Rebel Rock Festival, which was set to take place in Orlando, Florida, today (September 24th) through Sunday (September 26th), has been canceled just hours before it was set to begin. Unfortunately, severe weather leading up to the festival made the grounds unfit for fans.
The fest was able to stage its “Taco Metal Party” last night, although headliner Volbeat was forced to drop out due to visa issues. However, there wasn’t enough time to make the rest of the grounds safe for the three-day main festival, which was set to feature Five Finger Death Punch, Machine Gun Kelly, Rise Against, Papa Roach, The Used, Philip Anselmo, Killswitch Engage, and many more acts.
According to comments on the Rebel Rock Instagram page, many fans had just flown into Orlando and some were already in line for today’s lineup. The statement from Rebel Rock organizers reads as follows:
“We are deeply and utterly devastated to announce the cancellation of this weekend’s Rebel Rock Festival. After this week’s severe weather and despite our crew’s effort to improve the ground conditions around the Main Stage over the last three days, our venue partner has deemed the area unfit for artists, crews, vendors, and fans. We were able to get in the Taco Metal Party on Thursday by using the B-Main grounds while continuing to work on the conditions of the Main Stage grounds. The amount of water dropped this week simply proved to be too much to clear to provide you a safe festival environment and experience. We can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is to see two years of work be tackled by mother nature. We’ll share more information about refunds as soon as possible.”
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Weather isn’t the only issue that plagued Rebel Rock. Incubus pulled out of the fest recently due to a positive COVID-19 case within their camp, and fellow headliner Limp Bizkit had previously canceled all remaining 2021 dates due to COVID concerns.
Earlier this month, the massive Bonnaroo festival was canceled for the same reason, as Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the grounds leading up to the Tennessee event.
