Firefly Music Festival canceled for next year, promises 2024 return

Ryan Cormier, Delaware News Journal
·4 min read

After a 10-year run in a patch of forest near Dover Motor Speedway, Firefly Music Festival has announced it will not be holding the annual four-day festival next year.

However, a tweet announcing the cancellation teased a return to the area dubbed The Woodlands, which has hosted everyone from Paul McCartney and Tom Petty to Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo in its 11 events over the years.

"We’ll be cherishing these moments until we reunite," read Thursday's official tweet, posted alongside a video showing scenes from past festivals. "After 10 magical years of Firefly in The Woodlands, we’ve decided to take a year to recharge our lights. We will see you in 2024!"

Fans react to T-Pain's performance during his set on the Firefly main stage on Day 4, the final day of the 2022 Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. T-Pain's performance was nearly cancelled when the threat of severe weather conditions forced a temporary evacuation of all participants from the venue.
Fans react to T-Pain's performance during his set on the Firefly main stage on Day 4, the final day of the 2022 Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. T-Pain's performance was nearly cancelled when the threat of severe weather conditions forced a temporary evacuation of all participants from the venue.

Messages to Firefly Music Festival Director Stephanie Mezzano and AEG Chief Communications Officer Dennis Dennehy were not immediately returned.

Dover Motor Speedway, which leases the property for the festival site, released a statement about the festival freeze.

“Across 10 events and 11 years, the Firefly Music Festival has given the mid-Atlantic region countless musical memories. Dover Motor Speedway has been proud to co-host Firefly since its inception and we look forward to its return to the Woodlands in 2024," it read. "While we look forward to Firefly’s return, we will continue to explore sports and entertainment opportunities to bring to our property for the community to enjoy ― such as the 'Gift of Lights' drive-thru event set for this holiday season.”

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The festival launched as a rock-heavy music festival in 2012 with headliners Jack White, The Killers and The Black Keys, brought to Delaware by first-time festival organizers Red Frog Events.

After finding early success, Red Frog teamed up in 2014 with Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival founders Goldenvoice, an arm of AEG Presents, the global producer of live music and events. Four years into their partnership, AEG bought out Red Frog in 2018.

Over the years, pop, hip-hop and electronic music overtook rock as the dominant sound of the festival, which eventually lost much of its older fan base and saw more teenage and college-aged music fans coming to the 300-acre site.

At its height, Firefly drew 90,000 music fans, many of whom were drawn in by the first First State performance by McCartney in 2015. At its lowest point, which could arguably be this fall's incarnation, attendance was lackluster, matching the lineup, anchored by headliners My Chemical Romance, Dua Lipa, Green Day and Halsey.

A month ago, Delaware Online/The News Journal entertainment writer Andre Lamar wrote about the 2022 Firefly experience.

"This year it looked like the crowds at Firefly were a little smaller than last year. Before last year’s event, festival organizers AEG announced they were capping the 2021 festival at 50,000 people," he wrote, adding that Firefly organizers would not disclose attendance figures for this year.

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The mood on Firefly's unofficial Facebook fan page, which is home to more than 22,000 festival-going members, turned in an instant after the noon announcement.

Posts from members still in the afterglow of last month's festival, which ran Sept. 22-25, were replaced by news that the festival could be done forever, depending on whether you believe organizers about a 2024 return.

"Devastated doesn’t even begin to describe it," wrote Jill Ian of Baltimore.

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"Gosh this is going to be hard. The world is so f’ed up and I literally fill my love bucket those 4 days surrounded by such positivity and love," Steph Double-u added.

Happy participants form a line to re-enter the 2022 Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2022. The threat of severe weather conditions forced a temporary evacuation of all participants from the venue.
Happy participants form a line to re-enter the 2022 Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2022. The threat of severe weather conditions forced a temporary evacuation of all participants from the venue.

Newark's Cullen Robinson was feeling all the feels: "I'M CRYING SO HARD RN. THIS CAN'T BE REAL. SOMEBODY HOLD ME."

Red Frog signed a 10-year lease for exclusive festival rights to the site for music festivals in 2013. A year later when Goldenvoice got involved, the lease was extended to 2032.

It is unclear if a 2024 festival would be held again in September or move back to its original date in June.

Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and Twitter (@ryancormier).

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Firefly Music Festival in Delaware canceled for 2023, promises return