Some Shady Sh*t Went Down with Capulet Fest and Both Bands and Fans Are Furious

Some last minute changes prior to a festival’s kick off are unavoidable, but what happened with this weekend’s Capulet Fest is beyond the pale. It’s left fans and performers pissed off and rightfully so, as organizers not only change the venue to a significantly smaller location, but at least 20 bands have also dropped off the bill since its announcement.

Originally slated to host 55 bands at the 13,000 capacity Thompson Speedway in Thompson, Connecticut starting today through this Sunday, this year’s Capulet Fest has been moved to The Webster in Hartford, Connecticut — which is more than an hour drive away. Oh and let’s not fail to mention that the latter venue has a capacity of 1,200, which is less than 10% of the speedway’s capacity.

In the wake of all those changes, bands and organizations that were once involved in the festival have taken to social media to place the blame directly at the fest organizers’ feet, letting fans know that they weren’t involved in the perceived fuckery going on here. For example, Cowgirlzen Entertainment Publicity has announced they were done working with Capulet Festival entirely.

“To the press list regarding the festival this weekend. On Wednesday morning 6/26/24 due to absolutely no information or communication from the promoter responsible for the 3 day festival, I made the decision to no longer work on this project, and notified everyone on the media list I had been given only two weeks prior. Please contact Capulet Entertainment regarding the festival and anything associated with it.”

Over on Reddit, one ticketholder posted the following, outlining everything else that had gone sideways with this festival:

As someone who is a ticket holder & has been following all of yesterday & today, here’s my short and to the point recap:

• The promoter knew the speedway (original venue) wouldn’t be available on Monday, but didn’t inform the public officially until today. Rumors leaked first. Mind you the festival starts TOMORROW
• Stage crew wasn’t paid, which may have played a role in the decision (or the promoter had no money to pay the speedway)
• The new venue is in a shitty part of Hartford with lots of breakins and drug use, with no options for parking or camping. The promoter has given no indication about how these items will be refunded & is continuing to sell them on their website
• Also other shows are being played at the same time as the festival, meaning the venue is oversold based on the number of tix sold to Capulet Fest
• About 1/3 of the lineup has dropped off so far
• Bands who are stuck in pay for play arrangements are left trying to spin positive PR in the comments to salvage the fest
• People are already filing complaints with CT authorities to get the event shut down or get refunds due to fraud

Similarly, bands like Nothing More let their fans know exactly why they dropped from the bill, citing shady business practices and a lack of accountability for what went down:

“To our fans who were planning on attending Capulet fest – Despite our best efforts, we unfortunately we won’t be playing this show.

“The band and our crew were all in Nashville rehearsing when we got the news that the promotor had lost access to the venue. Capulet Fest were able to find an alternate location for Friday and Saturday, but not for Sunday when we were scheduled to play.

“Earlier today we were sent a proposed statement from the festival that was a blatant attempt to minimize their responsibility for the situation and even more egregious than that, it offered no solutions for refunds for people who bought single day tickets for Sunday, nor did it offer refunds for people that bought VIP Meet & Greet tickets through the Capulet Fest website.

“This is simply an unacceptable way of doing business and we have lost all respect for the way they are handling the situation. While we may have lost tens of thousands of dollars in crew costs, flights etc, this is nothing compared to a fan losing their hard earned money they spent on tickets to see a show and have a great time with friends and family.”

The full list of bands that have dropped off the bill are as follows:

Finally, some vendors that had planned to be at the festival have also come out of the woodwork to blast organizers. Last night, one vendor said they were seeking a full refund from the festival for what they said was a break in the vendor contract.

“SSUPhoto Designs has formally requested a full refund from this event. They breached the vendor contract. We were really excited about this weekend, we purchased lots of inventory and feel with the new location we will not be in the open with the bands so people will not be walking around to vendors. Also with no information on overnight security we feel unsafe to continue.”

We’re not sure where this will all end up, but if any new details emerge, we’ll be sure to share them as they come in.