The headliner who was supposed to perform on the second day of the two-day BREAKOUT Festival, which was hosted at the PNE Amphitheatre, fled the venue last night after feeling ill and saying he wasn’t healthy enough to perform. This choice was made just before the performer’s scheduled appearance time, and PNE employees weren’t informed of the modification until the performer had already left the location.
At around 9:15 pm, the amphitheatre’s approximately 5200 visitors were informed of the change. A total of 4200 of those visitors left the location in a timely manner. We appreciate them leaving our building and the surrounding area in a respectful manner.
About 1000 attendees had a violent outburst after being disappointed, causing PNE property in Hastings Park and the Amphitheatre to sustain damage worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. As far as we know, there was additional property damage to homes, businesses, and public spaces outside of Hastings Park. We sincerely apologise to our neighbours for this.
Our crew has been shocked by the act of senseless violence and aggression. The PNE is happy to host almost 1800 event days annually in a polite and safe manner. The actions taken last night were unacceptable and did not represent the PNE or the great majority of our visitors. Thank you to the Vancouver Police Department and Metro Vancouver Transit employees.
In order to ensure that we can support any affected neighbours, businesses, or households, we will also be collaborating with them. The logistics of how this will work are still being worked out, and we will update stakeholders.
We are starting to clean up and restore our venue as well as supporting the members of our staff team who were present for yesterday night’s festivities.
In order to guarantee the thorough and prompt restoration of all damages resulting from this tragedy, both on our site and throughout our city, we will be collaborating with BREAKOUT Festival’s promoter, Timbre Events, and their insurance provider.
