Why is Firefly Music Festival 'ghosting' fans? The writing appears to be on the wall

It appears Firefly Music Festival is going to break its promise and not return to Delaware this year, as fans are stuck in a game of "Where's Waldo?" with the festival producers.

In late 2022, after its 10th Firefly event, festival producers AEG Presents promised Firefly would come back to The Woodlands of Dover in 2024, before the festival went on hiatus last summer to "recharge our lights." 

But it looks like Firefly is going to need at least one more summer to recalibrate because it's almost spring and the organizers haven't said a peep about who will perform, ticket prices, or when the festival will be held.

Furthermore, Firefly hasn't posted any updates on its website, Facebook or Instagram pages since 2022.

By comparison, Bonnaroo, and Governors Ball both teased their lineups in January, and Oceans Calling announced festival dates for 2024, back in December.  

None of that is a good sign for Firefly, a festival that's supposed to be making a comeback this year in either the summer or fall.

Below we address more red flags that point to why Firefly probably won't happen in 2024, and some of what went wrong with the festival. 

Fan says Firefly 2022: 'felt dead' 

Merritt Rugg of Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, attended Firefly from 2012 to 2016 and 2021, and 2022. She claimed the event was like a shell of itself those last few years, especially in 2022.

"In 2022, especially, the place just felt dead," Rugg said. "The crowds were so much smaller than prior years. I am not sure if that was due to the date change to the fall or what, but the difference was so noticeable."  

Rugg and her boyfriend Mark Holfelder got engaged at Firefly in 2021. The Firefly fan said she did glamping in 2022 and the festival organizers advertised there would be AC in her tent, but "they did not provide that."

Firefly Music Festival has a history of teasing dates early

Typically, when Firefly is serious about launching an event, the organizers will tease each festival by December.

Their last festival tease in November 2021 was for the September 2022 event.

Firefly announced dates for its last three pre-pandemic festivals (2017-2019) no later than December. Two of those announcements came in June, right after the festivals ended in 2016 and 2017.  

Wait, didn't Firefly tease dates in March once?

Some optimistic Firefly fans are holding out hope the festival won't miss this year, especially because the organizers once announced dates as late as March 29, 2021. That event was held in late September 2021, the first year the festival switched from June to September.

While that year featured a late tease, we need to look at it with context. That tease was for Firefly's first festival after the pandemic struck. It was an unprecedented time and festivals were scrambling to figure what the government would allow and to plan details such as social distancing to keep people safe at mass gatherings.

In December 2021, Firefly announced it was coming back in late 2022. That's a sign that when Firefly is committed to hosting an event, they'll tease it before the end of the calendar year, not wait until springtime to try to generate interest.

Firefly lost fans over the years

At its height in 2015, Firefly attracted 90,000 fans. That was the same year Paul McCartney headlined. But since then, the festival has shrunk.

In 2019, Firefly reduced from four to three days (Friday through Sunday), which trimmed the crowd down to maybe about 60,000 fans. Firefly organizers have been shy about releasing attendance stats for their festival since their 2015 event.

Firefly would return back to four days for its 2021 and 2022 events. Organizers announced they were capping the 2021 festival at about 50,000 people, which helped them meet the state's COVID-19 restrictions.

Previously, we reported several first-timers attending the festival in 2021. And despite it having capped attendance, the fan excitement at the event was still strong.

But hosting the festival in late September made it more difficult for its high school and college-age crowd to attend.

Phish Mondegreen festival is priority

It's no secret AEG has a working history with Phish and has partnered with the jam band to help them with their Mondegreen festival, coming to The Woodlands Aug. 15-18.

AEG's efforts are more focused on making that a success, an event that's buzzing, than shifting its attention to Firefly this year. That festival is more of a surefire way to bring in lots of attendance because the Phish community is very loyal and has a reputation of traveling the country to see the band.

Like Firefly, Mondegreen is four days. General admission tickets start at $450 and day passes aren't available.

Firefly organizers are hiding

Last week, Delaware Online/The News Journal asked AEG if they'll return to Dover this year. A spokesperson told us they weren't available for comment.

Dover Motor Speedway, which leases the Firefly festival grounds to AEG, also declined to comment to The News Journal last week when we asked whether festival producers have told them if they're coming back this year. 

Firefly called out by fans for 'ghosting' them

Concert lovers on the Firefly Music Festival Fan page on Facebook, which boasts over 22,000 supporters, have been talking about whether Firefly will return for months.

Some of the comments this year include:

"It's 2024...is this festival coming back or is Firefly Music Festival a memory???” one fan pondered.

"Idk how anyone thinks this festival is happening again after 2022... it's clear AEG doesn't care about firefly," another person wrote.

“It sucks that we were just kind of left on read though. Wish they would’ve told us what was going on rather than ghosting us,” a disappointed reveler explained.

“I don't think it's coming back. The last 2 years they did it, it was awful. Poor planning and lack of funds,” a fourth person added.

Why did Firefly take off in 2023, and maybe 2024?

Firefly organizers never elaborated on why the festival went dark in 2023, but it's reasonable to assume the festival's struggling attendance played a key role in that; So, the organizers needed time to figure out a good strategy to rejuvenate interest in their event.

The festival landscape is more competitive now than when Firefly launched in 2012.

New festivals have popped up like Oceans Calling in Ocean City, Maryland, which debuted last year. That event catered to old-school Firefly fans who wanted to see more rock bands and '90s acts and featured Firefly alum like Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Eat World, Dispatch, and Jack Johnson (who headlined).

Since it's looking like Firefly won't be back for at least another year, it's gonna be interesting to see if they find the recipe to bringing more excitement to The Woodlands, or if they'll choose to find other festivals to host there.

AEG's lease for exclusive festival rights to the Firefly site for music festivals ends in 2032. 

Delaware Online reporter Ryan Cormier contributed to this report.

Are you a Firefly fan with an interesting story? Please email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at [email protected]. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters. 

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Firefly Music Festival might break its promise to fans in 2024