My Music Festivals of 2020

By alantvuong on April 14, 2020

For the past 11 years, I have been travelling the world as a wheelchair user on a regular basis with the past 6 years for music festivals too. I have been to huge well known festivals like EDC Vegas in 2015 and 2016, Ultra Japan in 2016 to smaller ones like Dusk Music Festival Tucson in 2019. I have always enjoyed the music, the people and the overall experience that I was planning to do a bunch more this year.

Mad Decent Block Party (Calgary, Sept 2015)

With COVID-19 putting a halt to almost everything including air travel and gatherings, it seems that music festivals will either have to be postponed or even cancelled for this year. Who knows when music festivals will be able to resume and if that happens this year, what kind of changes and precautions would have to be taken to ensure the safety of everyone from those attending, working or performing at the festival.

Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas, June 2015)

Here is a list of what I had originally planned for the year so far, before COVID-19 happened, and if it was postponed or pending:

Phoenix Lights

(Chandler, Arizona April 3-4)

Me and my buddy were so excited about this festival back in January when I came back from my Miami trip. We planned on going to a NHL and a NBA game along with Phoenix Lights. I even wrote a blog about it here since I was so excited. This music festival was rescheduled to later this year on October 2nd and 3rd, but EDC Las Vegas just recently rescheduled their May event to the same weekend so Phoenix Lights took this date off their event to not compete with EDC. Who knows if they will find another date later this year or if they will completely cancel the 2020 edition.

original April date and now looking for a new date

Lovers & Friends

(Los Angeles, California May 8-9)

Growing up, I really enjoyed hip hop and was so shocked when the lineup for Lovers & Friends was announced. Artists include Ludacris, Ma$e, Foxy Brown, Lil Kim and 30 more artists all on one day. Demand for tickets were so high that they had to add a second date with almost all 30 plus artists performing both days with exceptions of a few each day. Tickets for the second show also sold out very fast that it was near impossible to buy any. The great people at Lovers & Friends had VIP passes for me and a buddy for both shows and we were so excited to go. This festival has now been resheduled for August 8 and is now back to only 1 show. We still got our tickets and hopefully if it still happens, it won’t be too crazy having to squeeze everyone into 1 show.

went from 2 shows to only 1

Ever After

(Kitchener, Ontario June 12-14)

I was ready to try another camping music festival after I had a great accessible camping trip at Imagine last year. Ever After is another great 3 day weekend with headliners like Slander, Rezz and Zed’s Dead. Kitchener is over an hour drive from Toronto and it would be cool to check out another smaller Canadian city. There isn’t a rescheduled date yet as of this moment, but hopefully it could be for later this year instead of next year.

this June date needs to be rescheduled

Hard Island

(Obonjan Island, Croatia July 5-9)

Hard Island is a hardstyle music festival held on a private island in Croatia. As of right now, it is not cancelled but everything depends on how COVID-19 is affecting life in a few months. I have low expectations of this actually happening on time but visiting Croatia would be the 30th country I have visited overall. I have never been to a full music festival featuring just hardstyle before and that there would be boat parties in addition to the ones held on the beach. This festival sounds amazing and am really looking forward to this experience.

this July date might not happen

Chasing Summer

(Calgary, Alberta August 1-2)

Chasing Summer is held in my home city and I have gone the past 6 of the 7 years its been held. Still no word on the fate of this event yet but it would be weird if this is cancelled as it has been a tradition of mine to attend every year. I am looking forward to seeing some of the headlines which include Armin Van Buuren, Marshmello, Shaq and more.

would have been my 7th year in a row going

Creamfields

(Daresbury, UK August 27-30)

Creamfields is another camping music festival that I was interested in. Held in Daresbury, UK and being that it is held late August, this festival might be able to go as planned. Creamfields is also held in December in Hong Kong and in 2017 I was planning to go with a buddy but he ended up not being well so we had to miss the whole event as we did other relaxed outings in Hong Kong instead. Hope history will not repeat itself for this festival.

now rescheduled to next August 2021

Imagine

(Atlanta, Georgia September 18-20)

Imagine is one festival I have really been looking forward to as I had one of the best festival experiences ever. From trying accessible camping for the first time to meeting such great people in a city that I really enjoyed, I can’t wait to be back this year. With COVID-19 happening right now, there has been a delay on the announcement about if the event will move to Chattahoochee Hills from Atlanta Motor Speedway. Either way, there will be accessible camping and a great support team to ensure everything is accessible for all.

UPDATE: confirmed for Chattahoochie Hills

will this still happen September 2020?

This was supposed to be a year of music festivals for me and while there is still 8 months left of the year, who knows if any of these will actually happen? Even if a few does happen, how will the COVID-19 pandemic change how things are run? Follow along by clicking “like” on my facebook page for updates and to see how this plays out. Thanks to everyone involved in making this possible and that we will all be safe until it is time to meet again.