Chicago’s Michelada Fest, a Latin music festival in the US, has cancelled its 2025 edition due to a “rapidly changing political climate” across the nation.

The two-day festival was set to return to Illinois’ Oakwood Beach from 19-20 July, but organisers cited “uncertainty surrounding artist visas” as part of their rationale for cancelling the upcoming edition. Danny Ocean, Anitta, Grupo Firme, and Netón Vega were on tap to headline.

“We’re no longer able to guarantee the full experience we had dreamed up for you with all your favorite artists. Although we tried to push through, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to deliver the full lineup as planned,” organisers wrote online.

“This was not an easy decision for us to make. For seven years, we’ve poured everything into this festival to create something truly special for our community. Last year was our most incredible celebration yet, and we were ready to make this year even bigger, with more energy, creativity, and corazón.

“But as independent organisers, we can’t afford to take on a big risk with so much uncertainty ahead.”

The decision comes a month after the regional Mexican band Los Alegres del Barranco’s US visas were revoked for “glorifying a drug kingpin” after displaying an image of cartel leader El Mencho at a show in Zapopan, near Guadalajara. The band was scheduled for over a dozen shows across the US, including the festival.

Following the group’s visa cancellation, deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau wrote: “In the Trump administration, we take seriously our responsibility over foreigners’ access to our country. The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists.”

Co-produced by Big Indie, Zamora Live and Viva Tu Musica, Michelada Fest began in 2019 and quickly scaled up from a street festival to a 20,000-capacity event on the Lake Michigan shore. Past performers include Kali Uchis, Junior H, Prince Royce, and Natti Natasha.

“We don’t want to take a chance and put our community at risk”

“We’re heartbroken by the greater impact this will have on our involved community, with ripple effects reaching our neighbourhoods, local economy and the culture we’ve built together. But despite this setback, we remain committed to our values,” organisers shared.

“Michelada Fest will always be a safe place where our community comes together, united by pride and love of our culture and music. That won’t ever change. We’ll keep showing up, giving back, and uplifting our people in every way we can.”

This development is the latest instance of touring artists experiencing visa complications under the Trump administration. Last month, FKA twigs pulled out of her Coachella performances as a result of “ongoing visa issues”, along with several headline shows. British punk rock band UK Subs were turned away at the border in March, and Canadian indie-folk band Shred Kelly cancelled their tour in April after a series of issues with shifting regulations.

“We were feeling generally uneasy about how quickly things are changing in the US,” the band said in a statement. “Human rights are not being valued in the way they once were, and due process seems to be optional. New laws or regulations seem [to] change daily, and we couldn’t feel at ease working in the US for the next nine months and crossing the border multiple times.”

CNN recently reported that cultural events across the US are being nixed over fears of deportations and raids from federal immigration agents. Chicago’s own Cinco de Mayo parade, which typically attracts around 300,000 people, was cancelled ahead of the Mexican national holiday earlier this week.

“We don’t want to take a chance and put our community at risk. It’s a loss economically, but we put safety over money,” said Hector Escobar, who helps organise the event.

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Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, US, will not take place in 2025 after 19 years of operation.

The American music magazine confirmed that the long-running event won’t be returning next year in an official statement, citing the rapid evolution of the current music festival landscape.

“As the music festival landscape continues to evolve rapidly, we have made the difficult decision not to host Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in 2025,″ the statement read.

“This decision was not made lightly. For 19 years, Pitchfork Music Festival has been a celebration of music, art and community – a space where memories were made, voices were amplified and the shared love of music brought us all together.

“The festival, while aligned with the taste of the Pitchfork editorial team, has always been a collaborative effort, taking on a life of its own as a vital pillar of the Chicago arts scene. We are deeply grateful to the City of Chicago for being our Festival’s home for nearly two decades, to the artists who graced our stages with unforgettable performances, and to the fans who brought unmatched energy year after year.

“Thank you to At Pluto and the rest of the hardworking Festival team whose dedication and creativity were the backbone of every event, and to the broader community whose spirit and support made the Festival a truly unique experience. And thank you to Mike Reed for founding the Festival and your inspiring vision.

“Pitchfork will continue to produce events in 2025 and beyond”

The statement concluded: “Pitchfork will continue to produce events in 2025 and beyond. We look forward to continuing to create spaces where music, culture, and community intersect in uplifting ways – and we hope to see you there.”

The Pitchfork Music Festival has its origins in 2005’s Intonation Music Festival, which saw local promoters Skyline Chicago recruit Pitchfork Media to curate their inaugural event at Chicago’s Union Park. Though Intonation would return in 2006, Pitchfork Media split to create their own event under the Pitchfork Music Festival name.

