UK festivals - Booming or Busted?

One of Our writer's looks at the cancellation of summer festivals...

Emma Monaghan
18th March 2024
ImageCredit: Flickr@JulieZoney
Nine UK festivals have been cancelled this summer: Is the UK losing its place as the home of live music?

Get your bucket hats on and your ponchos ready, because UK festival season is approaching. But what is one of UK summer's most highly anticipated parts plummeting? The likes of the cost of living crisis, government cuts and rising ticket prices could see a decrease in the weekend getaway we all know and love.

The known and locally beloved Splendour festival in Nottingham cut ties with the public this year due to a lack of councillor negotiation, which is suspected to be due to lack of funding. For 15 years, Splendour has continued to put Nottingham on the map, with headliners such as Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, Blondie, Madness and Dizzee Rascal. Local festivals are suspected to boost the local economy by vast amounts, such as Sheffields Tramlines festival has been reported as generating 3.8m for the local economy. In times of economic crisis surely these festivals could be a local asset, but initial funding is difficult.

Nass festival in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, has also been cancelled for 2024 due to 'funding issues'. However, there is a wider speculation it's plug has been pulled due to increasing safety concerns. There are a number of stories of goers being caught with large amounts of class A drugs. The Home Office is also preventing safe, on-site drug testing as a preventative measure for an 'absteniance only approach', such as in 2024, they put a stop to Parklife festival safely testing drug samples on-site. These tests can prevent users taking more harmful and even death ridden substances. Drug culture is spreading over UK festivals, with a lack of funding, prevention methods can be minimal, increasing the risk especially for younger goers.

Economic problems could also be hindering UK festival culture with ticket price increases. In recent years, we've seen a vast increase in ticket prices, making affordability an issue for an experience which should be widely accessiable to all brits. The widely anticipated Reading and Leeds festival has seen a huge increase in ticket prices, with weekend tickets in 2019 being £205pp to 2024 being £350pp. The question of affordability presses, with a cost of living crisis, can we really be affording these prices for a no better experience?

We are seeing the UK's economic issues and cost of living crisis greatly impact the festival and live music scene, yet we cannot be too pessimistic. We're seeing many artists speaking out to prevent closer of independent music venues and there are still 778 UK independent festivals listed.

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