Tritone Latin Music Festival Implodes: A Tweet by Tweet Account

By Gabriel San Roman Mon., Oct. 22 2012 at 2:56 PM

TriTone Facebook page

How different things could have been for the TriTone Latin Music and Arts Festival this weekend. The weather complied, providing overcast and cool temperatures for those assembled on the grounds of Prado Regional Park in Chino. Unfortunately, just about everything else didn't! Instead of boasting in the wake of a watershed moment for the Latin Alternative scene in Southern California, BRC Entertainment, as festival organizers, took to their Facebook page to whine about the event gone awry. "The organizers wanted to give us "The Latin Rock Scene" something no one has ever tried and the first thing we do is throw dirt at it," they wrote to the throngs of mostly angry rockeros wanting their money back.

Hey, no dirt thrown here! Heard Mentality greeted the announcement of the festival with words of optimism, even holding back on criticizing the instant Coachella -- just add water! -- ambitions of it. More acts were promised, after all. Instead, the lineup downsized with an exodus of artists defecting long before remaining headliners and main attractions cancelled just before the start of TriTone.

See Also:
*Five Questions With Ximena Sariñana
*Latin Alternative Explosion: Probable or Inevitable?
*A Latin Alternative Music Guide to Coachella

Here's the Twitter account for Tritone sending tweets to Saturday headliners Ximena Sariñana and Ceci Bastida only to have them both announce cancellations to their followers. Though El Tri, Sunday's big draw, announced their cancellation beforehand, it wasn't until the day of the show that the festival formally acknowledged and announced that the legendary Rock en Español band was, indeed, not performing:

To make matters worse, bands that were set to close the event out Sunday night, didn't go on stage as planned. The TriTone folks blamed the police, others claimed that fights, a mosh pit and lack of security were the pretense. Either way, Ozomatli apologized to fans via Facebook as the show was shut down before their scheduled performance. Despite all this, the website for the festival still lists the dismantled lineups and times.

The TriTone desmadre is not, I repeat, is not a reflection of the weakness of the genre it sought to celebrate. A festival is only as good as it's organized. In the end, TriTone was more of a Latin version of the Playground Festival, than anything resembling Coachella.

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Tags:

Ceci Bastida, El Tri, Latin Alternative BRC Entertainment, Ozomatli, Rock en Español, TriTone Music Festival, Ximena Sariñana

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knowyourenemy

Here is a Facebook page where people can leave UNCENSORED comments about the TriTone Festival http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tri-Tone-Latin-Music-Arts-Festival-Page-Consumer-Complaints/109538909205704

gabrielsanroman topcommenter

@knowyourenemy Oh, wow! An entire FB page created in response to the desmadre. Folks can always leave whatever comments they want here too sin censura!

knowyourenemy

@gabrielsanroman They've been deleting negative comments and have blocked users who posted complaints about the event. If they would let people speak their mind, a FB page wouldn't be necessary.

gabrielsanroman topcommenter

@knowyourenemy Yeah, I've seen that. Go on and do what you got to do!

jjgsigma

Sunday was a great day of music. I don't know about the line up mishaps but all bands delivered and those in attendance seemed to enjoy the event. Unfortunately, I had to witness at least five fist fights in the audience that led to the cancellation. How can you blame the promoters when people can't control themselves? A small group of people ruined it for all.

CoachQue

The fact that the organizers are deleting most of the negative comments from their Facebook page speaks volumes as to why this event was a debacle. Once the initial exodus of bands (Zoe, Los Bunkers, Fobia) happened, it was pretty clear that the event organizers were desperate to cut their losses. They acted as if everything was fine even when it was apparent to many people that the organizers were in over their heads. I believe they were deliberately vague about the lineups so they could sell tickets, keep the cash and then hide behind their "Terms of Sale."

I don't know if it's to protect their egos or their pocketbooks (or both) but, ignoring complaints from customers is bad business. If they have nothing to hide, there should be some transparency in their dealings.

porterstout

The promoters lied about the lineup (false advertising), changed ticket prices, were evasive in answering questions directly, delete ANY negative experiences/comments from their facebook page and have yet to refund many people for their ticket purchases. I'd advise those people that got ripped off to advise with a lawyer. It's these type of greedy, unethical promoters that make things worse for those that try and further the progress of our people and music!

tomas30

Well said !

The TriTone desmadre is not, I repeat, is not a reflection of the weakness of the genre is sough the celebrate. A festival is only as good as it's organized. In the end, TriTone was more of a Latin version of the Playground Festival, than anything resembling Coachella.