San Diego’s big music festivals keep collapsing — but its niche fests are thriving

The music festival industry is at a turning point — and San Diego is feeling it firsthand.

More than 100 music festivals around the world were cancelled or went on hiatus in 2025, according to online source Music Festival Wizard.

San Diego just saw its downtown-focused Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival vacate its normal May spot. The festival is looking for a new location and a new weekend. That follows the city getting ghosted by the once-popular KAABOO music festival, last held in 2019. 

Kailyn Buluran says she would be bummed if Wonderfront doesn’t return. The 26-year-old event and marketing coordinator from Paradise Hills loved the festival’s downtown backdrop on the bay.

“It felt very San Diego,” she said. “Wonderfront brought such a unique vibe to the city.”

A major music fan, Buluran regularly goes to single-artist concerts, as well as festivals in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

“What I love about festivals is seeing multiple artists all in one weekend, sometimes in one day,” she said. “That makes it a high-energy and value-packed experience.”

High-profile music fests may be struggling to find their footing, but some local festivals that fit specific genres are still jamming along. San Diego eats up electronic dance music, and has turned the EDM-only CRRSD Festival into a monster success. It celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, routinely sells out  and has two more weekends booked at Waterfront Park this year (the first in a few weeks, on March 14 and 15, the next in late September).

Louisiana-themed Gator by the Bay is still going strong, bringing Cajun, Zydeco and blues performances (and 10,000 pounds of crawfish) to Spanish Landing Park since 2001. Country-fest Boots in the Park does just fine in San Diego, along with nine other cities, and is back on April 11 with a headlining performance from Miranda Lambert. 

And it’s no surprise that reggae-focused Mission BayFest thrives here, with this year’s event set for Oct. 16 to 18 at Mariner’s Point Park. Ocean Beach’s Slightly Stoopid is betting there’s enough reggae love for a second fest, too, announcing last week its first Field of Dreamz festival at Petco Park on June 13.

Still, the multi-genre, multi-day festivals that draw music lovers from out of town have had a tough time becoming mainstays in San Diego.

Tim Mays is owner of the venerable Casbah music venue and has been in the industry since 1980. He helped book acts for the last two years of the iconic Street Scene festival that ruled downtown San Diego for two decades, starting in 1984.

“Even back then, bands wanted exorbitant amounts of money to play a festival,” Mays said. “Festivals have to have deep pockets. We thought KAABOO and Wonderfront did. But it takes a while to get entrenched, like Coachella.

“I see festivals like CRSSD doing well, because people come for the genre. And I’ve always loved Gator by the Bay. It’s small and niche and people come again and again.”

KAABOO’s stumble into oblivion was a sour note in San Diego’s musical history. It operated from 2015 to 2019 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and in those five years it reportedly lost $69 million. Along the way, headliners included Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Snoop Dogg. Lots of VIP perks were also available to those with the cash to pay for gourmet food, spa services and access to a swimming pool.

KAABOO announced it would move to Petco Park and partner with the San Diego Padres in 2020 and 2021. These were, of course, the pandemic years. After a protracted silence and several lawsuits, plans were announced for a KAABOO comeback in Del Mar.

Those plans ultimately fell through.

Keeping track of every Wonderfront change isn’t easy. It debuted in November of 2019, but then Covid killed it in 2020 and 2021 before it returned in 2022. It took 2023 off, then came back in 2024 but switched to three days in May, then repeated that model in 2025. As of this month, it doesn’t have a weekend or location set for 2026.

Wonderfront organizers said last month they were aiming for a fall festival for 2026, but they haven’t locked anything in yet.

Neither Wonderfront’s event producer nor their new owner, events.com, returned messages asking about future plans for the festival.

According to a report from iMusician, a Swiss-based digital music distributor, the decline of music festivals was largely triggered by the pandemic and by new music fans who aren’t the partiers their elders were.

“Skyrocketing production costs, high inflation affecting consumer spending, lower ticket sales, post-pandemic debts, and a potential shift in generational interests away from heavy partying and alcohol consumption are among the key factors creating immense pressure on both organizers and attendees,” according to iMusician.

While festivals are stumbling, stadium mega-tours are flourishing. Global tours by Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Bad Bunny drove huge revenue, iMusician reported.

In essence, fans seem willing to pay high ticket prices for an established star they know and love. The challenge for festival organizers is selling tickets to see multiple artists, many of which attendees have never heard. The higher the price, the harder it is to sell the idea of musical discovery.   

Single-genre festivals can manage that challenge. Country fans fill up Boots in the Park and EDM fans flock to CRRSD because even if they don’t know every artist, they know the style of music they’re going to hear.

Despite a stacked deck, iMusician believes some multi-genre festivals, like Wonderfront, could pause and revamp their offerings.  

How? By leaning into sustainability by genuinely promoting renewable energy, zero-waste policies and partnering with environmental organizations. Or by embracing innovation and providing AI, VR zones and interactive installations. Maybe. It’s an idea.

Then again, festival success for some may be as simple as continued catering to your base. In the case of Gator by the Bay, 10,000 pounds of crawfish doesn’t seem to have lost its appeal.