The annual Music Midtown festival was set to be held in Atlanta on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18. On Aug. 1, the music festival was canceled, with Billboard reporting that “changes to Georgia gun laws” kept Music Midtown from moving forward. With highly-anticipated acts including My Chemical Romance, Phoebe Bridgers, Jack White, and Fall Out Boy set to perform, music fans were quick to react to the festival’s cancellation.
On Aug. 1, official Music Midtown social media accounts shared a statement announcing the 2022 music festival is canceled.
The statement reads:
“Hey Midtown fans – due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year. We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.
Refunds will be processed automatically within the next 24 hours to the original method of payment. Please allow 7-10 business days for the refund to be processed by your bank. For any questions related to refunds, please visit http://contact.frontgatetickets.com.”
Following the announcement that Music Midtown will not take place this year, Billboard published a report about a possible reason behind the decision.
According to Billboard, “changes to Georgia gun laws that prevent the festival from banning guns on to the publicly owned festival grounds” are the “likely cause”
Since 2011, Music Midtown has been held in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. In years past, the festival has banned concertgoers from bringing guns to the festival. A ban of this type is typical for festivals, and is oftentimes required by artist contracts who perform at such events.
Billboard reports that law changes in Georgia “expanded gun carry rights on publicly owned land, like the city-owned Piedmont Park,” and “pro-gun rights groups had been emailing and posting comments of the festival’s social media page for several months, hinting at potential legal challenges.”
It is speculated that the festival might not have been able to enforce its standard gun ban, resulting in the festival being canceled.
After the Music Midtown festival was canceled, music fans expressed their disappointment about not being able to attend this year. My Chemical Romance fans in particular voiced their sadness about the decision.
One Reddit user wrote, “i’ve just been trying to see mcr in piedmont park since 2019. i feel empty inside.”
“I already cursed out loud, but had to come here to wallow in sorrow with other fans. Super depressing morning. Time for our city/state government to figure some stuff out,” another Reddit user wrote.
Other music fans took to anger and frustration over the decision, pointing the blame at politicians and pro-gun individuals.
On Reddit, a fan wrote, “congrats guys!!! You did it!! You got the thing I’ve been looking forward to for months cancelled because you couldn’t let go of your precious guns for a weekend!! Yay!!”
“I’m generally in favor of reasonable carry, but guns have 0 business being brought to a music festival. Seriously questioning the state of mind of someone who wants to have a gun on them at these events,” a Reddit user wrote.
A smaller portion of fans online blamed the music festival itself for not taking Georgia’s laws into consideration.
“Sounds like poor planning by the festival. Book a private venue instead of a municipal park. Georgia takes the Constitutional rights of its citizens seriously. Those rights aren’t suspended on the whims of event planners,” wrote a Reddit user.