Despite the start of the vaccine roll-out in the U.K. and trying their best to keep the festival alive, Glastonbury Festival organizers Michael and Emily Eavis announced today that the event will be axed for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tweet began with “With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us,” followed by a full statement which you can read below.
Anyone who secured their place to buy a ticket back in October 2019 will be given the opportunity to roll over their £50 GBP (approximately $69 USD) deposit onto the next year to guarantee purchase when back up-and-running. Staying optimistic with a glimmer of hope for partygoers, the organisers “are very confident” that they can deliver something special in 2022.
Held in Worthy Farm, Somerset, the renowned festival attracts over 200,000 music lovers every year and is crowned the “largest green-field music and performing arts festival in the world.” In 2019 alone, the music industry contributed a record £5.8billion (approximately $8billion USD) to the U.K. economy. However, since the start of the pandemic the sector has lost around 85-percent of its live revenue due to cancellations.
Understanding its value, Julian Knight MP, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee responded to today’s news by saying, “We have repeatedly called for ministers to act to protect our world-renowned festivals like this one with a government-backed insurance scheme. Our plea fell on deaf ears and now the chickens have come home to roost.”
See how Primavera Sound’s trial festival coped during the pandemic.
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