Hardwell ended his set at Romania’s SAGA Festival early this past weekend following his on-stage complaints about failing DJ equipment and alleging that the festival had not paid him for the performance. Now, the festival is offering refunds for select ticket holders.
Roughly five minutes into his July 5 headline set at the Bucharest festival, video footage captured the Dutch producer and DJ visibly frustrated with the on-stage equipment, before throwing his headphones at the decks and grabbing the microphone to tell fans he had to “cancel the show.”
Before and during his expletive-laced tirade, several stage technicians can be seen on video attempting to resolve the technical issue. Watch below.
“This f***ing festival didn’t pay me any f***ing money to be here tonight. But I’m still here,” Hardwell can be heard saying. “I’m still here. I’m here. I’m f***ing here. And their equipment, everything is f***ing s***. Nothing is working.”
“Listen, SAGA, if I’m here for you guys, I want to perform for you guys,” he continued. “The whole equipment, everything is letting me down. I can’t perform. It’s impossible for me to perform. The whole fucking DJ booth is s***, it’s f***ing shit. I’m so sorry. I have to cancel the show, so you guys know. Thank you guys for being here and f*** SAGA Festival.”
SAGA Festival quickly disputed Hardwell’s allegations on social media, writing, “Well, Hardwell, we’re sorry that Rita Ora, Sickick, Loreen, and all the DJs on five other stages got to play on the first day of SAGA and you didn’t. The equipment traveled all the way from the Netherlands, just like you. The same set seems to be working perfectly fine for Will Sparks right now.”
Organizers added that they would have “solved any technical issues effortlessly and fast” if given proper notice, and confirmed that they had paid the artist.
Rapper Nicki Minaj also pulled out her Sunday headline SAGA performance due to safety concerns stemming from a protest planned in Bucharest today.
Earlier today, SAGA festival announced that all unscanned one-day Sunday tickets and “Choose Your Day” tickets will be fully refunded, and all scanned three-day Pink tickets and one-day Sunday tickets will be partially refunded.
The festival, which was held from July 5-7, also featured sets from Armin van Buuren, Deborah de Luca, Mau P, and James Hype, who sampled Hardwell’s rant in his own set.
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Featured image from Hardwell.
