Bésame Mucho Festival In LA Canceled

Bésame Mucho, a major single-day Latin music festival in Los Angeles originally scheduled for next month with Shakira, Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias and Los Tigres Del Norte as headliners, has been canceled “due to circumstances beyond our control,” promoters said in a statement on social media and the event website after Rolling Stone broke the story.

The festival was supposed to take place at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 21 and featured a diverse lineup of artists from all genres within the Latin music umbrella. According to Rolling Stone, Shakira’s cancelation of her fall U.S. arena tour last month in favor of a stadium run in the summer of 2025 was a factor in the decision made by promoters because her dates no longer aligned with the festival, which announced its lineup back in May.

The cancelation of the LA festival doesn’t affect the second edition of Bésame Mucho in Austin, which was announced on Nov. 19. The event is scheduled to take place at Circuit of the Americas on April 5 with Mexican superstars Peso Pluma and Carin León as headliners.

“We are heartbroken to share that due to circumstances beyond our control, this year’s Bésame Mucho Festival in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium will no longer take place,” organizers wrote on the website. “We take great pride in our annual celebration of exceptional music and culture, connecting generations in a way no other event can. After working tirelessly all year to bring you another unforgettable show in December, we are deeply disappointed to share this news.”

Tickets purchased via Front Gate Tickets will be automatically refunded to the original method of payment within the next 30 days.

As of early Monday, tickets were still available for the event and started at $345, Rolling Stone reported, and VIP passes surpassed $700.

Bésame Mucho is put on by Live Nation and was overseen by mega festival talent buyer Jeffrey Shuman, who parted ways with the promoter in September. Shuman previously worked at Goldenvoice where he helped organize the Tropicália Festival, which was rebranded to Bésame Mucho in 2022 when he jumped ship for Live Nation. The new iteration of the event quickly made an impression on Latin music fans with nostalgia-fueled lineups featuring acts from various generations and all genres.

The inaugural event at Dodger Stadium two years ago was a massive hit, reportedly selling out in minutes with a broad lineup featuring dozens of acts like rock en español standouts Caifanes and Café Tacvba, norteño legends Los Tigres Del Norte, and pop acts like Sin Bandera and La Oreja De Van Gogh.

See Bésame Mucho Festival Hits the Right Notes (Live Review)

The 2023 edition saw similar success going further down the nostalgia hole with multigenerational artists such as Maná, Los Bukis, Gloria Trevi (who was featured on the cover of Pollstar in January) and Alejandro Fernández on the bill. With the growing popularity of Latin music, festival organizers expanded Bésame Mucho to Austin, Texas, last year.

Though Latin music is a driving force in the music industry, the cancelation of Bésame Mucho proves that the genre isn’t impermeable to the volatile festival market. Scheduling the event the Saturday before Christmas may have been another factor for slow ticket sales. The cost of airfare and lodging are higher than usual during the holidays and could have discouraged fans outside of Southern California from pulling the trigger on attending the mega festival. People expressed their disappointment about the cancelation on the festival’s Instagram page, with some saying that while the festival passes are refundable, their plane tickets and Airbnb reservations are not.