People who had tickets for the Music On festival, which was cancelled this weekend, will be able to get a refund. They can also choose to use their ticket for next year’s festival, the organization said on Tuesday.
The house festival was scheduled to take place on Saturday and Sunday in the Meerpark in Amsterdam East. It was canceled an hour before doors opened because the municipality had rejected the central tent on the festival site.
“The cancellation of Music On Festival 2026 has shaken us to our core,” the organization said. “We understand the disappointment, disbelief, and confusion that so many of you are feeling. We hear you, and we feel the same way.”
The organization is currently working on a system to handle refunds. “We will communicate all details clearly to all ticket holders next week.” Those who wish to hold onto their tickets can use them for the next edition of Music On Festival.
The festival was cancelled due to the permit for the party tent being used. When the municipality granted the event permit for Music On, the application stated that the festival would use a Sahara tent. In March, Music On opted to use a different tent and asked the municipality to amend the permit.
According to Music On, the tent involved is a standard rental structure that has been used at many major events, including during the Amsterdam 750 celebrations last year. “The tent has been approved and safely used on multiple occasions across the Netherlands,” the organization said.
But on May 5, weeks after the organization asked to amend the permit, the city’s environmental agency sent a negative recommendation regarding the use of this tent. Because the municipality could therefore not guarantee the safety of visitors, it revoked the festival permit. Music On took the matter to court, but the court ruled in the municipality’s favor on Saturday morning.
All 20,000 tickets for the festival had been sold out. The last-minute cancellation “broke us,” the organization said. “This is not just our loss. It is the loss of thousands of visitors, hundreds of crew members, artists, and suppliers who worked tirelessly to make this festival happen. And ultimately, it is a situation no one wanted. Not us, and we believe not the municipality either.”
The organization asked the municipality for a meeting to evaluate what went wrong.