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The Spanish festival which was due to return after a 19-year hiatus has been cancelled due to slow ticket sales
By IQ on 12 Jun 2019
After a three-year campaign to resurrect the brand, and just weeks from opening its doors, the Doctor Music Festival (DMF) has called time on the revived event. DMF’s comeback was due to take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló from 12 to 14 July, but requests for refunds from ticket holders have forced promoter Neo Sala’s hand.
“Cancelling the comeback edition of Doctor Music Festival is among the toughest decision of my promoter career,” he says. “At the same time, it is inevitable. The recent relocation of the festival has not been well-received by the public. Since the ACA (Catalan Agency d’Aigues) surprisingly ordered us to move the DMF, we’ve seen a huge number of fans cancelling their tickets. While sales for our new location in Montmeló have risen in recent weeks, we ultimately won’t be able to offer the experience we were striving for.”
“Cancelling the comeback edition of Doctor Music Festival is among the toughest decision of my promoter career”
DMF was forced to move site in April after the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) warned that the event’s original site in the Pyrenees was at risk of flooding. In a press conference at the time, Sala talked of ecologists and “eco-opportunists”, criticising those who felt the valley was “theirs, and untouchable”.
Artists confirmed to appear at DMF included The Strokes, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rosalía, The Chemical Brothers, Greta Van Fleet & The Good, The Bad & The Queen. All ticket holders will be fully refunded for the event.
“I’d like to thank everybody who, over the past three years, gave a helping hand in revitalizing one of Southern Europe’s most successful festival brands – artists, representatives, sponsors, partners, and, above all, the fans,” Sala says. “A special thanks goes to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, who have done everything possible to adapt their spaces to a festival that had been originally designed to occupy a whole valley of the Pyrenees.”
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