The festivals that fell through in 2026: why they were cancelled and which say they will return

At least twelve festivals lost their 2026 edition or saw it cut short. Some did not sell enough, others were left without a venue or permits, and one, Les Arts, lost only one of its two days. What almost none of them has is a return date.

This round-up sets out the reason each organiser gave, what happened to the tickets and who has promised to come back.

Numbers that did not add up: sales, the most common reason

Four organisers explained their cancellation with the same reason: they did not sell the tickets they needed to make the numbers work.

• Fortaleza Sound (Lorca, 26 and 27 June). In early June, the festival announced it was cancelling because it had not reached «the minimum number needed» of tickets sold, according to the statement reproduced by La Ganzúa: what it had sold could not cover its costs.
• Bigsound Torrevieja (Parque Antonio Soria, 25 and 26 July). On 8 May, the Town Council and the organisers announced in a joint statement that there would be no edition because the level of public response and sales needed to hold it under the planned conditions had not been reached. The project was «postponed to future editions».
• L’Arena Music Experience (San Juan de la Arena, Soto del Barco, 24 to 26 July). It was to be its first edition. In mid-July, the promoter cancelled it because of ticket sales far below expectations and «unforeseen circumstances» it did not specify, according to La Nueva España and ABC.
• Feroe (Poble Espanyol, Barcelona, 13 November). The latest case, made public on 22 October: Feroe has cancelled its second edition because it did not reach the 2,000 tickets it needed. Its director, Albert Puig, added criticism of artists' fees and of the prices of other events to the statement; this is his opinion on the industry.

The case with the most dates affected was the Reggaeton Beach Festival. On 18 June, its organisers confirmed that they were cancelling their entire 2026 Spanish tour, with seven stops in Alicante, Tenerife, Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca, Santander and Nigrán, and ceasing operations. The statement put it down to economic, financial and operational problems that prevented it from guaranteeing a tour of that size.

When the problem was the venue, the permits or building work

Festival De Les Arts was not cancelled outright. The Friday 5 June day went ahead at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, with more than 25,000 people according to the organisers, and Saturday 6 was called off. The festival explained in its statement that València City Council and the management of CACSA, the company that runs the complex, notified it that it could not hold the second day around twenty minutes before the gates opened. It linked this to a ruling of 25 March 2026 that found in favour of local residents in a noise lawsuit to which the festival was not a party.

The other version is the City Council's: according to Valencia Plaza and El Español, the noise limits in the municipal by-law were exceeded on the Friday, and the councillor for Housing and Urban Planning, Juan Giner, responded to the festival that its organisers «knew the rules of the game». The Friday had already been marred by complaints from the audience, who could not hear the concerts properly. We reported on it at the time in the cancellation of the second day.

Astral Plane was created to celebrate the total eclipse of 12 August with three days of electronic music in La Pinilla (Segovia). In July it announced that it was leaving that site and joining the Iberia Eclipse Festival in Vinuesa (Soria), whose town council did not authorise the event. The organisers then looked for land in Cabrillanes, in Babia (León), and on 6 August, hours after announcing the move, called off the festival. According to elDiario.es, the promoter said that «operating without absolute legal certainty is not an option»; the mayor of Cabrillanes, for his part, announced that the event would not take place in the municipality.

Time Warp was to hold its third Madrid edition on 18 and 19 September in Pavilion 12 at IFEMA. In July it announced the cancellation, the first it has made in advance in its 33-year history, according to the festival itself. Its statement blames the venue: it speaks of continual changes since May and of difficulties linked to dismantling a third party's infrastructure covered by an exclusivity agreement, without IFEMA offering a solution that would allow what had been agreed to go ahead. It adds that its legal team is looking into liability. We have not found any public response from IFEMA.

Two festivals were postponed rather than cancelled. FiestoRon, the rock festival in Arucas (Gran Canaria), announced as early as October 2025 that it would skip 2026 because of improvement works at the Recinto Ferial, which would not be finished until the end of this year, according to RTVC. And Holi Not Holi, which was due to debut on 24 October in Torremolinos, moved to 2 April 2027 for «logistical reasons related to the production of the event», according to the organisers.

Tsunami and Tomavistas: a break and an ending without a statement

Tsunami Xixón did not take place in 2026. Gijón's local government confirmed this in January at a council committee, according to Nortes, and the organisers explained it in a statement reported by Guitar Calavera: with no tours by major international bands available, «there is no Tsunami». Its promoter said it would explore smaller formats during the year.

