MDLBEAST says Soundstorm will not take place this year and turns to 2027.
MDLBEAST has told fans that this year's Soundstorm, its Riyadh music festival due on 3 and 4 December, "will not take place as planned". In a post on the festival's Instagram account, the organisers said they would turn their energy to the 2027 edition.
The organisers' email to ticket holders, sent on 30 September and quoted by AFP in Gulf News, used a different word: "Soundstorm '26 will be postponed". Coverage has followed both versions, with Communicate reporting a cancellation and Gulf News a postponement. The public post gives no reason and does not say what happens to tickets, which were already on sale.
This would have been the festival's seventh edition, at Banban on the outskirts of Riyadh. MDLBEAST says last year's festival, held from 11 to 13 December, featured more than 250 artists on 14 stages, and that the 2024 edition drew 450,000 visitors. Past line-ups have included Bruno Mars, Post Malone, Cardi B and DJ Khaled.
The decision follows the Red Sea Film Foundation's announcement on 21 September that the sixth Red Sea International Film Festival, due in Jeddah from 3 to 12 December, is postponed to the fourth quarter of 2027; the foundation cited the logistics of staging an international event of that scale. The Soundstorm post did not mention XP Music Futures, the music-industry conference that the MDLBEAST Foundation has scheduled for 26 to 28 November in Riyadh.
For brands that planned December activations, content or ticket promotions around Soundstorm, that budget needs a new home this quarter, and partners will want to know how 2026 commitments carry over to 2027.
Why it matters
With Soundstorm off the December calendar, brands that planned activations or content around it need to re-plan fourth-quarter budgets and ask how 2026 commitments carry over to 2027.
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