Eventbrite left to deal with angry fans after Roxodus Festival’s sudden cancellation

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Scheduled to take place at Edenvale Airport, just north of Toronto from 11th-13th July, Roxodus Festival has been unexpectedly cancelled, disappointing thousands of fans.

Eventbrite, the event management and ticketing website, has begun issuing refunds, despite being unable to contact the festival organisers.

The company behind Roxodus, MF Live, initially cited “tremendously rainy weather” as the reason behind the cancellation. However, it soon emerged a loss of $10 million and poor ticket sales was the cause.

Fans had already received their RFID-chipped wristbands in the post and encouraged to load money onto them due to the event being a cashless festival.

It has been widely rumoured on social media that the organisers have taken fans’ money and disappeared, and a police investigation has been launched.

Managers at Eventbrite have stated they will “continue to aggressively pursue the return of funds from the festival’s creators.”

The ticketing website posted on the Roxodus website, “After multiple attempts to communicate and secure funds back from Rodoxus organisers, they have provided no indication that they will be issuing refunds to ticket-holders. We believe attendees deserve to get their money back now, so we have set up an Eventbrite-funded Fan Relief Programme to make all Roxodus ticket-holders whole.”

Mike Dunphy, MF Live co-creator, however, has claimed that he was just as “shocked” as everyone else when the festival was cancelled, speaking to CTV News.

Dunphy created MF Live with long-time friend, Fab Loranger, but said the pair are no longer talking. Dunphy claimed to have left MF Live a week before Loranger made the decision to pull the plug, who cited soggy and unsafe grounds as the reason.

Regarding the police investigation, Dunphy said he has not been questioned or contacted by the police. Loranger has yet to respond to requests for comments.

$18 million has allegedly been spent on the festival, $10 million of which was paid up front to performers and $2.2 million to purchase land from the airport.

Billy Idol, Blondie, Nickelback and Alice Cooper are just some of the names that were due to perform at Roxodus.

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com