At the start of the year, local music festival Pinkfish Festival came face to face with controversies following reports of multiple deaths at their 2025 countdown concert. Sadly, it seems the tragic incident has also affected their 2026 countdown concert.
On 6th October 2025 (Monday), Pinkfish Festival shared a post on their social media accounts, announcing the cancellation of their annual New Year’s Eve countdown concert for this year. In the post, the festival writes, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we regret to inform you that Pinkfish Countdown 2025, originally scheduled for 31st December 2025, has been cancelled.”
The statement continues, “Our top priority has always been to provide you with a safe, positive, and memorable experience, and we do not want to settle for anything less.” The festival goes on to say they are working to organise better music festivals in the future and encourages the public to stay tuned to their social media for updates. They also provide refund information for ticket holders.
Pinkfish Festival announced their annual countdown concert in July and subsequently sold out blind-sale tickets. While it’s unclear why they’re cancelling the show even before announcing the performers, it’s believed the festival was facing heavy restrictions following the incident at their last Pinkfish Countdown. During the event, four people died after allegedly ingesting drugs.
The incident led to authorities temporarily suspending the approval of concert permits in Selangor and the state government announcing a review of concert guidelines. In April 2025, the government unveiled five new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for organising concerts, specifically for the EDM, rap and hip-hop genres. The SOPs were put in place to curb drug abuse amongst concertgoers and ensure entertainment activities are conducted in a safe environment.
Understandably, fans were upset over the cancellation, but they hope that Pinkfish Festival will soon return stronger with better shows. However, many still debate about the future of music festivals in Malaysia, given the reported new restrictions. What are your thoughts on this?
Source: Instagram
