HARTFORD, Conn. — Ticket holders are demanding answers after a scheduled three-day rock festival was cut short and changed venues a day before the event was scheduled to start.
Capulet Festival was envisioned to be held at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park with 55 bands, two stages and tents for vendors and an area for camping, but Thursday things changed.
In a Facebook post, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park said that Capulet Fest was no longer happening at their facility, and they had no connection with Capulet Fest or with the company behind the festival Capulet Entertainment.
Capulet Fest then posted to Facebook that they would be moving the festival about an hour away to Hartford at the Webster Theater.
Julian Gellman, the owner of the Webster, said he wanted to help out the rock community.
“If it were to be canceled, that kind of impacts the rock community and the rock scene in Connecticut, and we know that this being a legendary rock venue, it made sense for us to jump in and get involved with it,” said Gellman.
After seeing the turnout and the income from the first two days, Gellman said he could not let the event continue in good conscience.
“Friday, when we saw wasn't as many people that expected to, you know, be in attendance, on Saturday night, we had a discussion with them about hey, is this going to be achievable and doable on your end? And it seemed like he wasn't able to pay the rent,” said Gellman.
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Tickets ranged from $65 to $700 and many fans are now trying to get a refund.
Luke Losinger lives in Mansfield, Pa. and decided not to attend after the venue was changed, causing a lot of bands to start dropping out of the event.
“I'm driving seven hours to Connecticut from where I live in Pennsylvania, I'm not driving all that way to see bands that I really don't know when the two bands that I bought tickets to see are out,” said Losinger.
Losinger said he’s not confident he'll get a refund, but if he does, it could take weeks.
“If I'm lucky, I will get an update to my resolution by the end of this month, but that's if Capulet doesn’t try and dispute it,” said Losinger.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Capulet wrote the following:
"Sunday is no longer an option. We fought. We wrestled with obstacle after obstacle. We became a target. We became hated, even when we were doing our best to save something and give you the best show possible. No one sees the sacrifice. All they do is judge. We did everything we could. We hope you had fun. We did our best. Thank you to everyone who came out and had a blast. We hope you enjoyed the meet and greets. We hope you enjoyed the music. Goodbye.”
Fans say they just want accountability. “It was chaos, and there was no there were no apologies. There was just we hope you made we made you proud, and I think that's what irritated most of us is there was no not a simple apology. Just, We hope you made you proud,” said Losinger.
The Connecticut Office of the Attorney General said Monday that they have received at least 40 complaints and are looking seriously into the allegations. Attorney General William Tong has announced a news conference taking place Tuesday afternoon on the topic.
Fans who have been impacted who would like to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office regarding Capulet fest are asked to visit this website.
Jake Garcia is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jgarcia@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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