Soundside Music Festival 2025 Canceled: Fans Disappointed by Abrupt Announcement
It is official, the Soundside Music Festival 2025, which had been highly anticipated by music fans all up and down the East Coast, is canceled after originally taking place September 27-28 at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with acts like The Killers, Hozier, Weezer, Vampire Weekend, etc. With months of buildup and hype, simply posted on July 25, the organizers announced the festival would no longer take place, citing only "circumstances outside our control". This major announcement was untimely and left its fans confused and heartbroken, and I don’t think anyone was prepared for this because, simply, there wasn’t a lot of further context provided around the cancellation but either way, the organizers did say all ticket holders were promised a full refund within 30 days, dependent upon bank processing time. On the contrary, Soundside's site continued to be up with their administration area, whereas their social accounts no longer exist, creating even more questions.
A Lineup That Won’t See the Stage
Most significantly, the disappointment is amplified by such a great lineup that was planned. In addition to the headliners, the festival was to showcase acts like Djo, Japanese Breakfast, The Backseat Lovers, Remi Wolf, Alex Warren, and The Last Dinner Party. Previous editions had offered plenty of great music, but the goal for 2025 was to make Soundside a standard name in the U.S. music festival circuit. Now, where are we? Regardless of the reason for cancellation, there will certainly be a hole in the fall music landscape. Yet, many fans are already starting to ask whether this is simply a hiccup in continuity or a slightly more end to Soundside.
Rebranding Couldn’t Prevent Trouble
Originally started as Sound on Sound in 2022, the festival changed names to Soundside in hopes of branding the fest better, after a lot of misfortune. Unfortunately, it has struggled ever since. Last year, the Foo Fighters were supposed to headline the festival, but they canceled days before the show. That was an unexpected decision on their part because frontman, Dave Grohl, had a personal situation where he fathered a child outside of marriage, which was released to the public. The festival found last-minute replacements for Jack White and Greta Van Fleet, but it caused a ton of disruption, which felt as though the fest was off to a rocky start. This year, they have been canceled abruptly. It feels unlucky, but unfortunate. On the other hand, fans hope it isn't the final note on Soundside.
