Starfest Burning Out?

The status of Starfest Music Festival is still up in the air, no pun intended. But with the second of two announced venues nixed within less than a week, things aren’t looking so promising for the North Texas festival’s debut.

Starfest organizers had seemingly pulled off quite a feat, claiming to have relocated the Sept. 8-9 festival to a new venue just two days after the city manager of Plano, Texas, notified Starfest that its license agreement was terminated.

The website for Starfest boasted that the move from Plano’s Oak Point Park to Lone Star Park At Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie, Texas, was a win with an additional stage; added attendance capacity; better parking; the ability to add a firework show; access to a BMX/skateboard park; and better viewing, sound and restrooms. Starfest was even passing on its reduced costs for infrastructure, labor and parking, as well as rental fees, to fans by cutting the cost of tickets by almost 50 percent.

But it was apparently all too good to be true.

– Starfest Music Festival

Starfest’s website is no longer selling tickets and its home page has been updated with a statement that says, “We are seeking a new home … Again!”

The statement explains that management at Lone Star Park informed Starfest “that the facility was previously booked for an outside event on their parking lots that would take up 80 percent of usable parking for our guests. The team at Lone Star Park has been diligently working with us directly to help facilitate us with other dates in one capacity or another. This unfortunately may cause us to push back our event or move locations. More details to follow, but this Cinderella Story is not over yet!  Stay tuned …”

A representative for Lone Star Park was not immediately available for comment. 

The lineup for Starfest has been scrubbed from the website, at press time. Previously announced artists included Lil Wayne, Carnage, Flo Rida, Machine Gun Kelly, and Kylee Renee Clark.

As previously reported, Plano City Manager Bruce Glasscock notified Starfest via email Aug. 16 that the festival’s license agreement with Plano was terminated immediately “because Starfest is in material breach of the license agreement, and that breach is incurable,” according to correspondence obtained by the Dallas Observer.

Starfest did not respond to Pollstar’s request for comment regarding reports of a lawsuit against the festival by a talent buyer named Simon Perez.

Perez is accusing Starfest of refusing to deliver on his commission after snagging offers for Lone Star Park At Grand Prairie and Flo Rida, according to TMZ. Perez reportedly claims that the festival “went behind his back to sign musicians on its own to avoid triggering his commission,” the gossip site reported. 

Under the “frequently asked questions” tab on its website, Starfest has addressed the pressing inquiry of: “What in the WORLD is going on with the Starfest Festival?”

“We know that there is a lot of buzz going on with Starfest … some good and not so good to say the least! Many people are confused by the press’ negativity so we thought we should discuss it here. This is a real concert. This is not the next Fyre Festival. The bands have been booked. The concert is going to happen!”