PennFest joins growing list of UK fest cancellations
Pennfest is the latest UK festival to be called off, with organisers citing a “challenging economic climate”.
The Buckinghamshire-based event joins a growing list of UK festivals that will not take place in 2024 that includes Connect Music Festival, 110 Above Festival, NASS Festival, Leopollooza, Long Division, Bluedot, Barn On The Farm and Splendour.
Meanwhile, organisers of Norfolk’s Wild Fields are battling to reconfigure the planned three-day camping event into a two-day city-based gathering. A collaboration between ATC Group and the team behind Norwich-based multi-venue festival Wild Paths, the 10,000-cap Wild Fields was set for Raynham Estate in North Norfolk from 15-18 August.
Festival director Ben Street told IQ that the team are trying to salvage the festival and are awaiting licensing approval to move to a city park.
Pennfest was due to take place in the village of Penn between 19 and 21 July, with performances from the likes of Jess Glynne, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Paul Weller, The Coral, Professor Green and Richard Ashcroft.
In a post on the festival’s official website, organisers explained that “challenging trading conditions coupled with significantly increasing costs in a very challenging economic climate has made it impossible to deliver the event to the standard our customers have become accustomed to”.
“It is impossible to deliver the event to the standard our customers have become accustomed to”
They continued: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly and the whole team is devastated by this after all their hard work over the past 12 years since the festival’s inception. It saddens us even further that unfortunately this situation does not only apply to us with a significant number of festivals like ours in the UK and internationally already cancelling or postponing their events for the same reasons.”
They ended by saying: “For us, it’s important to prioritise the wellbeing and the long-term sustainability of the festival and by regrouping in this way we can deliver on our commitment to further high-quality experiences in the future.”
Refunds will be available for ticketholders as well as the option to have tickets will roll over to the 2025 event. Plans for next year’s festival will be announced in the summer.
Last month, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) revealed that 21 UK festivals have now been cancelled, postponed or scrapped – with 100 at permanent risk without action.
In response, the UK trade body is repeating calls for a three-year reduction in VAT on festival tickets from 20% to 5%.
“If the UK wants to be a world leader in music, then the UK government needs to do as other countries across the world have done, and support the festival sector for a few years to make its recovery,” said AIF CEO John Rostron. “Lower VAT on tickets to 5% for three years, and we’ll prevent more festivals having to say enough is enough and goodbye.”
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DEAG’s Kilimanjaro to acquire promoter UK Live
DEAG has acquired a majority stake in UK Live, the independent Buckinghamshire-based promoter behind Let’s Rock, the popular festivals of ’80s and ‘retro’ music held in 14 cities.
Berlin-based DEAG announced last month it had raised more than €6 million to fund acquisitions in “key markets” around the world. Through UK subsidiary Kilimanjaro Live, the company has taken a 90% stake in UK Live, which has also organised headline shows by the likes of Craig David, Kim Wilde, Rick Astley and the Kaiser Chiefs, as well as festivals PennFest and Sunset Sessions (Exeter and Norwich).
In addition to organising shows, UK Live specialises in artist booking, stage construction and event technology. The company’s founders and managing directors Nick Billinghurst and Matt Smith, will stay on board as minority shareholders and will continue to manage the company in the long term.
“In view of the positive development with regard to the vaccination situation in our core markets, we expect to see our business activities increasingly return to normal in the coming months. We are already setting the course for a continuation of our successful business development and can further expand our strong market position in the UK with the acquisition of UK Live,” says Detlef Kornett, member of the executive board of DEAG (Deutsche Entertainment AG).
Other DEAG businesses in the UK include the Flying Music Company, Belladrum Festival, MyTicket UK and Gigantic Tickets, as well as Singular Artists in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.
“We are very excited about our future collaboration with DEAG and look forward to driving our growth journey together”
“UK Live has its own productions and independently covers the complete infrastructure from stage set-up to technology. By focusing on the domestic market, UK Live’s business activities are hardly affected by the Brexit,” continues Kornett. “The partnership with UK Live offers us potential, especially for our ticketing and live entertainment business. For example, we will offer tickets for UK Live events for sale exclusively through Gigantic.com.”
“The acquisition of UK Live adds attractive events and concerts to our events portfolio,” says Stuart Galbraith, CEO of Kilimanjaro Live. “Nick Billinghurst and Matt Smith have many years of experience in the live entertainment industry and have shaped UK Live from its early days with Let’s Rock The Moor with 1,000 visitors to a successful company with over a dozen festivals and countless concerts within only a few years. Today, the four series of events, Let’s Rock, PennFest, Friday Night Live Norwich and Sunday Sessions, alone attract over 200,000 visitors annually.”
Billinghurst adds: “We are very excited about our future collaboration with DEAG and look forward to driving our growth journey together. With DEAG, we have a strong partner on our side, with whom we are ideally positioned for the post-corona era.
“Together we will soon be presenting our audience with top-class concerts and events again. I am sure that both sides will benefit from our merger in the long term.”
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