A highly-anticipated live music festival in the UK has been called off – partly due to concerns about a lack of insurance coverage.
The Nozstock musical festival was set to take place at a farm near Bromyard in Herefordshire, from July 21-25. The event has a capacity of 5,000 and tickets were already sold out, but it was ultimately postponed due to uncertainty over government-backed COVID-19 cancellation insurance, on top of issues with the supply chain, said organiser Ella Nosworthy.
“The UK's entire festival season remains in a very difficult position facing multiple challenges,” Nosworthy told BBC, adding that the government has yet to implement and help underwrite pandemic cancellation insurance “despite calls from the industry.”
The organiser had asked ticketholders to keep them for next summer instead of asking for a refund. Nosworthy also said that a number of the acts for this year’s Nozstock were re-booked.
In April, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) issued a statement which cautioned that many music festivals would have to be called off if the government did not make a decision to back cancellation insurance.
Read more: UK festivals make call for insurance scheme
The government responded to the statement, saying that it was “exploring what further support we may provide.”
The AIF is not alone; musical performers have also petitioned the UK government to underwrite cancellation costs of live events. Artists such as Jools Holland, The Chemical Brothers, Depeche Mode, Johnny Marr, Sir Cliff Richard, Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Amy McDonald, Frank Turner and Judas Priest banded together to convince the government that underwriting music events insurance would help restart the live entertainment industry this summer.
But with the government insurance plan still in the air, it is feared that more events like Nozstock will continue to get called off.
“Economically, we cannot keep pushing on without this in place, especially with production costs rising every day and recent reports of increased cases and a possible delay to the roadmap,” said Nosworthy.