Over the years, the festival has featured headliners including Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slint, Björk, Wilco, A Tribe Called Quest, the Isley Brothers, and more. This year’s event took place in July and featured Jamie xx, Alanis Morissette, and Black Pumas as headliners.

Pitchfork has also held international events in Paris between 2011 and 2022; in London from 2021 to 2023; Berlin in 2020 and 2022; and a lone event in Mexico City this year.

The news of the festival’s demise arrives months after parent company Condé Nast announced staff layoffs as the website was absorbed by another Condé title, men’s magazine GQ.

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Pitchfork Music Festival is launching in Mexico City next year, following editions in Chicago, London, Berlin and Paris.

The event will take place from 6 to 9 March 2024 across venues including Foro Indie Rocks!, Frontón Bucareli, Fünk Club and Yu Yu.

The first acts will be announced in the coming months, along with more venues.

“With its incredible and diverse music scene, Mexico City is a natural home for our festival,” said Pitchfork’s editor-in-chief, Puja Patel.

“With its incredible and diverse music scene, Mexico City is a natural home for our festival”

“We look forward to championing a lineup of local and international artists, and, as always, creating space for music discovery and community. I’m especially grateful to our partners at Indie Rocks for sharing our vision and bringing it to life.”

Pitchfork Plus passes are available for 4,400 Mexican pesos, and grant access to four venue shows and three club shows.

Pitchfork Standard passes are also available for 3,400 Mexican pesos, and grant access to four venue shows.

The Pitchfork Music Festival launched in 2006 in Union Park, Chicago. In 2011, the festival’s first spin-off event took place in Paris at the 15,000-capacity Grande Halle de la Villette.

In 2019, the festival launched in Berlin at the 3,500-capacity Tempodrom, featuring a mix of established artists and emerging musicians. And in 2021, the first edition of Pitchfork Music Festival London took place.

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Billie Eilish’s headline set at Lollapalooza in Chicago will be partially solar powered by zero-emission battery systems.

The climate-friendly performance on Thursday 3 August is part of the Music Decarbonisation Project co-founded by Eilish herself in partnership with the environmental non-profit Reverb.

The 21-year-old’s set at the flagship Lollapalooza will be powered by zero-emissions battery systems, supplied and managed by Overdrive Energy Solutions and charged via a temporary “solar farm” at the Grant Park festival site.

The battery systems will serve as a demonstration of clean energy technologies that can drastically reduce live music’s greenhouse gas pollution and accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels, reads a release.

“By showcasing this technology with one of the biggest artists in the world, we’re accelerating toward a decarbonized future”

“We hope and believe this will be a watershed moment for the music industry,” says Adam Gardner of Reverb in a statement. “There are real climate solutions available right here, right now. By showcasing this technology with one of the biggest artists in the world, on one of the most revered festival stages, we’re accelerating the necessary transition toward a decarbonized future, for music and beyond.”

The sustainability project is one of Elish’s many efforts to combat climate change. The US singer previously partnered with Reverb for her 2022 Happier Than Ever world tour, where they set up Eco-Villages at her concert venues.

The star has also performed at numerous climate change-awareness events such as Global Citizen, the Earthshot Prize and Overheated.

Lollapalooza takes place between 3–6 August with acts including Kendrick Lamar, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey, Odesza, Karol G, The 1975 and Tomorrow X Together.

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Bluedot (UK) and Pitchfork Festival Chicago (US) are the latest festivals to be disrupted by extreme weather conditions.

Organisers of the music and science festival Bluedot were forced to cancel Sunday day tickets due to the “unprecedented amount of rainfall over the past seven days that saw the water level reach saturation point during [Saturday] night”.

This rendered the day ticket holder car park, pick-up and drop-off point and entrances “impassable,” according to a post on the festival’s website and social media.

“We have worked hard this weekend and throughout last night, laying over 1.5km of additional track mat and trackway, 130 tonnes of sustainably sourced wood chip and bringing multiple trucks on site to pump out standing water, however… it is not possible to accommodate further audience vehicles on site” read the statement.

Sunday’s schedule, which was headlined by Grace Jones, went ahead as planned but only for the weekend campers that had been at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, since Friday.

“An unprecedented amount of rainfall over the past seven days that saw the water level reach saturation point during the night”

The 25,000-capacity event, which was acquired by Superstruct last year, welcomed artists including Pavement, Roisin Murphy, Leftfield and Max Richter between 20 and 23 July.

Across the Atlantic, Pitchfork Music Festival was evacuated for an hour on Saturday (22 July) “due to dangerous weather conditions”.

