Glastonbury scraps plan for one-day September festival
Glastonbury has ditched plans to hold a one-day event in September, the festival’s organisers have announced.
Earlier this year Mendip district council granted a licence application for a one-off show with a maximum capacity of 50,000 people – a quarter of the festival’s usual capacity.
But in a post on Instagram organiser Emily Eavis said the gig would not go ahead “for a number of reasons”.
Instead, Glastonbury is focusing on reopening its venue as a family-friendly campsite called Worthy Pastures.
The cancellation will come as a further blow for festival goers after Glastonbury was forced to cancel its iconic event for the second year running.
In May it hosted a livestream concert featuring acts such as Haim, Coldplay and Jorja Smith.
However, it was blighted by technical difficulties, with many fans unable to access the stream.
More than half of UK festivals planned for this summer have now been cancelled due to uncertainties over coronavirus restrictions.
Industry body the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) last month estimated that 51 per cent of all festivals with more than 5,000 attendees had been called and warned the sector was at a “real tipping point”.
The issue has been compounded by the lack of insurance for festivals, which has forced many organisers to cancel their plans.
However, ministers have resisted calls for a government-backed insurance scheme, despite warnings from MPs that many events faced a serious threat to their survival.
This week Norfolk-based festival Houghton announced its cancellation after it said the sharp rise in the number of Brits told to self-isolate would lead to staff shortages.