Fans all over the Tri-State area will have to live without Rolling Loud this year. Event organizers of the famous music festival announced its cancellation early morning on Mar. 17 sending thousands of people into panic. Many high school students, especially Glen Rock’s very own, are devastated by this news.

“Rolling Loud last year was so fun and my friends and I made so many memories, I can’t believe they are canceling it this year. We were all looking forward to it,” a junior in commented,

After selling over 60,000 tickets for the 2023 show, the Rolling Loud Board of Safety cited “logistical factors” as one of their main reasons for canceling. They ensured that all tickets sold would be refunded to the original method of payment, but a question of how quickly is still looming. “What’s stressful is the ticket refund. I bought the ticket with my own money and now what it’s going to take weeks? Months? Just to get my money back,” two seniors said after being asked about the status of their refund. Although “logistical factors” may be a leading factor, many headlining artists have come out saying they had opted out of the music festival weeks prior to its announcement of revocation due to the actions of the crowd last year.

With over 75,000 attendees to the 2022 show over three days, space was non-existent. It was reported that things were thrown at the artists including alcohol, shoes, phones, and food. Rolling Loud has gained a huge following since its first debut in 2015, showing off over 850 artists from Kendrick Lamar to Nicki Minaj to Kanye West. But with the amount of publicity it has received comes the crowds of masses, as was seen with Travis Scott’s festival, Astroworld back in November of 2021, resulting in 10 casualties and over 25 severe injuries. Rolling Loud may have used issues with planning as their reason for cancellation, but a bigger issue to put a spotlight on is the safety of those in the crowd and the artists on stage.

“I feel like the main point of canceling is almost to send everyone a message. The fact that they didn’t cancel in any other cities just shows the behavior shown is not out of our control. Of course it’s sad they won’t be here in October but maybe this will be the wakeup call people need,” Emily Mckeon, a junior at Glen Rock High School commented.