Coronavirus: music festivals, big gigs, sports events and big gatherings - going ahead and cancelled
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ska invita
back on the other side
What is the new reality as you see it?
Cases continue to fall, but i am guessing its the logistics of "vaccine passports" (or getting a clean test the day before to validate a ticket) thats too hard for big events?
jimbarkanoodle
Well-Known Member
I think it might be ok for sound levels, as i dont think it is often used for one day festivals, so the council/nearby residents wont have had the chance to get their knickers in a twist about hearing a bit of noise before 10pm. The first year festivals use a park tends to be loud, years after that their license normally has harsher noise restrictions.
ska invita
back on the other side
well this explains it - lack of insurance, with government in the frame
www.theguardian.com
A trickle of festival cancellations is poised to “become a flood”, with more than nine in 10 independent events privately indicating they may not go ahead, senior industry figures have said, after Boomtown festival became the third in a week to cancel.
Boomtown’s announcement on Tuesday morning came days after the arts festival Shambala and the indie rock festival Barn on the Farm announced last week that they would not go ahead. All three cited the financial risk of staging events that could be shut down at a moment’s notice by a reimposition of Covid restrictions.
A statement posted on the Boomtown website on Tuesday said: “Sadly Covid-specific cancellation insurance for events simply does not exist at this point in time. This means anyone putting on an event this year will be doing so without the safety net of insurance to cover them should Covid prevent them from going ahead in any capacity.”
The past week’s cancellations followed those of the Bluedot festival this month and the Download and Belladrum Tartan Heart music festivals in March. Glastonbury, the UK’s biggest summer music festival, announced in January the cancellation of its 2021 event.
Despite promises by government ministers of a “great British summer” of music, event organisers have for weeks been saying many events might not go ahead if the government did not step in to back insurance against the risk of a reimposition of Covid restrictions.
Paul Reed, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, said a recent poll of his group’s membership had found that 92.5% said they could not go ahead without some form of government-backed insurance or indemnity scheme. AIF represents about 80 festivals, comprising 40% of the UK’s festival calendar.
Organisers were pushing decision dates back as far as they could, in case a change in circumstances made it possible to go ahead with confidence, Reed said.
“I think we’re going to see a wave of cancellations from this point forward … I’m having crisis meetings with festivals,” he said. “We know that more cancellations are coming, unfortunately. There are other festivals that have already made that decision and it’s just about the timing of the announcement.”
As Boomtown announced its cancellation on Tuesday, Live, which represents the live music industry, told Boris Johnson there had been a “complete market failure” to provide festivals with the insurance cover they needed. In a letter to the prime minister, Greg Parmley, the Live chief executive, calls for £400m remaining from the government’s culture recovery fund to be allocated to cover event organisers’ costs if they are forced to cancel on public health grounds.
Similar schemes are in place in Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, the letter notes.
Commenting on the letter, Parmley said the trickle of cancellations so far would “become a flood” if a solution to the problem of insuring events was not found. “The prime minister has said he wants this to be a great British summer,” Parmley said. “So do we. But that won’t happen if our world-leading live music events disappear for the second year in a row.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “More than £34m from our unprecedented culture recovery fund has supported festivals including Boomtown, Shambala, Glastonbury and Deer Shed festival. We are aware of the wider concerns about securing indemnity for live events and are exploring what further support we may provide.”
Covid-cautious festival cancellations dampen ‘great British summer’ hopes
Promoters cite financial risk of staging events that the government could shut down at short notice
A trickle of festival cancellations is poised to “become a flood”, with more than nine in 10 independent events privately indicating they may not go ahead, senior industry figures have said, after Boomtown festival became the third in a week to cancel.
Boomtown’s announcement on Tuesday morning came days after the arts festival Shambala and the indie rock festival Barn on the Farm announced last week that they would not go ahead. All three cited the financial risk of staging events that could be shut down at a moment’s notice by a reimposition of Covid restrictions.
A statement posted on the Boomtown website on Tuesday said: “Sadly Covid-specific cancellation insurance for events simply does not exist at this point in time. This means anyone putting on an event this year will be doing so without the safety net of insurance to cover them should Covid prevent them from going ahead in any capacity.”
