Something in the Water Festival Postponed to 2025
Pharrell’s Something in the Water Festival has officially been delayed — for the second time — and will now take place in Virginia next year.
Originally, Something in the Water was slated to take place in April 2024 in Virginia Beach, but it was pushed to October. While presale tickets were available on Friday, September 13, a subsequent lineup was never revealed, and now, Pharrell has penned a letter to fans, explaining the festival needs to be delayed because it “just isn’t ready yet.”
“Dearest Virginia, I love you with all my heart,” Pharrell wrote. “Nobody loves you more than I do. Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves THE BEST. So SOMETHING IN THE WATER has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet. That’s why we as a team have decided we must postpone this year’s SOMETHING IN THE WATER festival that was due to take place in October.”
He went on to note that “this is not a Pharrell festival, this is the state of Virginia’s festival so it has to be the best,” adding that “Virginia made me, and I want to honor it with as much love as it’s shown me my entire life.”
Those who already purchased festival passes will be automatically refunded via debit or credit card, while fans who purchased with cash can receive their refund at the Veterans United Home Loan Amphitheater box office. Additionally, those who bought passes to this year’s event will have first access to purchase tickets when the new festival date is announced.
“I am so grateful to our amazing sponsors and the city for their continued support and trust in us to get this right, and that time is April 2025,” Pharrell concluded. “This has to be EPIC, and trust me, after this long wait, it will be. Thank you for your support, love and understanding. Until April.”
The 2023 inaugural edition of the festival spanned across three days and featured performances from Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Summer Walker, Lil Uzi Vert, and Kehlani, among others.
Summer in the Water isn’t the only festival to face its downfall this year; festivals across the globe have been struggling. In the U.S., Coachella, a once-coveted event, took one month to sell-out of its first weekend — marking the longest sellout for the first time in 10 years. The second weekend failed to sell out. Other festivals didn’t even make the cut, as Firefly announced it would not return to Dover and Jay-Z’s Made in America festival was called-off for the second year in a row. Lovers & Friends’ inaugural festival was also cancelled, as well as Backwoods Festival and Kickoff Jam.
Most recently, California’s Desert Daze four-day event was cancelled less than two weeks after announcing a final lineup. Organizers took to social media to reveal that it is “no longer possible to execute the weekend as planned,” citing “rising production costs and the current volatile festival market.”
