The 2013 Kanrockas Music Festival has been canceled exactly one month before festivities were set to begin at the Kansas Speedway. According to a statement, the festival was called off “due to insufficient ticket sales” and there are no plans to reschedule the event. Tickets will be refunded automatically.
Following its inaugural edition in 2011, which featured Eminem and Muse as headliners, the festival took a hiatus last summer. In an interview prior to this year’s lineup announcement, festival organizer Bill Brandmeyer told KC Confidential, “We’re going about this in the right way this year.” He explained: “I mean, I thought it would be cool to have The Rolling Stones, but it would also be cool to have Prince. But that’s not the kind of festival we’re trying to build this year. And we don’t want to bring in an iconic band. We learned our lesson the last time with Eminem.”
Thus, Brandmeyer and Co. booked a lineup featuring Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Passion Pit, MGMT, Kendrick Lamar, The Avett Brothers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, She & Him, Miguel, Empire of the Sun, Descendents, Yeasayer, Grimes, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Killer Mike, and more. Unfortunately, not enough festival-goers concluded that the value of the lineup was worth the price of admission.