Breakout Festival returned to Vancouver over the weekend, and with it, a fiery two days of hip-hop performances.
But what was supposed to be a grand return, as the Saturday-Sunday fest held its first in-person event since 2019, was overshadowed by mayhem. Both Lil Uzi Vert and Polo G canceled appearances at the Canadian festival, which ended in chaos on Sunday after Lil Baby's own very last-minute cancellation, as official word was not announced until around 30 minutes before the whole event was scheduled to end.
According to CBC, the two-day event at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds in Vancouver ended in what is described as a riot as festival-goers tore down tents, threw garbage cans and vandalized concession stands when officials announced Lil Baby was "too sick" to perform.
Seven people were arrested and thousands of dollars in property damage was reported from the subsequent violence and destruction, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Later in the night, Lil Baby shared on Instagram that he has "been going so hard these past few months without any breaks that it finally caught up with me, and my body completely shut down," he added: "I owe you guys big time and will for sure make up for it soon."
In their own statement, organizers said: “We do not condone violence or destruction of property and are utterly disappointed with the way some of our patrons acted at this year’s event. Safety of our guests and venue staff is our number one concern. We did everything to make Breakout a unique and enjoyable experience for Vancouver’s rap fans.”
The festival said they will soon share details about "partial refunds" for festival attendees.
Breakout was initially scheduled to come back in 2021, but the evolving Covid cases in the region changed that, forcing the event to extend its hiatus for two years, after scrapping the 2020 event, as most other global festivals did, due to the pandemic.
Nonetheless, this weekend's event included performances from the likes of Trippie Redd, Quavo and Takeoff, Cordae, Coi Leray, Sheck Wes, Kali, YSN Fab, Mike Dimes, Kid Filthy and more.
Heather Fabia was on hand for the two-day fest capturing all the action. See photos from Breakout below.
