Pouzza Fest Cancels 2021 Edition

Belvedere Band, the Penske File, PKEW PKEW PKEW, Les Shirley, Lost Love, the Anti-Queens, Wine Lips and more were scheduled to play

BY Allie GregoryPublished Sep 15, 2021

Pouzza Fest 2021 — which was scheduled to take place from September 24 to 25 in Montreal — has been cancelled due to COVID-19 safety concerns.

The 2021 edition of Pouzza would have featured performances by Belvedere Band, the Penske File, PKEW PKEW PKEW, Les Shirley, Lost Love, the Anti-Queens, Bike Thiefs, Dig It Up, Danny Rebel & the KGB, Capable, Rules, BOIDS, Blurry Eyes, Doghouse Rose, Wine Lips and more.

Festival organizers announced the sad news via socials on Monday (September 13), citing safety concerns and government restrictions as the main reasons for axing their plans.

"Honestly, when we booked this last spring, we all expected things to improve, but they haven't," the post reads. "In our opinion, having a show under these restrictions doesn't reflect what we are trying to accomplish with Pouzza."

Ticketholders will be refunded.

This is the second year in a row that the Montreal event has had to cancel. Propagandhi, Cancer Bats, Millencolin, Mustard Plug, Dilly Dally and more were scheduled to perform in 2020, which would have marked the fest's 10th-anniversary edition.

Read the festival's full statement below.

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately, we have to cancel Pouzza 9.5

It was not an easy decision to make, and all the people working at Pouzza took a long time to reflect on what was best for us, for the bands and the festival goers.

Pouzza was always about community, communion, love, hugs, new friends, old friends, sweat, drinks, fun and more hugs. With the sanitary restrictions in place as we speak, we feel like this wouldn't be Pouzza. It would have been unfair for us, for the bands, the staff, and mostly for festival goers to participate in this deluded version. So, we have to cancel for the following reasons:

We can't assure the safety of the festival goers as much as we want to even with all the restrictions. The number of daily cases of COVID19 is rising in Quebec and we're not comfortable with the situation.

Due to the current government restrictions, we can't operate the festival the way the festival was intended to be. Honestly, when we booked this last spring, we all expected things to improve, but they haven't. In our opinion, having a show under these restrictions doesn't reflect what we are trying to accomplish with Pouzza.

We hope you understand our point of view, and we're looking forward to seeing all of you in May 2022 if the conditions improve.

Thanks for your understanding

Peace

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Pouzza Fest (@pouzzafest)

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