No refunds — yet — for angry fans of Daytona's Welcome to Rockville
DAYTONA BEACH — No refunds are yet in the cards for disgruntled fans clamoring for compensation after performances by two headliners were canceled on consecutive days because of thunderstorms at the Welcome to Rockville music festival at Daytona International Speedway.
However, discussions that could yield such refunds on ticket purchases are underway, said Danny Hayes, CEO of the Danny Wimmer Presents, the heavy-metal festival’s Los Angeles-based promoter.
“We are in conversations with the insurance company,” Hayes said on Wednesday of the potential for ticket refunds. “It is not solely our decision. This is a process and I need you to bear with me.”
Hayes addressed the issue of refunds in a 35-minute Facebook Live Townhall with festival fans on Wednesday afternoon, a session that also included an overview of procedures for crowd safety during severe weather and a discussion of other issues that have surfaced among fans on social media.
Hayes said that talks with the festival’s insurance company about the refund issue started on Saturday and are ongoing.
“We’re deep into those conversations,” he said. “We’re hoping to have something by the end of the week, but I can’t promise it. The insurance company has a big dog in this fight and I’m not authorized to just make these decisions on my own.”
The online townhall was scheduled in the wake of a flood of complaints by festival attendees after two days of the four-day heavy-metal music festival were cut short by severe thunderstorms this past weekend at the Speedway.
The Facebook Live event attracted more than 3,200 viewers.
How the weekend unfolded: Welcome to Rockville halted Saturday by storms in Daytona; more expected Sunday
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Because of the storms, two of Rockville’s four headlining bands, Korn and Guns N’ Roses, didn’t perform at the festival. Other bands also were knocked off the schedule on Friday and Saturday, as the promoter scrambled to re-set the festival lineup as a series of strong thunderstorms pummeled the Speedway.
For much of the event on Friday and Saturday, frustrated fans were herded to shelter in the Speedway grandstand or in their vehicles during multiple delays caused by lightning-laden storms that occasionally packed potential for high winds and quarter-sized hail.
Although Hayes expressed regret on Wednesday that the shows had to be interrupted, he also praised the promoter’s event team, Speedway staff and law enforcement for executing evacuations that were necessary in the name of safety.
“If you’re outdoors, you are at risk of weather, but we had an unprecedented five evacuations in two days,” he said. “As much as I hated every last minute of that, I’m incredibly proud of our team, the Daytona Speedway team and law enforcement. I’m insanely proud to be able to do that five times in two days and, thank God, no one got hurt.
“Our priority is always your safety and I can tell you we’d do that 100 out of 100 times,” Hayes said. “Safety always comes first.”
Canceled performances generated complaints
After the festival was cut short for the second consecutive day on Saturday, there were complaints from fans on the Welcome to Rockville Facebook page about congestion in the parking lots and in the concourse of the Speedway grandstand, as well as demands for refunds on tickets purchased.
In addition to Guns N’ Roses, the Saturday storms also knocked other bands off the schedule including Bush, Rise Against, Dirty Honey, Alexisonfire, Sick of It All and Saul.
Along with Korn, the Friday rain delays and show cancellation also nixed sets by popular bands including Skillet, Underoath and Breaking Benjamin. That afternoon, it also was announced that Megadeth would not be making its performance due to “travel delays.”
The festival, which opened on Thursday with a headlining performance by KISS, concluded without weather interference on Sunday, capped by a performance by closing-night headliner Nine Inch Nails.
Welcome to Rockville ticket prices ranged from one-day general admission passes at $119.99 plus fees for Thursday’s opening day to one-day VIP passes starting at $239.99 plus fees for Thursday and Friday; weekend general admission passes at $294.99 plus fees; and weekend VIP passes at $614.99 plus fees.
On the festival’s website, welcometorockville.com, festivalgoers are advised that while Welcome to Rockville is “held rain or shine,” the event also “may be delayed and/or canceled and the festival grounds may be evacuated if inclement or severe weather poses a threat to patron and staff safety.”
In such cases, “no refunds or exchanges will be given as a result of weather conditions; and no refunds or exchanges will be given for inclement or severe weather that necessitates an evacuation, delay or cancellation in part or whole of the event.”
In the Facebook Live chat, Hayes also said that moving the festival dates from late May to earlier in the spring or to November, as some fans have suggested, wasn’t a realistic possibility. In November, insurance costs would be prohibitive because of the risks of hurricane season, he said.
Nor is the Speedway available from January through April for the span of time that the rock festival requires to complete its 10-14 days of set-up, present the four-day event and then allow 10 days to tear down stages and other equipment, he said.
Welcome to Rockville is scheduled to return to the Speedway for its third straight year May 18-21, 2023.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Welcome to Rockville CEO addresses the issue of refunds on Facebook Live
