Outlook unclear for Something in the Water festival with Va. Beach vote set

The Virginia Beach City Council is set to consider an agenda item next week that could lead to the cancellation of the April 26-27 Something in the Water music festival, if organizers don’t provide the city with a full list of announced artists within days of the Jan. 7 vote.

Under an agreement signed by city and festival officials in November 2024, SITW organizers were supposed to provide the city with a list of performers for the two-day Oceanfront festival and start ticket sales by Dec. 31, 2024, but they did not meet the deadline. Now, according to the city council’s public agenda, the body is expected to take up a resolution that would give organizers five days to give the city the lineup of artists. If that doesn’t happen, the concerts will be canceled, according to the agenda item.

This is just the latest bit of turmoil surrounding the festival, which music and fashion superstar Pharrell Williams launched in 2019 on Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront, with dozens of top music acts and thousands of attendees, as well as millions in local revenue. In 2020 and 2021, the festival was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2022, Williams decided to host SITW in Washington, D.C., instead of Virginia Beach, after his cousin was shot and killed by a Virginia Beach police officer.

In April 2023, however, the festival returned to the beach, featuring performances by Williams, Lil Wayne, the Jonas Brothers, Sean “Diddy” Combs and other popular music stars, although a tornado threat led to the cancellation of some performances. Williams then said he’d stage the festival at a different time of year in hopes of better weather, leading to its scheduling in October 2024.

However, just after tickets went on sale in September 2024, Williams suddenly called off the concerts in a social media post, in which he wrote, “Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves the best. So, Something in the Water has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet.”

According to media reports, city officials were blindsided by the announcement, and hotels and other Oceanfront businesses lost money. At that point, the city said it would need greater transparency and oversight of the festival, if it were to be held the following April. In exchange for up to $500,000 in city funding, SITW organizers agreed to several provisions, including a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to announce the lineup of artists and begin ticket sales.

A city spokesperson on Friday confirmed that SITW organizers requested an extension on the Dec. 31 deadline before the end of the year.

“The Something in the Water team has asked for an extension for releasing the festival’s lineup and ticket sales,” Ali Weatherton-Shook said in an emailed statement. “Staff will present this request to City Council and discuss what direction Council wants to take at that point.” 

Robby Wells, the festival’s director, declined to comment on the matter Friday.

According to the City Council agenda item that will be under consideration at its Jan. 7 meeting, “SITW is in material breach of the sponsorship agreement for failure to provide the lineup to the city and commence ticket sales by Dec. 31, 2024.”

If the resolution passes, the city will set a five-day deadline for the concert’s organizers to “cure” the breach and fulfill the agreement’s terms, which could be as soon as Jan. 12.

If SITW fails to meet the city’s requirements within five days, “the city manager shall immediately terminate the sponsorship agreement and seek the return of any funds advanced to SITW.” The resolution, which was taken up by request of Mayor Bobby Dyer, concludes by saying that the city manager will “explore alternative programming for April 26 and 27” if the agreement is terminated.

According to the agreement signed Nov. 15, 2024, by city and concert organizers, the festival’s promoter would receive $100,000 upon the execution of the agreement, with $200,000 to come after the city received the artist lineup and $200,000 more after completion of a special event permit application.

The inaugural 2019 SITW sold 35,000 tickets and garnered $24 million in revenue for Hampton Roads, and a report prepared for the city found that the 2023 festival generated an economic impact of $26 million to $29 million for the City of Virginia Beach.