Tomavistas is the only case without a statement from the festival. Willy García Blesa, founding partner and production director, declared the project over on his personal social media in February, according to Time Out and Indies; the Madrid festival had not announced it on its official channels and has not given a reason. No edition has been announced.

Who has announced a return and who has not

With a date or venue for 2027. Holi Not Holi has a date and venue: 2 April 2027 at the París 15 venue in Málaga, with a new line-up yet to be announced. FiestoRon will return in 2027 to the Recinto Ferial de Arucas, according to the organisers and the mayor, but still without dates, line-up or tickets.

Intending to return, with no date.

• Bigsound Torrevieja: the brand said it wanted to keep exploring a return to the town. Its next confirmed event is a different one, BIGSOUND Valencia, on 18 and 19 June 2027 in Torrent.
• Time Warp: it promised a new date in Spain, but as of 25 October its international schedule includes none; it does include Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Mannheim (3 April 2027).
• Tsunami Xixón: according to its statement, it will return «only when it can be gigantic».
• Les Arts: it opened the door to a 2027 edition and asked its followers to suggest artists, but as of 13 October CACSA had not received any request for space for that year, according to Valencia Plaza.
• Feroe: Albert Puig leaves open the possibility of returning, with no date or format.

No announcement of continuity. Fortaleza Sound, L’Arena Music Experience, Astral Plane, the Reggaeton Beach Festival and Tomavistas have not announced any further edition.

What happened to the tickets and what you can claim

The OCU set out the general rule in connection with Fortaleza Sound: if a festival is cancelled, buyers are entitled to get back the full amount paid, booking fees included, and can claim it from the organisers or from the ticketing platform. Accommodation and transport are claimed separately; first, it is worth asking hotels and companies for free cancellation or a change of dates. Keep receipts, confirmations and emails from the organisers.

What each festival announced:

• Feroe: automatic refund in the days following the announcement, with no need to request it.
• Time Warp: full refund through the official sales channels within a maximum of 15 days. Anyone who has not received it should claim it from the platform where they bought their ticket.
• Holi Not Holi: tickets for 24 October are not valid for April and are refunded through the same purchase channel.
• Les Arts: full refund of Saturday day tickets and of cashless wristband balances, and 50% of general, VIP and Golden VIP passes. Friday tickets are not refunded. FACUA Comunitat Valenciana and the Unión de Consumidores de la Comunitat Valenciana demanded a full refund, and the OCU pointed out that anyone who considers the Friday service to have been deficient can make a claim.
• L’Arena Music Experience: the promoter announced that it would email each buyer with the steps for the refund.
• Astral Plane: the promoter sent a personal link for each order to the email address used for the purchase. In September, a group of buyers was still demanding a full refund through a petition, according to Soria Noticias.
• Reggaeton Beach Festival: the ticket seller, Enterticket, told buyers they would automatically receive instructions for getting their money back, according to Última Hora. For claims, ModoFestival explained what rights attendees have.
• Fortaleza Sound: it said it would handle the procedures arising from the cancellation through its official channels, without specifying how.

The Bigsound Torrevieja note and the statements from Tsunami Xixón and FiestoRon do not mention refunds. If you have a ticket for any of these festivals and have not got your money back, the first step is to make a claim on the platform where you bought it, with your order number and the cancellation notice to hand.

Sources, consulted on 25 October 2026: La Ganzúa (7 June 2026) and OCU (18 June 2026), on Fortaleza Sound; note from Torrevieja Town Council (8 May 2026); La Nueva España (15 July 2026) and ABC (21 July 2026), on L’Arena Music Experience; Feroe statement (22 October 2026); Que.es (18 June 2026) and Última Hora (19 June 2026), on the Reggaeton Beach Festival; Festival De Les Arts statement (6 June 2026), El Español (6 and 8 June 2026), Valencia Plaza (6 June 2026), OCU (9 June 2026), OfficialPress, on FACUA's position, and Valencia Plaza (13 October 2026); elDiario.es (5 and 6 August 2026), Diario de Castilla y León (6 August 2026) and Soria Noticias (26 September 2026), on Astral Plane and Iberia Eclipse; official Time Warp statement, Technobeatscloud (5 July 2026), El Mirador de Madrid (20 July 2026) and Time Warp website; RTVC (29 October 2025), on FiestoRon; official Holi Not Holi website and La Ganzúa (16 October 2026); Nortes (16 January 2026) and Guitar Calavera, on Tsunami Xixón; Time Out Madrid (20 February 2026) and Indies (22 February 2026), on Tomavistas.