Sol Blume was planned for this weekend. What happened?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sol Blume 2024 was postponed due to site damage and safety concerns.
- Organizers rescheduled Sol Blume to Aug. 2025, with original headliners.
- Festival website and social media remain inactive, leaving ticketholders in limbo.
Questions still loom over Sol Blume, one of Northern California’s largest R&B festivals, which was scheduled to begin Friday.
Sol Blume, organized by ENT Legends, was first held at Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento in 2018. The show moved to Discovery Park as a result of the festival’s growth in attendance and booking larger acts in 2022.
The 2024 festival was originally planned for early May of that year, but was postponed due to inclement weather in Sacramento. The festival founders cited “significant site damage and growing safety concerns” for moving the outside music show, according to previous Bee reporting.
Organizers announced that Sol Blume would be postponed to Aug. 15-17, 2025 and that headline performers Snoh Aalegra, Kaytraminé (the duo of Kaytranada and Aminé) and SZA would remain intact.
As of Friday, there hasn’t been any indication of the concert happening in Sacramento, and the Sol Blume website had a “coming soon” on its landing page. There is no other information on the site, such as frequently asked questions, refund information or contact on the festival’s website.
Sol Blume organizers did not provide comment to The Sacramento Bee regarding the festival.
Public outcry on social media
The festival’s social media page hasn’t had a new post since announcing the concert’s postponement in 2024.
Many concertgoers who anticipated Sol Blume have left comments on the festival’s last Instagram post from April 19, 2024.
An account with the handle “@deanna_juan” said, “this was the best lineup yet and it was too good to be true” ending her reply with three “nodding yes” emojis.
Another person with the account handle “@logicprod1” demanded their money back. “I need a refund if it’s not going on today.”
Sacramento native and content creator Keith Jouganatos, a reporter and fill-in anchor at KRCR-TV in Redding, posted social media in March calling Sol Blume “Sacramento’s version of the Fyre Festival.”
In his TikTok post, also uplaoded to Instagram, Jouganatos drew comparison to a highly anticipated and publicized music festival founded by Billy McFarland and music artist Ja Rule in 2017.
McFarland in 2018 was sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud for his role in the organization of the festival, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. Netflix released a documentary on the fiasco in 2019.
Sol Blume Festival, founder sued
Sol Blume and its founder were sued by former ticketing partner, Lyte Inc., for a repayment of a $1.5 million advance with interest, according to previous Bee reporting. The ticket platform filed a breach of contract suit June 18 in Sacramento Superior Court.
The ticketing platform, which is under control of liquidators, alleged it provided the advance to the festival and founder Fornati Kumeh in December 2023, in anticipation of the now-postponed 2024 event.
As of June 17, the day before the lawsuit was officially filed, Lyte said it had not been repaid.
The tab had grown close to $229,000 due to a 10% interest rate, according to the June 18 court filing. According to the December 2023 master services agreement, Lyte agreed to serve as Sol Blume’s exclusive ticket provider and provide the advance.
The lawsuit alleged Kumeh, in turn, agreed to repay the amount along with associated fees, costs and expenses.
The agreement included a personal guarantee from Kumeh, ensuring he’d repay the funds without requiring Lyte to pursue collections or legal action.
Lyte goes out of business
Multiple sources reported that Lyte went out of business, shut down its website, laid off staff and left a number of concert promoters unpaid for hundreds of thousands of dollars in tickets sold on the platform in 2024.
Lyte founder and CEO Ant Taylor resigned from the company last year in 2024, according to Billboard. The main website is not available, however, the company still has other accessible pages such as its terms of service and blog page including its last posts in 2024.
The ticketing platform was sued by two festivals, according to Billboard, including the Ohio-based festival Lost Lands and Illinois-based music concert North Coast Music Festival.
“Many festivals have used LYTE as a resale platform over the years and are now affected by this extremely frustrating and disappointing situation,” the Lost Lands festival said in a statement issued on Facebook. “Most importantly, some fans are stuck in limbo as their money is being held by the company which has ceased operations. While LYTE has gone silent, we want to do whatever we can to take care of our community. We have created a solution that we hope will help anyone who is awaiting payment from LYTE, regardless of it coming at a very high cost to us.”
History of Sol Blume
Sol Blume first made its Sacramento debut in 2018, when the concert was a one-day show held at Caesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento. Nearly 6,000 people attended the 2018 show.
The festival quickly gained traction and followed up the next year with more than 6,000 concertgoers, creating anticipation for the next annual show.
Sol Blume didn’t happen in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 but returned after the two-year hiatus in 2022.
The festival was first held at Discovery Park in 2022. Close to 40,000 people showed up for the headliners that year which were Jorga Smith, Jazmine Sullivan, Jhene Aiko and Summer Walker. The lineup also included a roster of Sacramento native artists Victoria Monet and Yelly.
Sol Blume drew about 46,000 fans to Discovery Park in 2023 for its fourth edition. That year’s lineup featured Brent Faiyaz, Kehlani and Teyana Taylor.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM.
