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Second UK music festival due to take place this bank holiday weekend cancels at the last minute

By | Published on Thursday 25 May 2023

Live music

A new music festival that was due to take place this bank holiday weekend in Newcastle has been cancelled with just days to go.

The In Between Days festival was set to be staged in Times Square in the centre of the city and was promoted by the owner of Digital, a club that is based at that location. Acts due to play over three days included Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats, DMAs, Tom Walker, Ian Brown and The Happy Mondays.

But organisers announced yesterday that the event had been cancelled. Their statement said: “It breaks our heart to make this announcement; no company sets out with an intention to cancel, postpone or reschedule an event (and when we have to cancel like this, we have to write off the significant amount of money we’ve spent so far)”.

“We were so excited to play host to some of the biggest names and the best talent in the world”, they added. “Sadly, it’s not to be this time. To everyone who has supported us, we are so very grateful but obviously very disappointed that we have not been able to make this a reality for you”.

“We would like to offer our thanks to all the artists, partner agencies, suppliers and, of course, our ticketholders for supporting us – we are so sorry to have disappointed you all”, they concluded, adding that those ticketholders would receive an automatic refund.

It’s the second new UK festival due to take place this weekend that has been cancelled with short notice. The Midnight Sun Weekender was due to kick off in the Scottish town of Stornoway later today, with The Pretenders, Primal Scream and John Fogerty booked to headline.

That event was cancelled last week, with organisers stating that “rising costs and limited availability on festival infrastructure, as well as the cost of living crisis having an impact on ticket sales, means that we are not in the position to deliver the event that we had hoped to bring to our beautiful island”.

Festival Director Ian MacArthur added: “As organisers, we have tried everything we can to overcome the challenges we have faced to stage this event, however it has become impossible for us to move forward. We are deeply disappointed to confirm this news, especially at this late stage and would like to reassure our customers that anyone who has purchased tickets will be able to claim a refund”.

The late in the day cancellation of two new festivals due to take place over the same weekend is a stark reminder that – even since the lifting of COVID restrictions – staging such events is a very risky business, especially with surging production costs.



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