Major music festival announces cancellation one week out from festivals

Friday, 27 February 2026 15:10

"Unfortunately, our local partner, Primuse Entertainment, failed to meet critical deadlines and related obligations."

Global hip-hop music festival Rolling Loud Australia has announced one week out from its two events in Melbourne and Sydney it will not be going ahead.

The festival has pointed the blame at Australian partner Primuse Entertainment, which tonight hit back saying it defends "the manner in which we have conducted ourselves throughout this process".

Rolling Loud announced the cancellation in a social media post this afternoon.

The festival announced its closure on social media today.

"We're really disappointed that Rolling Loud Australia 2026 in Sydney and Melbourne will not move forward," the festival said.

"Unfortunately, our local partner, Primuse Entertainment, failed to meet critical deadlines and related obligations.

"These ongoing delays left us without the necessary guarantees to close out the event.

"We will not compromise the safety or experience of our fans, artists, and vendors.

"This one hurts."

Rolling Loud has said it will be issuing refunds to all ticket purchasers.

Primuse said in a statement tonight it was "extremely disappointed by the cancellation"

"Primuse Entertainment does not accept certain aspects of the characterisation set out in Rolling Loud's statement. While there are differing views regarding the circumstances that led to this outcome, we stand firmly by the manner in which we have conducted ourselves throughout this process," a spokesperson said.

"Primuse acted in good faith throughout and made reasonable efforts to deliver a successful event for fans, artists and partners, with the intention of ensuring the festival could proceed as planned. Our immediate focus is on supporting ticket holders and working closely with the relevant parties to ensure refunds are processed as efficiently as possible.

"We remain committed to the Australian live entertainment market and to delivering high-quality experiences for audiences in the future.

"Given the circumstances, we will not be making any further public comment at this time."

The festival was set to take place on March 7 at Sydney's Centennial Park and March 8 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.

The last time the festival came to Australia was in 2019.

The two headliners, hip-hop artists Gunna and Ken Carson, were announced as exclusive artists at the festival, with no other Australian shows except for their appearance at the festival next weekend.

The international hip-hop music festival has been held across Asia, North America, South America, Europe and Australia.

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