‘My band and I were ready to perform’: A.B. Quintanilla III reacts to unexpected cancellation at Tejano music festival

VICTORIA, Texas – Like most musical acts, A.B. Quintanilla III y Los Kumbia All Starz were gearing up for their next gig. Until their next gig was canceled.

The band was scheduled to perform a set at the Memorial Weekend Bash, a three-day Tejano music festival held this Memorial Day weekend at Riverside Park in Victoria, Texas.

Some high-profile Tejano artists like La Mafia and Jennifer Peña took the stage Sunday night, the festival’s final night, but music promoter Frank Salazar of Salazar Promotions made a statement about A.B. Quintanilla III y Los Kumbia All Starz.

“I regret to announce that A.B. Quintanilla y Los Kumbia All Starz will not be performing this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances out of our control,” Salazar said in a video reel posted to Facebook. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

The cancellation announcement “shocked” Quintanilla, brother of late Tejano breakout artist Selena Quintanilla. He posted a video response of him practicing with the band.

“The question I have is what is an unforeseen circumstance out of control?” Quintanilla wrote Friday in the edited caption. “Is Victoria expecting a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flooding or hailstorm? Whatever the case, my band and I were ready to perform.”

Salazar did not reveal the nature of the unforeseen circumstance in the video.

As of Monday morning, Quintanilla deleted the Instagram post.

This weekend’s cancellation is the latest controversy surrounding the band over the last month.

Quintanilla and the band performed at the 2024 Tejano Explosion on April 27, the final Saturday of Fiesta. During the band’s performance, Quintanilla lashed out at the crowd in an expletive-filled rant and threatened 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?” Quintanilla said to the San Antonio crowd on April 27. “And that feels horrible, as a musician, to work so f---ing hard over all these years to bring you hits and you guys come here, and you can’t even f---ing raise your hands to f---ing clap or be happy, man. You know, that feels sad for us.”

Quintanilla’s rant went viral on TikTok. He took to Instagram on April 28 and addressed his comments at Tejano Explosion in a video, which has since been deleted.

In the video, Quintanilla said he wasn’t himself during the performance because his doctor advised him to avoid taking medication that could affect the results of a biopsy. Quintanilla also confirmed in the now-deleted video that he was not diagnosed with any form of cancer.

According to Tejano Nation, Quintanilla y Los Kumbia All Starz planned on hosting Kumbia Fest 2024 on May 16 in The Colony, Texas — approximately 30 miles northwest of Dallas — but the band reportedly canceled the event.

More related coverage on KSAT:

• A.B. Quintanilla III releases apology, then deletes it after lashing out at crowd on Tejano Explosion’s final night