Jake Cox
Audio By Carbonatix
Friday night at Velorama didn’t turn out the way anybody expected – twice.
Glass Animals, the original opening-night headliner of the three-day bike-themed music festival in RiNo, canceled its appearance after drummer Joe Seaward was hit by a truck and injured while riding his bike in Dublin. So Modest Mouse was hired to headline Friday, August 17, instead; Glass Animals and Velorama planned to use opening night to launch a bike advocacy project.
Fans understood, all seemed well, and attendees gathered in force to see Modest Mouse. Unfortunately, the group didn’t show.
Why did the indie rockers miss the gig? Travel complications, according to Velorama’s Facebook page.
“We encourage anyone with a Friday ticket to join us on Saturday for a full night of music,” says David Koff, CEO of RPM Events Group, the organizer of Velorama, in a statement.
The festival is offering refunds for Friday night at the Velorama website. The band has rescheduled for today, August 18, and Friday night tickets will be honored. Even so, festival-goers were not pleased.
Emma writes:
I think the onsight team handled it very well. I never heard anyone yelling at them. I was glad to see that people were treated like humans. Understanding that it wasn’t their fault and only trying to ask the right questions. The people in charge and responsible (higher up event organizers and/or the band) were obviously not handling the customer service on the street. It was likely known way before they were not going to preform. Anyone would start thinking of damage control. It’s frustrating to not be told beforehand. Especially considering it was an arm and a leg to get there.
Phil adds:
Good thing Modest Mouse fans aren’t the riot type.
Joseph is irked about the lack of access to water:
Access to water should be a top priority at festivals. Bad enough you couldn’t bring it in. I had to wait in line for 30 minutes to buy water. Water lines should be separate from the alcohol. Hop Along was great though, which is the only reason I went to this shit festival.
Fans are accusing the festival of deleting complaints on Facebook.
On Twitter, attendees describe the scene:
Lots of sad faces leaving @VeloramaFest tonight 🙁
Hopefully @modestmouseband brings it tomorrow night to make up for this.#TheKills were great tho… #velorama https://t.co/z9ItPIDLNL
— Derick Wilson (@TheUmno) August 18, 2018
When your bandmate does angel dust right before your set #Velorama pic.twitter.com/RsFPdMKa31
— Emily Cooper (@ecoupe) August 18, 2018
@VeloramaFest Fuck you Velorama. I paid for three all weekend tickets and you canceled all my artists I paid to see. Now we planned our birthday weekend around Modest and now this. Terrible ????
— Steven Pesavento (@StevenPesavento) August 18, 2018
The revised music lineup for Saturday is:
Brent Cowles – 3:50 p.m.
Lo Moon – 4:25 p.m.
Rainbow Kitten Surprise – 5:20 p.m.
Cold War Kids – 6:40 p.m.
The Growlers – 8:00 p.m.
Modest Mouse – 9:20 p.m.
