Fresh cancellations as weather drives up premiums

This weekend, Swedish band The Hives were forced to postpone a show at Dublin’s 3Olympia due to Storm Kathleen and Dom Dolla axed his concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre due to predicted 100mph winds.

The fresh cancellations have once again thrown a spotlight on the increasing number of extreme weather events faced by festivals and outdoor events, as well as subsequent travel disruptions impacting indoor shows.

Speaking about premiums in the UK market, Martin Goebells at Miller Insurance says, “Today additional premiums for adverse weather are 50% higher than eight years ago.”

In the US, adverse weather coverage has “increased significantly” in the last five years, according to Jeff Torda from Higginbotham. Backing this point, a recent Billboard article claimed premiums in North America had tripled in recent years.

In the last 12 months, a raft of major events have been hindered due to extreme weather including Primavera Sound Madrid, Awakenings in the Netherlands, Bluedot in the UK, Slovenia’s MetalDays, the UK’s Kaleidoscope, shows by Louis Tomlinson show and Ed Sheeran in the US, Burning Man, Taylor Swift in Brazil, Elton John in New Zealand and Wacken Open Air in Germany.

“The number of shows and events globally affected by weather has increased considerably in recent years, so it is understandable why insurers may look to charge more or ask more questions before providing cover,” says Martin Goebells at Miller Insurance in the UK.

In the US, Torda says, “Much is dependent on location, time of year and the site and whether events have plans in place for either storms or extreme heat. When looking to insure against travel delay caused by weather (which is standard cover in all policies) there are certain territories they may look at distances, method and time allowed to assess their risk for delays.”

Recently, Harvest Moon festival in Miramar, Florida, was cancelled after organisers failed to find affordable cancellation insurance less than six weeks from the event because weather forecasts at the time indicated that it could be in the path of two developing superstorms.

Goebells warns that festivals shouldn’t wait until the forecast is bad before thinking about an additional adverse weather premium.

“UK Insurers require a policy to be in place at least 14 days before an event, they normally won’t be keen to quote when a show is within 14 days,” he adds.

Torda says the US event cancellation market hardened after the massive number of losses sustained from Covid-19 pandemic, which automatically increased the rates on non-appearance and event cancellation.

“In the years immediately after Covid, there has continued to be a steady flow of weather-related cancellations for US festivals and outdoor events. For example, in 2021 Hurricane Ida came throughout the southeastern US and dumped massive amounts of rainfall that caused flooding and led to the complete cancellation of all four days of the Bonaroo festival. This was a very large cancellation claim, one of the largest ‘single event’ claims.”

Heat, in particular, is proving to be a growing concern for both insurers and the live music industry.

“Extreme heat is an area of concern that is on the rise as this has the potential to also affect indoor shows where ventilation can be a problem,” says Goebells.

At last November’s European Festival Conference, safety specialist Alexandra von Samson cautioned about the dangers to fans from heat including flooring panels in stadiums, and the cumulative heating effect of crowds in open-air venues during a sunny day.

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