After being forced to cancel their 2020 edition due to COVID, New Orleans' BUKU Music + Arts Project are planning a full return in March of 2022. In the mean time, they announced BUKU Project Planet B in June, set for October. It was planned as a single-edition, lower capacity event to bridge the gap until 2022, but it's now been cancelled due to surging COVID cases in Louisiana.

A statement from the festival reads:

As you’ve probably seen, Louisiana is getting rocked by COVID again and it’s causing large events in the state to cancel. We’ve spent the last couple weeks trying to hang on, but don’t see a guaranteed path forward under the current & projected public health conditions. Therefore, in keeping the health & safety of our community as our top priority, we are canceling BUKU: Planet B that was scheduled to take place this October. Ticket holders will receive an email soon with details about the refund & rollover process.

The purpose of PLANET B was to ���set yourself free” as we celebrate the return of festivals in New Orleans. Simply put, we’re not quite there yet. However, by putting the health of the community first NOW, we believe we are doing the right thing to preserve the FUTURE and ensure that this surge is the last.

We also want to say that we support the City’s current guidelines and we fully support those festivals moving forward in other locations around the country. It was just bad timing for us down here, but the City of New Orleans is resilient AF. We will be back in no time and it will be awesome. In the meantime, stay safe, get vaccinated, and we will see you next year.

To end on a positive note, the lineup for the next BUKU on March 25-26 2022 is insane so far. Can’t wait.

The BUKU Planet B lineup included Megan Thee Stallion, Illenium, Machine Gun Kelly, Playboi Carti. Jamie xx, Pooh Shiesty, Kaytranada, EarthGang, Ghostemane, Ashnikko, Arlo Parks, Flo Milli, Remi Wolf, slowthai, $not, Yung Baby Tate, Dua Saleh, and more.