XO Festival is giving Fyre Fest a run for its money. The event that was slated to take place over this weekend, July 12 – 15 in Antioch, California, was canceled at the very last minute following some major red flags.
Similar to Fyre Fest, XO was accused of deceiving and misleading music fans, but that’s only just the beginning. As Rolling Stone cites, it was “fraud from the start.”
According to multiple reports, XO just couldn’t get it together. The festival was battling off a trademark infringement claim, a slew of performers backed out and some even claimed nonpayment. On top of it all, a pair of organizers were previously arrested in connection to a real estate scam. 
On the flip side, XO says venue problems and low ticket sales ultimately led to the cancellation. According to the music festival’s official statement, the negative press is really what did it in.
Even a glance over the lineup gives off some warning signs. Ludacris, T.I., as well as respected local hip hop artist Mistah F.A.B. make up a solid top line. Then, there’s Flavor Flav… Alright… Then it gets even more obscure, with many mid- and low-tier “filler” acts, some with very small, niche followings and others with hardly any marketable material.
There’s one way in which XO did right by its fans — it shut down before it became an utter debacle. But still, organizers promise it will return.
RIP XO Festival.
XO Music Festival – Official Statement
Dear Fans & Supporters,
We are deeply disappointed to have to announce that due to the venue canceling the XO Music Festival earlier today and in part due to the fact that there were some negative media reports targeting us, with which we strongly disagree. The XO Music Festival scheduled to occur on July 13-15 will be postponed to another time to be announced at a future date.
Despite our best efforts to organize a fun event that would be enjoyed by thousands of people, the venues cancelation and the many negative media reports targeting the XO Music Festival unfortunately does not allow us to proceed with the festival at this time.
For months, our employees and agents have worked extremely hard to book artists, promote the festival, create marketing materials, secure vendors and otherwise do the things that are needed to put on a festival of this magnitude. For that, we are deeply thankful. We know in our hearts that the festival would have been a huge success regardless of this negative media causing lower that anticipated advance ticket sales.
Our team was fully prepared but unfortunately the venue would not allow us on the grounds.
We also thank those people that have purchased tickets to our festival. Refunds have already been processed as of early this morning via GrowTix our ticketing agent.
Please contact us direct at [email protected] with any questions.
Thank You
XO Music Festival Team
Sources: SPIN, Rolling Stone
