One Dead, Many Disgruntled After RedWest Weather Cancellation
The RedWest Festival in Salt Lake City, UT October 10th thru 12th was supposed to be one of the biggest parties in country and roots music in 2025. Headliners included Kacey Musgraves, Post Malone, and Noah Kahan, with The Red Clay Strays, Ole 60, Koe Wetzel, Midland, Sam Barber, Ella Langley, and many others scheduled to perform.
But due to inclement weather, the sets for the Saturday night headliners were washed out, with many fans taking online to complain, and now a class-action lawsuit is being threatened by ticketholders. Then the news was confirmed that one young festival attendee died while attempting to wait out the rain delay.
At around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday (10-11), RedWest attendees were notified via the festival’s mobile app that the event would be paused. It was then announced that everyone needed to leave the venue and take shelter. If people did not have a vehicle to shelter in, they needed to take shelter in one of the shuttle buses on site, or a nearby business.
It wasn’t until 7:50 when event organizers gave an update, saying on social media they were “optimistic” that the festival could resume. However, that post was later deleted, and at 9:40, RedWest confirmed the evening’s performances had been cancelled.
“For the safety of our fans, artists, and staff, we are unable to continue with today’s programming. Conditions at the festival site are currently unsafe to proceed,” RedWest said. “We’re truly sorry and appreciate your patience and understanding. Please stay tuned to our social channels and check your email for further updates and next steps.”
This resulted in performances by Ty Myers, Treaty Oak Revival, Ole 60, Sons of Habit, Koe Wetzel, and Post Malone all being cancelled. The only consolation prize was that Saturday ticket holders were told they could attend Sunday of the festival free of charge.
A massive backlash from fans ensued online with attendees demanding either a refund for the day, or a rescheduled appearance by the night’s big headliners. Patrons also went online en masse to complain about the lack of communication and updates from the festival during the weather delay. Many have pointed out that a University of Utah football game only a few miles from the festival was delayed as well, but was able to resume by 8:25 pm.
The reason for the abundance of caution was made abundantly clear when news came down that a festival attendee had been critically injured in the storm. 23-year-old Ava Ahlander sought shelter in her car that was parked near 1055 West North Temple in Salt Lake City close to a construction site. While exiting her car at one point, she was struck by a board that was propelled at a high velocity by the wind of the storm. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died from her injuries.
“We are heartbroken to share that Ava Ahlander tragically passed away this weekend following an accident at the Redwest Music Festival. Ava was a beautiful soul whose kindness, warmth, and adventurous spirit touched everyone around her,” a note from her family reads on a GoFundMe page.
One young festival attendee named Derrick Yerkes has been working to form a class action lawsuit against the festival for damages resulting from the Saturday cancellations. More than 500 people have already signed up via a Google form, with 300 of them sharing their specific stories. Yerkes said the evacuation from the festival was chaotic and disorganized.
“We were trying to leave, and they didn’t open any of the emergency exits. People were being pushed every which way. We probably spent 20 minutes trying to leave, and we left right as they announced it,” Yerkes says. “We were just waiting for them to communicate with us after the fact, and they had said in their post they would reach out to us immediately via email and the app, which did not happen. The communication was not what they promised and was not there. We didn’t know what to do.”
The issues at RedWest underscore the concern of large festivals that do not have permanent structures to facilitate sheltering in inclement weather. Often the order is to “leave the festival” so it does not become a liability for the organizers, but this puts the onus on patrons to find safe places that might not be readily available.
A spokesperson for RedWest has said they are asking for the public’s patience as they attempt to work through the issues they incurred Saturday night.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:23 am
So they are complaining that the “show didn’t go on” while also complaining that adequate shelter wasn’t provided??! Isn’t that a contradiction?
I was at an outdoor concert once for Clapton and it stormed and there were tornado warnings while being out on the lawn in the elements. I never once thought that was the venue’s fault.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:32 am
It took them 4 hours to finally say it was cancelled, and made no adjustments to the schedule to allow for the headliners to play, so they just skipped them entirely.
We went for hours in the rain with radio silence from the festival. Unacceptable.
Also, we were surrounded by empty buildings at the fairgrounds, but they instead kicked us to the curb.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:33 am
The thing most people are angry over is that they paid hundreds of dollars, and sometimes thousands in travel expenses to see Post Malone, Koe Wetzel, and the other top names for Saturday, and never got the opportunity to see them, while communication from the festival was inadequate in many of their minds.
The shelter issue is an entirely other issue. If you’re going to promote an event with 10,000-50,000 people and not have a plan of where those people can shelter in a weather incident, but refuse to let them stay on site because it creates a legal liability, this puts the onus on the patrons to find somewhere safe to be. In this case, one person died in this difficult to impossible scenario these festivals create for patrons.
I’ve been caught in numerous of these weather issues. I was told, “find a local business to shelter in. You just can’t stay here.”
October 14, 2025 @ 8:12 am
I’m not sure how any outdoor venue that hosts 10,000-50,000 people can have a storm shelter that big. Legally if they provide people direction to use whatever shelter and it’s not sufficient and a storm causes damages – they are liable. Venues aren’t going to risk legal liability by directing people to do something that seems logical for safety but opens them up for financial risk of lawsuits. I don’t think it’s an issue of a lack of human kindness but overreaching lawsuits and civil suits.
October 14, 2025 @ 9:41 am
Windy City Smokeout uses (only) the parking lot of the United Center, and is adjacent to the building, which is closed during the festival. In case of a severe storm, the fest would open the doors of the United Center itself, and I assume people would just shelter there.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:29 am
A couple of small bits of info for you guys:
1. Sons of Habit were first, so they were not affected by the cancellation as far as I’m aware
2. This event was held at the fairgrounds, where we were surrounded by permanent structures. RedWest had so many ways to shelter us, but they put us out in the street.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:35 am
Looking over the schedule, numerous bands were scheduled to play twice, including Sons of Habit and Ole 60. So they did play earlier in the day as well, but their second performances were cancelled. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
October 14, 2025 @ 7:42 am
Did the RedWest organizers’ contract allow spectator access to those permanent structures? My guess is that it didn’t, only the area of the fairgrounds that was going to be used for the concert. If the fans had been told to take shelter in those buildings and had caused damage to the buildings, the organizers would be in deep legal doo-doo. And don’t think there wouldn’t be lawyers more than willing to pursue the $$$.
October 14, 2025 @ 9:07 am
Well, Conrad, just saw a brief snippet of your upcoming Oct. 17, release.
Has a very good feel to it …
About outdoor festivals. There are no guarantees to whether or not the weather will cooperate.
Inclement weather coming? If waiting until the very last moment to seek shelter, while at a large fest, oh well.
PSA. Being caught in torrential downpours, windstorms, tornadoes, etc. can toughen you up. Prepare you for next time.
Cannot believe all the whining that goes on, concerning cancelled shows – where the weather has been an actual factor for concern.
October 14, 2025 @ 11:16 am
Steve Miller was right…