The past week’s cancellations followed those of the Bluedot festival this month and the Download and Belladrum Tartan Heart music festivals in March. Glastonbury, the UK’s biggest summer music festival, announced in January the cancellation of its 2021 event.
Despite promises by government ministers of a “great British summer” of music, event organisers have for weeks been saying many events might not go ahead if the government did not step in to back insurance against the risk of a reimposition of Covid restrictions.
Paul Reed, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, said a recent poll of his group’s membership had found that 92.5% said they could not go ahead without some form of government-backed insurance or indemnity scheme. AIF represents about 80 festivals, comprising 40% of the UK’s festival calendar.
Organisers were pushing decision dates back as far as they could, in case a change in circumstances made it possible to go ahead with confidence, Reed said.
“I think we’re going to see a wave of cancellations from this point forward … I’m having crisis meetings with festivals,” he said. “We know that more cancellations are coming, unfortunately. There are other festivals that have already made that decision and it’s just about the timing of the announcement.”
As Boomtown announced its cancellation on Tuesday, Live, which represents the live music industry, told Boris Johnson there had been a “complete market failure” to provide festivals with the insurance cover they needed. In a letter to the prime minister, Greg Parmley, the Live chief executive, calls for £400m remaining from the government’s culture recovery fund to be allocated to cover event organisers’ costs if they are forced to cancel on public health grounds.
Similar schemes are in place in Germany, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, the letter notes.
Commenting on the letter, Parmley said the trickle of cancellations so far would “become a flood” if a solution to the problem of insuring events was not found. “The prime minister has said he wants this to be a great British summer,” Parmley said. “So do we. But that won’t happen if our world-leading live music events disappear for the second year in a row.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “More than £34m from our unprecedented culture recovery fund has supported festivals including Boomtown, Shambala, Glastonbury and Deer Shed festival. We are aware of the wider concerns about securing indemnity for live events and are exploring what further support we may provide.”
Its not a new reality as such just the realisation that we're a long way from being through all this. Pretty much all the modelling predicts a third wave of infections and even Johnson has as good as predicted it.
What this means for this summer is that it feels too soon. There just seems so many ifs and buts that in the cold light of day. Now that the initial enthusiasm about the route map out has waned its clear that any big events still planning on pushing through are taking big risks. On this thread we have examples of the very steady steps that are being taken to get live sport of events back on, the idea that in a couple of months it will just be a free for all seems utterly fanciful.
ska invita
back on the other side
take your point but i didnt think it was to be a free for all, it looked like passports + pre-entry tests, which is a different matter i think
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
I’m just so angry about it all. Months and months ago industry types were telling the government what was needed. Other countries have done it. It could be so different, but we’re stuck with this bunch of cunts in charge.
ska invita
back on the other side
if you can be arsed can you say what should've happened that isnt happening
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Government backed cancellation insurance is the main one.
That and competent leadership, but I accept that’s a stretch too far.
pesh
Well-Known Member
You'd have thought the government would have realised the vacuum left by a total lack of festivals when they're basically / arguably safe to go ahead is going to lead to carnage. last summer some jokers stuck a pair of fucking battery operated PA speakers in a park outside Manchester and pulled in 6000 people. The used PA gear pages on facebook have been full of wanted and for sale ads for 'suicide rigs' for months, and for the more organised people out there a 10 grand fine is fuck all expense compared to staging a legal event.
People are clucking for a party and they will happen, everywhere. The OB are going to be playing a game of wack-a-mole all summer.
People are clucking for a party and they will happen, everywhere. The OB are going to be playing a game of wack-a-mole all summer.
Mogden
I like tea
That's a bit of a tombola line up!
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Burning Man cancelled yesterday: Into the Great Unknown, and Beyond
Quite a lot of old vulnerable performers
no doubt they have all had both vaccine shots.
