Festival season is upon us. Just last weekend, Rolling Loud California shut down the greater Los Angeles area for several days. Next month, Coachella will storm the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. However, as music fans across the world look for festivals near them, scammers are looking to take advantage of this growing demand.
According to Complex, a Canadian festival by the name of Festival Aurora is the latest example of this ploy. Allegedly led by Harry Styles, Doja Cat, Tyler The Creator, SZA, Khalid, and Charli XCX, fans of the musicians are calling out the festival on its Instagram page (@festivalaurora). Specifically, fans of Styles noticed that the date listed for the singer to appear, June 3, seems nearly impossible given that his Love On Tour will be in France the day before and the Netherlands on June 4th.
The lineup got people excited, though, as the festival reportedly made $7,000 in ticket sales in five days.
After receiving several inquiries about the legitimacy of the festival, The Vieux-Port de Montreal (overseers of Montreal’s Old Port district), released a statement denying that the event has been approved for use of the space, writing, “We learned about this festival like the general public, through social media and their online platform. A festival with such popular names would have to be planned months in advance, and neither the SVPM nor the other partners on our territory (Port-de-Montréal / Grand Quai) were approached.”
The supposed festival has not responded to the statement released by Vieux-Port de Montreal. As of today (March 10), the festival’s Instagram page is still active.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.