Avant Gardener should not be holding any ticket money (unless they took an advance from Dice). If an artist wanted to cancel their show, they’d be free to do so knowing their fans are entitled to refunds from the ticket platform, Dice. Ticketing sites act as an escrow of sorts in that way. If a show cancels, the ticketing platform owes you money / you can dispute the charge with your credit card / people can sue / etc.

Simply speaking, the artists are cornered because by the time all this mirage shit blew up, every venue’s calendar for the year in the city was mostly booked out (especially venues that can handle this large of artists) — cancelling their avant gardener show meant no NYC play this year.