Yossarian
⏭️
Quite a lot of old vulnerable performers
The Death Pool 2021 Festival
Mogden
I like tea
I wouldn't be sad to see UB40 go. I've probably told the tale before but me and my festival chums sat at a bench at Bearded Theory for 9 hours one day, swapping out now and again for food, drinks and exercising numb bums, with the plan that at the first note that UB40 struck we'd stand up and leave. We did itQuite a lot of old vulnerable performers
I think Beautiful Days announcement, due next Friday (7th May) will be interesting one way or t'other.
I posted that they were going to confirm (or not!) over in the BD thread on the main festivals subforum a little while ago, that they had announced this 7th May prospect.
The Levellers (on the Beautiful Days site) appeared optimistic that their fest will go ahead, but I remain personally sceptical, given the (usual) size of the event (15,000 or so
).
They have already started recruiting stewards -- two of our best festie mates have applied,, including one who's a very experienced, now senior, Oxfam team leader at Glastonbury in whatever 'normal times' were.
How big is terms of numbers is that WonderHall malarkey?
.... with that line-up (OK weird, but quite big names!), I'd imagine at least 10.000 or so.
I don't think I've heard of it, is it new?
But like BD, it seems to be set in the grounds of a country house.
Could the setting be relevant in any way?
I posted that they were going to confirm (or not!) over in the BD thread on the main festivals subforum a little while ago, that they had announced this 7th May prospect.
The Levellers (on the Beautiful Days site) appeared optimistic that their fest will go ahead, but I remain personally sceptical, given the (usual) size of the event (15,000 or so
).They have already started recruiting stewards -- two of our best festie mates have applied,, including one who's a very experienced, now senior, Oxfam team leader at Glastonbury in whatever 'normal times' were.
How big is terms of numbers is that WonderHall malarkey?
.... with that line-up (OK weird, but quite big names!), I'd imagine at least 10.000 or so.I don't think I've heard of it, is it new?
But like BD, it seems to be set in the grounds of a country house.
Could the setting be relevant in any way?
Yossarian
⏭️
Grim stuff in Israel tonight, with dozens of people killed in a stampede at some religious festival that was the country's biggest gathering since before the pandemic - it's not a directly COVID-related disaster, but should serve as a reminder that the skills of a lot of people working in crowd control, event planning etc. might have gotten rusty, and a lot of people are no longer used to being in crowds.
Mogden
I like tea
Y Not is apparently going ahead.
www.derbytelegraph.co.uk
Given the absolute disasters they've had previously when continuing well after sensible to do so, that year it flooded and everyone got stuck, I can't say I'm surprised. I actually quite fancy the lineup though so am sticking it on my keeping an eye on this list.
Y Not Festival line-up as 2021 event is set to go ahead
Organisers have just put out some very exciting news
Given the absolute disasters they've had previously when continuing well after sensible to do so, that year it flooded and everyone got stuck, I can't say I'm surprised. I actually quite fancy the lineup though so am sticking it on my keeping an eye on this list.
Glastonbury to become family-friendly campsite over summer
Organisers warned the site will not be a "party venue" with live music and sound systems banned.
www.bbc.co.uk
Glasto Family Field has been expanded
It is new. It's a last minute replacement for the Lytham Festival, which is not on again until next year. Lytham tends to get in the region of something like 70,000 at it, no idea what sorts of numbers they're selling for WonderHall.How big is terms of numbers is that WonderHall malarkey?
I don't think I've heard of it, is it new?
But like BD, it seems to be set in the grounds of a country house.
Could the setting be relevant in any way?
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
I'm hopeful for the IoW festival.
They have taken a risk and moved it to the end of September. It can be quite nice then but it can get cold and rainy then too.
Not sure of the demographic for that festival. It's nice having a lineup I give no shits about, get to use the van and see the Oxfam team again. Camp for free on the IoW.
They have taken a risk and moved it to the end of September. It can be quite nice then but it can get cold and rainy then too.
Not sure of the demographic for that festival. It's nice having a lineup I give no shits about, get to use the van and see the Oxfam team again. Camp for free on the IoW.
I think the demographic is quite young. I've never been but it occupies the same place in my brain as the old V Festivals and the Reading / Leeds weekenders. That may be unfair.
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
Every childhood holiday I had in the summer months it pissed down
Blimey, you're right. That's wall to wall dad-rock.
