Refunds to Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival are now available

Future Sound Asia is now offering refunds to Good Vibes Festival ticketholders following the festival’s cancellation last month.

Today (August 14), the company’s refund microsite is now live. Ticketholders can apply for refunds here until September 10. 

While full ticket refunds are being offered, the organiser has also issued a statement asking festival-goers to consider sparing part of their refund or deferring it to “save” the festival,  helping Good Vibes bounce back from its abrupt cancellation and return for future editions. 

“We are deeply saddened by what happened and know it is important to present a refund mechanism to help offset the costs that many of you have faced. The mechanism is not perfect, and it may not satisfy everyone fully, but we hope you understand that we are trying to fairly compensate ticket holders as best we can,” Future Sound Asia wrote in its statement. 

It continued: “As you choose your refund option, please bear in mind that we want to be able to continue to put on this Malaysian festival that we love and are proud of and that we hope brings joy to you too; we want GVF to survive. If you can spare or defer any amount of your refund, it would be greatly appreciated and go a long way towards helping to #SaveGVF”. 

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Four refund options are currently available. The first option will be a partial refund, where a portion of the full refund amount will be channelled towards Good Vibes and the parties affected by its shutdown, including artists, food vendors, sound and light suppliers and many more, per a list shared alongside the statement. 

The second option is the forfeit of a refund, where 2023 ticketholders instead receive a ticket to Good Vibes Festival in 2024 or 2025 with MYR100 worth of beverage vouchers. 

The third option offered is a total forfeit of refunds without a ticket to future editions. The full sum of money forfeited here will be used to help Good Vibes recover. The final option is a full refund request, without any contributions to the festival. 

Apply for your refunds from Good Vibes Festival 2023 here from now until September 10, 2023. 

The 10th edition of Good Vibes Festival was scheduled to take place from July 21 until July 23 in Kuala Lumpur. During their headlining performance on day 1 of the festival, The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy heavily criticised the Malaysian government for their anti-LGBTQ+ laws onstage, smashing a festival-owned drone, drinking and kissing his bandmate Ross MacDonald in the process.

Just seven songs into their set, The 1975 announced that they had been banned from the country and had to leave, cutting the festival set short. The following day (July 22), the country’s communications minister Fahmi Fadzil announced that he had ordered the rest of the festival cancelled. The band was then officially banned from performing in Malaysia.

Future Sound Asia has since issued a Letter Of Claim to The 1975, demanding RM12.3million (£2,099,154.54) in damages from the band for the festival’s cancellation. The band have until this week to make the payment, or face legal action in the UK. 

A class action lawsuit is also being readied against The 1975 by Malaysian artists and festival vendors. The lawsuit, which is being readied by Malaysian law firm Thomas Philip, will name all four members of The 1975 and seek compensation over losses suffered as a result of the incident, which the firm’s founder and managing partner Matthew Thomas Philip labelled a “deliberate reckless act done knowing well [sic] of the consequences”.

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