Good Vibes Festival 2024 Cancelled and Questions About the Reasons

You have probably heard the news that Good Vibes Festivals (GVF) 2024 is cancelled.

In an announcement made last night, the music festival shared that it had received a letter from authorities dated June 27 stating that large-scale performances involving international artists should not take place on July 20, 2024 and should be postponed to a later date.

This is a tribute to the coronation ceremony of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

In the same statement, festival organizers Future Sound Asia (FSA) revealed that the GVF included several touring acts. The headliners originally scheduled for the two-day event included international acts like Joji, Alec Benjamin and J Balvin, making rescheduling impossible.

All ticket purchases for the event will be automatically refunded in full to the payment method used for their purchase, so spectators can rest assured in this regard.

We contacted the FSA earlier with a few questions to find out more, but received this response from their PR representative:

“At this time, we have no further comments to add beyond our official statement released earlier today regarding the cancellation of the festival. We thank you for your understanding.”

While we’re not sure this cancellation warrants a press conference like last year’s, here’s what we would ask if the FSA were to hold one.

Disclaimer: What we have reported so far on the subject is based on information shared publicly by the GVF/FSA itself, and we have not seen the official letter from the authorities. All the speculations we make in this article are just speculations, and we do not yet know the facts that motivated the GVF’s decision to cancel the event altogether.

1. Why not just continue with day 2 of GVF2024?

Although they did state that a rescheduling was not possible, GVF did not explain why they could not continue with the second day performances, since only July 20 is blocked for the coronation.

We’re not sure why Day 2 was also cancelled, but one theory we have about it is that cancelling the entire GVF 2024 might be easier in terms of refunding ticket purchases.

For those who don’t know, the music festival offers different types of tickets where you can choose to go for both days (Two-Day Pass) or just one of them (One-Day Pass).

Reimbursing spectators who have chosen two-day passes could be a headache. Some could even be offended, as it could be wrongly interpreted as a form of favoritism.

2. What is the problem: is the GVF an event for large-scale performances or does it welcome international artists?

As we have not seen the letter from the authorities, we do not have the full context of why the organizers chose to cancel the GVF 2024.

According to information provided by the organizers themselves, the reason for the cancellation is that large-scale shows involving international artists cannot take place on July 20.

This led us to wonder: is this cancellation due to the fact that the GVF is a large-scale event or because the lineup includes international artists? Or is it a combination of both?

If it’s the former, we’re curious what the definition of “large-scale performances” is. Does it depend on the potential size of the crowd, the size of the venue, or the number of performances planned? What other factors would be considered in this case?

If it’s the latter, then perhaps the FSA could consider organising a music festival featuring only local talent? We’re sure music lovers who have already bought tickets will enjoy other local artists such as Talitha, FUAD and FORCEPARKBOIS just as much.

If both situations combine, the situation becomes more complicated to manage. Perhaps in the future, the authorities could issue a clear directive (if it does not already exist) to event organizers on similar issues, which would really help organizers plan ahead and avoid sudden blockages.

3. How did they announce the news to local and international artists of GVF2024?

The music festival was scheduled to take place July 20-21 at Resorts World Awana. While the cancellation was not last-minute, it is still quite late by industry standards.

The guest artists had already booked their stay, scheduled their flights or car trips and rehearsed their setlists, so this news must have come as a shock and disappointment to them.

Given that the letter from the authorities was dated June 27, were artists informed by the FSA before they made the public announcement? How did artists react to the news, especially those (like Talitha) who were unable to perform at last year’s GVF because of the Matt Healy fiasco?

On a larger scale, the late cancellation of a major event could further exacerbate Malaysia’s difficulties in attracting international artists. Many have already avoided performing in Malaysia, allegedly due to our concert rules and regulations, while others have been banned from performing in our country.

Will other international bands follow suit and forgo Malaysian concerts and festivals in the coming years? It is too early to say, but we have no doubt that handling the situation tactfully is of the utmost importance.

4. How did they announce the news to local GVF2024 suppliers and were any of them affected?

The cancellation of last year’s GVF showed us how important it is to support food and beverage suppliers during times of crisis.

If this is your first time hearing this, many food vendors in GVF 2023 have been struggling to cope with the aftermath of the 1975 coup.

The suppliers we interviewed shared some of the challenges they faced, such as high rental, accommodation, staffing and logistics costs. Others had excess perishable ingredients that would have gone to waste if they had not acted quickly.

At the time of writing, we have not found any sellers speaking out about the cancellation of GVF 2024 and how it has affected them.

But of course, the FSA knows best which suppliers it has previously shortlisted and how they are doing after the cancellation. If this year’s supplier list East facing difficulties following the cancellation, we ask if the FSA will provide them with any form of support.

5. What is GVF’s strategy to mitigate these sudden cancellations in the future?

If I had gotten a nickel for every time the GVF was abruptly canceled, I would have gotten two nickels. Which isn’t much, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

We hope this does not become a trend as many Malaysians and other festival-goers would be disappointed if this happens a third time.

In this context, what is GVF’s strategy to mitigate these cancellations in the future? Is it even possible to have a plan B for this?

It would be nice if future artists and festival-goers were reassured that despite these two years, the longevity of the GVF will not be affected because the team has a workaround.

Others in the live entertainment industry in Malaysia would also benefit from learning how the FSA tam remains resilient and optimistic despite the challenges.

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But ultimately, it all comes down to one crucial question: what impact will this have on the entertainment industry in Malaysia?

Is this a sign of a downward trend or is it just a bad coincidence?

We don’t know if anyone has the answer to this question, but we hope that our live entertainment industry will not be discouraged from continuing to deliver the best to Malaysians.

• Learn more about the Good Vibes Festival here.
• Read other articles we have written about Malaysian startups here.

Main image credits: Good Vibes Festival