The much-loved music festival season is currently being postponed and/or cancelled across the globe due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Each passing day sees another band, festival or promoter posting the inevitable “It is with great regret/heavy heart…” message on social media confirming another inevitable cancellation.
The summer may well and truly over now the German government has announced that all mass gatherings will be banned until August 31st 2020. The Wacken Open Air Metal fest yesterday confirmed that it’s annual Heavy Metal shindig is now sadly off but will return in 2021. The knock-on effect of this live lockdown announcement in Germany will be felt across the whole of Europe as bands from all around the world will have to weigh up the possibilities and practicalities of playing live, anywhere. Long-term this pandemic will undoubtedly take many music-related businesses down with it in the coming barren musical months. On a band ground-level, tour Merchandise will have been manufactured, paid for and now might be pretty much worthless. Airline tickets, visa’s, hotels, equipment and band transport may have already been booked in advance and with little or no money coming in from physical record sales (mainly due to the pittance paid to artists by the major streaming services), the short-term future is looking decidedly grim for the industry as a whole. It is now a fact that ticket sales and the subsequent merchandise revenue are many bands main form of income with very few record labels, if any, giving the kind of financial and promotional support they once routinely offered.
Add into the mix the worlds largest artist to fan crowdfunding site Pledgemusic’s utterly shameful demise which left many fans and bands with burnt hands and empty pockets. The corporate owners then slipped into the night, with no fear of any legal recriminations and a wallet full of fans hard-earned, never to be seen again, cash and also leaving a multitude of bands with huge debts and commitments to those supporters who had invested in their various projects.
Along with Wacken The Rewind, Download, Punk Rock Bowling (Las Vegas), Hellfest (France) and Glastonbury festivals (amongst many others) have already cancelled until 2021. There are numerous reasons for these early announcements including the festivals being able to keep the same line-up for 2021 meaning fewer ticket holders may request a refund. The set up for many huge outdoor festivals starts many months before the event itself and the logistics needed to get a field, farm or showground turned into an area were anything from 1000 to 120,000 punters, who will attend and may camp, can be an operation of military precision and gargantuan cost. Many festivals and tours have now been simply rescheduled for later on in the year including The Call Of The Wild, Stone Valley and Happy Days Festivals while we await announcements from Bloodstock, Reading & Leeds, Stonedead, Boomtown, Rebellion, Kubix festival, Green Day and Guns ‘N’ Roses respectively.
With the lockdown now extended for at least another three weeks, it does seem likely that all large gatherings, including gigs, sporting events, cinema, theatre and festivals will not be taking place before late 2020/early2021.
Stay safe, keep the faith, wash your hands and continue to support the nations backbone, our NHS.