Best Friends Forever going on pause in 2026

After two runs at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, second-wave-emo-leaning festival Best Friends Forever is hitting pause and will not return this year.

The decision comes as DLVEC largely transitions into a parking operation. In a statement to Las Vegas Weekly, a venue spokesperson said the site will be partially converted into a “well-lit, clean and convenient” self-parking lot to meet growing demand downtown, while still leaving room for large-scale events.

DLVEC is owned by Derek and Greg Stevens, who also operate The D, Golden Gate, and Circa. Speaking with the Las Vegas Review-Journal over the weekend, Circa VP of Operations Jeff Victor was blunt about the math: parking simply pays better than live music. “The revenue potential of parking is greater than live entertainment,” he said. “Entertainment is perilous — especially outdoors. It’s just tough to make money.”

For now, that reality leaves Best Friends Forever on ice. Their statement reads:

We’ll be right back!

Hi friends! We have loved sharing the past two years with all of you at Best Friends Forever Music Festival. This fest means the world to us and we appreciate all of the fans and artists who helped make these first two editions truly special.

As you may have heard, our host venue the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center will no longer be functioning as a regular venue. Due to this unexpected change, we have made the call to pause in 2026.

The good news: our team has already begun working on bringing Best Friends Forever back to you in 2027. We are in the early stages of planning the what / w hen / where and there isn’t much to share at the moment. However, we are hoping to come back with some nice changes (dare we say, surprises) and present to you the third edition of Best Friends Forever that will be well worth the wait.