decisions to first delay the concert and then cancel it altogether “were not taken lightly” and it was done in coordination with the National Weather Service and Chicago public safety officials.
“We did everything we could to keep the fest going,” organizers said in the social media statement. “We will never put anything above the safety of our community.”
Sueños started as a festival to celebrate Latino culture and create a unique space for reggaeton music, but it has transformed into a festival highlighting the rise of regional Mexican music over the last few years. Artists like Pluma and young Mexican American singers like Xavi and Ivan Cornejo, who performed Saturday, have crossed over into a more mainstream market.
Sueños has quickly become a staple of the city, recognizing the presence and economic power of Latinos in Chicago and across the nation. Though attendees vary in background, the majority are young Latinos. A line with hundreds of festival goers wrapped along Michigan Avenue as they waited to enter the festival Saturday. Several said they had been in line for more than an hour.
The two-day festival is presented by the producers behind Baja Beach Fest, Chicago’s Reventon Promotion, and C3 Presents, the Live Nation subsidiary that also puts together Lollapalooza.