The word went out at 16:40 asking festivalgoers to evacuate Chicago’s Union Park, and steer clear of metal fencing and stages, due to ominous clouds and the threat of lightning.

Vagabon’s delayed afternoon set was just underway when the announcement came. Earlier that day, the festival’s opening sets were also affected by a weather delay, with Palm’s set cancelled, and delayed start times on sets by Black Belt Eagle Scout and others.

Pitchfork and Bluedot are the latest live music festivals affected by adverse weather conditions, after Primavera (Spain), Dutch festivals Awakenings, Bospop and Wildeburg, Alexandra Palace’s Kaleidoscope Festival and Robbie Williams’ concert in Austria.

Elsewhere, festivals such as Austria’s Nova Rock and Australia’s Splendour in the Grass this year invested in site improvements after their 2022 editions were hit with extreme weather.

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The producers behind Baja Beach Fest, Chicago’s Reventon Promotions, and Lollapalooza are launching a new Latin Reggaeton festival in the US.

Sueños Music Festival (Dreams Music Festival) will be the largest Latin Reggaeton music event to ever take place in Grant Park in the heart of downtown Chicago.

The two-day, one-stage event will feature headliners J Balvin, Ozuna, and Wisin & Yandel, with performances from Myke Towers, El Alfa, Jhay Cortez, Sech, Fuerza Regida and more over Memorial Day weekend, 28 and 29 May.

The festival will be J Balvin’s only Chicago appearance in 2022 and his first time performing in the city since his iconic set at Lollapalooza in 2019, and Reggaeton star Ozuna’s first performance in Chicago in four years. Wisin & Yandel, meanwhile, will deliver one of their last-ever performances at Sueños, as part of their final tour, ‘La Ultima Mision’.

“Reggaetón is a massive genre but remains underserved by live festivals in the US”

“We’re honoured to work with the producers of Lollapalooza and Reventon to bring a premier Latin festival to Grant Park in Chicago,” says Baja Beach Fest’s Aaron Ampudia. “Reggaetón is a massive genre but remains underserved by live festivals in the US. We’re extremely proud to expand to the US and serve our community and everyone who enjoys Latin music. Chicago, estén listos para perrear.”

Reventon Promotions’ Enrique Medrano adds: “Over a decade ago, I started Reventon Promotions with a dream of bringing authentic and diverse Hispanic entertainment to Chicago. Now I am excited and proud to be part of the first Sueños festival, an event that celebrates the Hispanic presence in the city, in addition to being held in the iconic and representative Grant Park right in the heart of downtown. What better place is there for thousands of people from different Latin American countries to meet, share, and celebrate with artists of the likes of J Balvin, Ozuna, and many more.”

Lollapalooza Chicago is due to return to Grant Park between 28–31 July, while Baja Beach fest will return to Rosarito Beach, Mexico, for a third edition between 12–14 and 19–21 August.

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Brendan Biesen, ex-assistant to Erik Selz and Tom Windish at Paradigm Talent Agency, has launched Field Booking, the latest independent booking agency to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chicago-based agency will focus primarily on booking and tour management for musical acts, but will also provide promotional and image cultivation services for artists looking to expand their audiences.

Field Booking’s current roster includes Peter Oren, Half Gringa, The Slaps, Fast Preacher and Logan Farmer.

“The idea for Field Booking came from paying attention to the shifts and trends in the industry, and how it’s been adapting and reacting to the pandemic,” says Biesen.

“Field Booking came from paying attention to the shifts and trends in the industry, and how it’s been reacting to the pandemic”

“I felt that, with my time in the industry and the relationships I’ve managed to build in that time, I could forge a new path with Field and help give artists a chance at the success they deserve.

“I want to foster an inclusive environment at Field Booking that puts emphasis on the artists and their growth. I think it’s important to recognize that while I may be the agent, we are all in this together as a team to make this industry better as a whole.”

Biesen spent five years at Paradigm and its former incarnation The Windish Agency where he managed day-to-day booking duties for the rosters of Windish and Selz and helped expand the reach of the A&R department.

Field Booking follows the launch of Arrival Artists, Mint Talent Group and TBA Agency in the US, as well as Marshall Live Agency, Mother Artists, One Fiinix Live, Route One Booking and Runway Artists in the UK and Rebel Beat Agency in Spain, in 2020, amid a wider fragmentation of the global agency sector in response to the coronavirus shutdown.

Want to hear more about the influx of new independent agencies from some of the new kids on the block? Register for ILMC and tune in to Agency Business: Enter the New Players.

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ICM Partners has appointed seasoned US-based agents Ron Kaplan, Garry Buck and Alex Buck to its concerts division.

