With little to no explanation the Skull and Roses festival scheduled for Ventura, CA April 19 – 21 2024 has been canceled.
They issued this message via socials just moments before this article was published:
It is the last bit that is perplexing. It feels as if this message is stating that the festival is canceled but there may not be refunds? Fans are left wondering if this some late April Fool’s Joke or a remnant of the Eclipse. Unfortunately I have seen an announcement directly from a trusted publicity source who dates back to the publicity office of the Grateful Dead. “Rat in a drain ditch… caught on a limb.”
The lineup was to include Dark Star Orchestra, Melvin Seals and JGB, Steve Parrish, Joe Marcinek, Jerry’s Middle Finger, a rare appearance by Golden Gate Wingmen, Stu Allen, Zach Nugent, David Gans and a whole host of others.
Check out Andy J. Gordon’s review of the 2023 Skull & Roses Festival
For the last several years Skull & Roses has attempted to position themselves as the major Grateful Spring event in California. This news will certainly be a big disappointment to many.
Come and See Dead Man’s Waltz on April 20th at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls MA! ALL AGES!
TICKETS: https://www.showclix.com/event/dead-mans-waltz-at-the-shea24
The festival has been host to a myriad of amazing bands for years from Golden Gate Wingmen to Grateful Shred, Moonalice, Oteil and Friends, Dark Star Orchestra to even the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, himself along with his friends. In the mid 1980s the Grateful Dead had nearly a dozen concerts in Ventura at the Fairgrounds, giving this festival an air of history and legitimacy that will be hard to recpature with this cancellation.
More news to come here when it becomes available.
The festival industry has been sending off pre earthquake tremors the last few months with news of events like Coachella not selling as it had in the past. Several major festivals in Australia including Splendour in the Grass have announced that they can not hold their events this year despite plans to do so. This follows a prior announcement that Groovin in the Moo Festival Tour in Australia was also canceled.
It is a near certainty that bands who have been coming from all over the map to perform will be scrambling to find new opportunities to play for fans who are already going to be in California. We Will Survive. One fan even wondered if this was “Fyre” on the Mountain fest?
Festivals have had a rough time with cancellations in recent years of events from coast to coast including Bonnaroo and Jerry Jam in Vermont due to flooding and even the Grateful Dead’s own Playin in the Sand went down due to band members getting Covid back in 2022. Phish’s festival Curveball, like Playin in the Sand, was canceled even though attendees were already on site. For as long as we have had mass gatherings there have been cancellations, and it is with great frustration that fans deal with the fallout. Hopefully the promoters of Skull and Roses didn’t get all the way to mid April without having a plan to refund tickets to customers.
Come and See Dead Man’s Waltz on April 20th at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls MA! ALL AGES!
TICKETS: https://www.showclix.com/event/dead-mans-waltz-at-the-shea24
Check out Andy J. Gordon’s review of the 2023 Skull & Roses Festival
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