Something in the Water called off, found in breach of contract

Something in the Water, music and fashion mogul Pharrell Williams’ Virginia Beach music festival, has been called off after missing an extended deadline Monday.

Last week, Virginia Beach officials gave concert organizers a five-day deadline to meet the city’s requirements for a lineup of performers and a start to ticket sales for the April 26-27 festival. Having failed to meet the Monday deadline, the concert was in breach of contract, according to the city.

Virginia Beach issued a statement Monday night: “While the city values the positive impact and visibility the Something in the Water festival has had on Virginia Beach in years past, regretfully organizers did not meet the cure notice requirements in terms of next steps. The SITW team will receive an official termination notice from the city.

“As a result, city staff will begin alternative plans for the weekend of April 26-27. We remain optimistic about future opportunities to work with the SITW team.”

The 2019 festival brought in $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.

Earlier this month, Virginia Beach City Council member Amelia Ross-Hammond moved to defer an agenda item Jan. 7 giving Something in the Water a five-day deadline, and the council voted 8-2 in agreement.

However, on Jan. 21, Ross-Hammond had changed her tune, as there had not been significant progress toward announcing a lineup and starting sales of tickets, which the city gave an original deadline of Dec. 31, 2024. She asked Mayor Bobby Dyer to give City Manager Patrick Duhaney the go-ahead to inform the festival’s organizers of the five-day deadline to cure the breach of contract.

“We don’t have any definitive answers, we don’t have any contracts right now to look at,” Ross-Hammond said last week in the council’s informal meeting. “We’ve put out the welcome mats, we’ve done the grace, we’ve done the deference for a certain amount of weeks, and it’s coming back the same-old same-old. I’m looking at calling this now.”

After a successful debut in 2019, Something in the Water was canceled in 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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.

The festival returned to Virginia Beach in April 2023, with some canceled performances due to tornado threats and lightning. Williams then scheduled the 2024 festival for October 2024, but just after tickets went on sale last September, he unexpectedly called off the festival, writing, “Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves the best. So, Something in the Water has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet.”

After that, the city required SITW organizers to sign a contract with specific deadlines in order to receive $500,000 in funding from the city.