BST Hyde Park 2020 cancelled
AEG Presents’ British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park will not take place this year, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic claims another UK summer staple.
The festival, which was to take place over two weeks from 2 to 12 July, was set to feature headline acts including Post Malone, Little Mix, Kendrick Lamar, Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift and Duran Duran.
The cancellation follows that of All Points East festival, which was called off at the end of March.
“It is with great sadness that we have made the difficult decision to cancel BST Hyde Park 2020,” reads a statement from organisers.
“After closely following government actions and statements during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as consulting with our partners The Royal Parks and wider agencies, we have concluded that this is the only possible outcome.”
“It is with great sadness that we have made the difficult decision to cancel BST Hyde Park 2020”
Ticketholders will contacted by ticketing agencies by 6 May with information on the refund process.
“We look forward to welcoming you back in 2021 and will be in touch about plans soon. In the meantime, please follow the advice and stay safe,” state organisers.
This year was to be the eighth outing for BST Hyde Park, combining two weekend of music with free-to-access midweek events. Over the years, BST has seen performances from acts including the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, the Cure, Black Sabbath and Barbra Streisand.
Other UK events to be called off this summer due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic include Glastonbury Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Download, Lovebox, Parklife, Womad, Cambridge Folk Festival, Country to Country Festival, Radio One’s Big Weekend and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as industry conferences including The Great Escape and the Ticketing Professionals Conference.
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First Ticketing Professionals Conference in 2016
A new ticketing business event will make its debut in early 2016 when the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham, UK, hosts the first Ticketing Professionals Conference.
The 25-26 February gathering is being organised by Ticketing Professionals Limited (TPL), whose board consists of Andrew Thomas (The Ticketing Institute), Peter Monks (The Ambassador Theatre Group/ATG Tickets), Jamie Snelgrove (See Tickets), Jenny Gower (Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club) and Peter I’anson (TopTix).
The event’s educational programme will be designed to provide a forum to support industry professionals and ensure the success of their organisation by discovering and sharing new ideas, through presentations and round-table discussion.
The ICC venue will be used to showcase new technologies, alongside an already sold-out exhibition and marketplace of ticketing products and services, delivered by innovative industry suppliers. The event’s educational programme will be designed to provide a forum to support industry professionals and ensure the success of their organisation by discovering and sharing new ideas, through presentations and round-table discussion.
TPL director Andrew Thomas explains that the not-for-profit event is being launched because of a gap in the market for such a forum. “For the last five years, I have been attending the International Ticketing Association Annual Conference in the United States,” he says. “It’s amazing – around 1,000 ticket and data geeks in one place! There is a small European contingent that goes and every year we say ‘why isn’t there something like this in the UK?’ – well, in January 2015 in Denver, a number of colleagues from the industry asked me to try to create one, so here we are.”