'This is a scam': New Regina music festival a bitter experience for some fans
Safety issues, cancellations mark inaugural Sweet Escape festival
Harmony Bischler says what attracted her to the inaugural Sweet Escape music festival in Regina was its star-studded lineup.
But on her way home to Edmonton after less than 24 hours in the city, she said she found herself thinking, "Is this Fyre Festival again?" The 2017 Fyre Festival promised a luxury music experience on an island in the Bahamas, but after its spectacular failure, its organizer ended up in jail for fraud.
"I was like, this is a scam, there's nobody here. Every person that I talked to felt like they got scammed," Bischler said after her experience during the weekend in Regina.
The lineup for Sweet Escape, which took place Friday and Saturday, had internationally renowned artists like Polo G and Fat Joe making their Regina debut.
But videos accessed by the CBC show two artists — Polo G and SonReal — alleging on stage that they weren't paid by the organizers. Despite that, both the performers chose to do shortened sets for the crowd, Bischler said. Two other artists — Jazz Cartier and Stylo G — didn't perform.
Organizers said Cartier wasn't present because his payment didn't go through, but they said Stylo G had cancelled his Canada tour altogether and the issues there weren't associated with payments.
Some attendees also voiced their concerns on social media about safety issues, refunds and paying for privileges they never got.
Simon Tekeste, one of the festival organizers, said some artists didn't get the back end of their pay, which they're supposed to get before they step on the stage, because of "technical difficulties with the banks."
"I'd still consider it a success given all the hiccups. As first-time organizers, there's a lot of growing pains, but we were still able to pull it off," he said.
The organizers said all the performers have been paid in full since. However, they didn't provide CBC with proof of payment when asked.
Bischler had a general pass for the festival, but she said she was able to access VIP sections. That's because, she said, there was no security on site.
"I obviously did not feel very safe. There were also no metal detectors or anything coming into the festival," she said. "There was nobody running the doors, so anybody in the public could come in."
The organizers said they acknowledge that some people who paid for VIP tickets didn't get the experience they were looking for.
"We completely apologize. It was not our intent. We did want to have luxury — that was a big project for us — we did want to make sure that they had a different experience too," said Jeremy Lauagan, another organizer with the event.
The organizers said security didn't show up on Saturday because of "circumstances out of [our] control." They refused to name the security company or elaborate about the circumstances.
Regina police and the organizers confirmed that, on Saturday, there were issues with staff, security and entertainers not being paid. The police said power was shut off by staff around 4:30 p.m., and remained off for approximately 50 minutes.
The Regina Police Service said that as a precautionary measure, it fielded the public safety unit, SWAT team and extra patrol members on Saturday.
"Aside from some fights that were broken up, there were no major issues for police that night," police said in an emailed response Tuesday.
The police service said it had officers in Victoria Park — the festival's location — and did routine walk-throughs of the festival grounds on Friday.
It said officers responded to one injured person and one overdose outside of the festival on Friday. Intoxicated persons were arrested but no one was charged, the police said.
Organizers sold liquor tickets, but they said they didn't sell alcohol because there wasn't security on the premises. They said they're working on drink ticket refunds, but said they don't have a timeline on when the refunds might start rolling out.
SaskMusic, a non-profit association that was not associated with the Sweet Escape festival, has been arranging and promoting music events in the province for more than three decades.
Lorena Kelly, executive director of SaskMusic, said first-time organizers should downsize and test the waters — especially as organizers look at costs associated with arranging these events in an inflationary market.
"It's unfortunate if one doesn't happen to expectation and that can sour folks from going to other live events, so I really really hope that doesn't happen," she said.
Kelly said it was "really unusual" in her experience for an artist to go up on stage and voice concerns about not being paid. It also doesn't help Saskatchewan's reputation among festival-goers, she said.
"It definitely doesn't help with the tourism aspect. I'd say it probably leaves a bit of a negative impression on the city, whether that's intentional or not," Kelly said.
The organizers said ticket proceeds will still go to Hospitals of Regina Foundation, as mentioned on the Sweet Escape website. The foundation said on Tuesday that it hasn't received the proceeds yet, but said it's typical for third-party funds to take more than a couple weeks to get to them because of routine auditing and accounting delays.
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