The trio join ICM Partners from Paradigm, which acquired Monterey International, the agency Kaplan and Garry Buck co-founded in 1994, three years ago. Kaplan and the Bucks bring a roster that includes Van Morrison, Roger Daltrey, Joss Stone, Whitesnake, Corinne Bailey Rae, Spyro Gyra and Stephen Stills’ the Rides to ICM.

Rob Prinz, head of worldwide concerts for ICM, comments: “I have known Ron and Garry as fierce competitors, talented and professional agents for decades. We are thrilled to welcome them and their tremendous clients to the ICM family.”

Kaplan and Garry Buck first worked together at Chicago-based agency Prestige (later American Famous Talent) in the mid 1980s, developing their rosters and routing global tours for rock, blues and Americana artists.

“I’m happy to find a home at ICM with so many like-minded agents”

Alex Buck joined them at Monterey International just over a decade ago.

Commenting on moving to ICM, Kaplan says: “It was Garry’s and my goal to find a collaborative team, who we could work closely with to provide our touring clients multi-faceted opportunities across all aspects of talent – including TV, movies, soundtrack, corporate and branding – while preserving our 30-plus year business partnership. We are so fortunate to find it at ICM.”

“I’m happy to find a home at ICM with so many like-minded agents, and truly excited for what the future holds,” adds Alex Buck.

The new hires follow a year of expansion for LA-based ICM Partners in 2020, which included a string of strategic hires and a partnership with the UK’s Primary Talent International.

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Auris Presents, a new promoter and event production company led by seasoned local live music professionals, has launched in Chicago.

The firm is co-founded by partners Nick Karounos and Stuart Hackley and managing partners John Curley (Paradigm Presents) and Joe Quade (Bam Creates). Karounos is owner of venues Radius (4,000-cap.) and Prysm (650-cap.), partner in Concord Music Hall (1,450-cap.), and former partner of React Presents (Spring Awakening Music Festival), while Hackley is the founder and operator of Loud Crowd, a national events company, and a former senior talent buyer at promoter Disco Donnie Presents.

“I’m excited to bring this strong Chicago-based team together, along with Stuart and the Loud Crowd team, who will continue to produce events throughout the country,” comments Karounos. “They bring incomparable energy and experience to Auris Presents’ midwest focus.”

“The formation of Auris Presents and bringing this team together was essential for our venues to survive”

Joining the team as operating partners are Carson Rhoads, Dom Brown and Mike Lang, with Garrett Birch and Joe Calderone rounding out the team in marketing and design.

Auris will promote “innovative, experiential and curated events at unique locations”, including owned venues, as well as partnering with other promoters and venues in the midwest and across the US, with a slate of socially distanced shows for the remainder of 2020 set to be announced soon.

“The formation of Auris Presents and bringing this team together was essential for our venues to survive, especially Radius, which opened just two weeks prior to the pandemic,” continues Karounos.

“The survival of independent promoters and venues is important to ensure one company isn’t able to monopolise the industry, causing [fewer] options for the artists and fans, inflated service fees and complacency with the fan experience.”

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Illinois State has rejected plans for a spring break concert that would have been headlined by R. Kelly. The organisers of Spring Break Jam planned to hold the concert at Illinois State Fairgrounds in April, but officials have denied the application, citing security issues.

Controversial R&B star R. Kelly was to host the proposed event on 6 April in Springfield, Illinois. The line-up also included Yella Beezy, Young Lloyd and Dre Madison. Tickets for the event cost between US$75 and $150, according to previously released promotional material. Such material, including the event page on Eventbrite, has since been taken down.

“Unfortunately, we cannot control when organisers start promoting an event – there was never a signed agreement to host the event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, only an application,” says Denise Albert, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA), reports the Chicago Tribune.

R. Kelly has faced allegations of sexual abuse throughout his career. Criticism of the artist has spiked following the airing of the Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly earlier this month. The documentary exposed detailed accounts of the singer’s alleged physical, sexual and emotional abuse of women, as well as claims that he ran an “abusive cult”.

“We cannot control when organisers start promoting an event – there was never a signed agreement to host the event”

The documentary has prompted many industry figures to denounce R. Kelly. Lady Gaga has since removed her duet with the artist from streaming services, apologising for having collaborated with the singer.

The IDOA claims that the cancellation is down to security concerns spurred by protests against the artist, and not in direct response to the documentary. The proposed event failed to meet the following criteria:

• The security of both the physical premises and persons upon the premises of the State Fairgrounds
• Reasonably foreseeable problems with security caused by either the nature of the usage or the identity of the proposed lessee or his/her patrons
• The welfare of the general community

The IDOA have stated that they could reconsider and approve the concert, but only in the event that R. Kelly will not appear on the bill.

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