Fans who got less than they were promised at Sunday’s Day 2 of the Sueños Music Festival in Grant Park due to heavy downpours will be getting a partial refund, according to fest organizers.
After thunderstorms delayed the festival’s start by several hours on Sunday and eventually caused its hours-early end time, Sueños organizers are providing attendees who purchased their wristbands through Front Gate Tickets a 25% refund within 30 days, according to an email sent to customers.
Fans were told to leave at approximately 7:50 p.m, just 35 minutes into Maluma’s set on Sunday evening. The announcement meant that the hugely anticipated set by Peso Pluma at 9 p.m. was also not happening. When the evacuation announcement was displayed across the stage on Sunday, some fans could be seen getting unruly and rushing the stage.
Chicago resident Maria Sotelo attended the festival with her boyfriend and several of their friends on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, the scene at the park was “chaotic” for the first 20 minutes because fans were confused on whether or not they could come back, she said.
“They have to evacuate people [because] they have safety concerns,” she said, referencing the lightning spotted in the area. “But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be getting half our money back ... We essentially only got a day and a quarter of what we paid for.”
Other fans like Pilsen native Carlos Salgado described the event on Sunday as an “inconvenience.”
“Everything was a whole mess on Sunday,” said Salgado, who purchased top-tier El Sueño Passes for him and his wife at about $1,800 each. El Sueño Pass holders got access to a private lounge with free food and drinks that they could not take advantage of for most of Sunday.
It all “felt like a slap in the face,” he said.
Salgado added that he would have preferred a 50% refund because their experience on Sunday wasn’t enjoyable.
They were among the many fans disappointed about the hugely anticipated closing-night headliner Peso Pluma, who has had to cancel three performances in Chicago in the last year.
“My wife was upset. I was upset,” Salgado said.
Fans drove or flew in from different parts of the country to attend Sueños.
Selina Armenta drove two-and-a-half hours from Madison, Wisc., with her friends. They had general admission wristbands and stayed in town for the weekend.
“I wouldn’t have expected them to refund us since it’s an outdoor event,” she told the Sun-Times in a brief phone interview. “Since it’s an outdoor event, you kind of expect that if the weather ruins it, you’re kind of out of luck. It wasn’t anything in the festival’s control, so I wasn’t expecting any money back.”
Other Chicago festivals like Lollapalooza and Pitchfork have strict no-refund policies on their websites, regardless of the weather.
A Sueños festival spokesperson confirmed that 65,000 people attended this year’s festival.
Festival organizers declined to provide any further comments about the refunds.
