Never Say Never Festival was an annual music festival which began March 18, 2009, in

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. Its population was 77,058 at the 2010 census and an estimated 84,331 in 2019. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. Geography M ...

."About - Never Say Never Music & Arts Festival",DontGetEmo.com, 2010, webpag
DGE-2
"Never Say Never Festival - Tuesday Mar 15, 2011",ExploreMcAllen.com, 2011, webpag
EMc2011
The festival featured bands of many different genres. The first Never Say Never festival hosted 30 bands on 2 stages, including Forever the Sickest Kids,

Anarbor Anarbor is an American rock band from Phoenix, Arizona that was formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist, bassist and only constant member Slade Echeverria, guitarist Adam Juwig, guitarist Danny Stravers, and drummer William Wilson ...

NeverShoutNever! Never Shout Never (originally typeset as nevershoutnever! and NeverShoutNever!) is an American rock band formed in Joplin, Missouri in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Christofer Drew began the band as a solo project before expanding it ...

A Skylit Drive A Skylit Drive is an American post-hardcore band from Lodi, California. The band has released one DVD, one EP and five studio albums: '' Wires...and the Concept of Breathing'' (2008), '' Adelphia'' (2009), '' Identity on Fire'' (2011), ''Rise ...

Drop Dead, Gorgeous Drop Dead, Gorgeous was an American post-hardcore band from Denver, Colorado. It consisted of frontman Danny Stillman (lead vocals), Kyle Browning (lead guitar), Jake Hansen (bass), Dan Gustavson (rhythm guitar), Jonathan Leary (keys/synth/prog ...

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off or Laughing My Fucking Ass Off) are an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Le ...

and

The Scene Aesthetic The Scene Aesthetic was an American two-piece band based in Seattle, Washington. The duo consists of Andrew de Torres (also a member of Danger Radio) and Eric Kimberlin. History The band gained recognition through MySpace after posting their ...

. The 2010 and 2011 festivals followed on March 17, 2010 and March 15, 2011.

Naming The Festival

The name "Never Say Never" was chosen by festival organizers Zar Castillo and George Culberson in response to all the people that told them that they would never be able to bring down incredible bands to

South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

2010 Festival

The 2010 festival was held on March 17, 2010. It hosted 40 bands of different genres on 3 stages. The festival featured a vendor village, that hosted shops like Monikapolitan.com and eleven apparel.

2016 Controversy and Demise

The final Never Say Never Festival took place on March 16, 2016, at Las Palmas Racepark in

Mission, TX Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. Its population was 77,058 at the 2010 census and an estimated 84,331 in 2019. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. Geography M ...

. The festival was marred by technical issues, high-risk investments and low attendance which resulted in many of the artists having their set times cut short and not being paid in full for their performances. In response to the controversy following the 2016 Never Say Never Festival, Matt Carter of Emery hosted an episode of his podcast "Break It Down with Matt Carter" with his bandmates. In a follow-up episode, Carter interviewed promoter Zar Castillo to clear the air and give Castillo a chance to share his side of the story and what reparations were being made to pay the bands who performed.

List of lineups by year

References

{{coord missing, Texas Tourist attractions in Hidalgo County, Texas Music festivals in Texas Recurring events disestablished in 2009 2009 establishments in Texas