A.B. Quintanilla III and his band Los Kumbia King All Starz were blindsided by the abrupt cancellation of their scheduled performance at the Memorial Weekend Bash in Victoria, Texas. Promoter Frank Salazar of Salazar Promotions dropped the bombshell on the event's Facebook page on Thursday, leaving fans and the band in the dark about the exact reasons behind the pulled plug.
The Tejano music festival, which featured a lineup of David Lee Garza, Jay Perez, Duelo, and Ram Herrera, among other notables, was left without one of its headliners when Salazar announced that due to "unforeseen circumstances out of our control,” Quintanilla's set would not go forward. Quintanilla took his perplexity to social media, questioning the vague reasoning behind the cancellation and informing fans he had been ready to hit the stage. "The question I have is what is an unforeseen circumstance out of control?” he posted, engaged in a bit of sleuthing on his own behalf. This post, however, was later deleted.
The controversy stirred further when Quintanilla claimed he found out about his own concert's cancellation on the internet. The move by Salazar left Quintanilla to clear the air with his fans, asserting in an online response that the previously cited "unforeseen circumstances" did not square with his knowledge of the situation. Both KSAT and MySA covered this unexpected turn of events.
This isn't Quintanilla's first dip into hot water this month. At the 2024 Tejano Explosion on April 27, he let loose an expletive-studded tirade aimed at an unenthusiastic crowd, threatening to never perform in San Antonio again. "Like somebody put a gun to your head, and forced you to be here tonight, you know what I'm saying?" said Quintanilla during the outburst. Then, in a hasty backtrack, he explained in a deleted Instagram video that he was off his meds before the performance due to medical advice. To top this all off, the band's Kumbia Fest 2024, slated for May 16 in The Colony, was also canceled, according to KSAT.
Despite these setbacks, Quintanilla's resolve seems intact, if his public comments are anything to go by. Fans, meanwhile, are left flipping through their calendars, hopeful for the rescheduled dates and a chance to see if Quintanilla can turn the tide and comes back stronger after this series of unfortunate events.
