One of the headliners has pulled out of Lake Cowichan含羞草研究社檚 Sunfest country music festival, and some ticketholders may be seeking refunds.

含羞草研究社淒ue to circumstances beyond Billy Currington and Sunfest Country含羞草研究社檚 control, Billy will not be performing at #SunfestCountry2022,含羞草研究社� said an announcement posted yesterday on the festival含羞草研究社檚 website and social media channels. Currington was set to play Day 2 of the event, the same night as Darius Rucker and Dallas Smith.

Currington will be replaced with Canadian rock n含羞草研究社� roll legend Randy Bachman, a move many on social media aren含羞草研究社檛 happy about.

含羞草研究社淚 know stuff happens, but we含羞草研究社檝e paid money to come to a country [festival] why not replace with a country artist! Not the best call Sunfest!含羞草研究社� wrote Tiersa Rae on Sunfest Country含羞草研究社檚 Facebook page in response to the announcement.

含羞草研究社淭his is like going for ice cream and finding out it melted and your getting a popsicle instead,含羞草研究社� wrote Ryan Dorman.

Others were a little more understanding:

含羞草研究社淲hen artists cancel at the last minute it含羞草研究社檚 tough to find replacements, not the festivals fault. Randy Bachman is a Canadian Legend, and will perform Canadian Classic songs, so that含羞草研究社檚 a great opportunity to hear a legend live. Good job Sunfest!含羞草研究社� added Kevin Warren.

Many in the comments suggested bringing other artists from the Lake Night Stage but Sunfest says the artists playing that stage are there for a reason: 含羞草研究社淭he artists playing the lake night stage want to play the closing party act. They are there to keep the party going.含羞草研究社�

Some are asking Sunfest for refunds to their tickets.

含羞草研究社淔or those that bought Friday night only tickets, we will work with them on refunds or moving their tickets to other dates,含羞草研究社� said Sunfest spokesperson Mike Hann. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 a challenging world at the moment, with travel delays and border restrictions hampering plans for many international engagements. Unfortunately, due to the latter Billy含羞草研究社檚 Canadian dates have had to be cancelled.含羞草研究社�

Hann went on to say booking headline level artists last minute is also a big challenge, 含羞草研究社渢hat含羞草研究社檚 why we are extremely excited that it worked out to have a music legend such as Randy Bachman play our stage on Friday July 29. Over the years we have heard many of our Sunfest mainstage artists cover Randy含羞草研究社檚 songs so we know that people are going to be ecstatic to hear the real thing live at Sunfest. It will be a nostalgic reminder of the early days of Sunfest 20+ years ago.含羞草研究社