Joe GallopBBC Radio 2 Live In Leeds is the latest major music event to be cancelled after the death of the Queen, following the Mercury Prize at Eventim Apollo, the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall as well as several sporting events.
The Radio 2 festival was set to run over two days for the first time at Temple Newsam in Leeds from 17-18 September, with a lineup including Simple Minds, Tears For Fears, Robbie Williams and Nile Rodgers & Chic. It was previously staged in London’s Hyde Park and this year’s edition was set to be BBC Radio 2’s first major outdoor event since 2019.
Organisers said in a statement, “Following the very sad news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen, as a mark of respect, BBC Radio 2 Live in Leeds will now not take place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September. Ticket holders will be issued with refunds via the ticketing provider.”
Edinburgh’s FLY Open Air music festival was set to return to Princes Street Gardens on 16-18 September but has been cancelled due to Operation Unicorn events across the city over the next 12 days.
Promoter FLY said in a statement, “While we are disheartened with this decision we also understand and respect the instruction from Police Scotland and public safety given the Queen’s passing.
“The Queen will be brought to Edinburgh tomorrow for four days of mourning with Operation Unicorn seeing large parts of the city closed. This includes the Ross Bandstand & Kingstables Road which is our access route for building the event and is now no longer possible to use.”
“After having battled the pandemic it seems things don’t get any easier but we’ll be back stronger and united in May.”
London’s Royal Opera House cancelled its opening night of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and the Aida Insight which was due to take place on 8 September. It will also close on the day of the Queen’s funeral on 19 September.
The Royal Opera House chief executive Alex Beard said, “We are enormously saddened to learn of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her patronage of the Royal Opera House was a source of great pride to all our artists and staff, and her longstanding support for the arts was deeply appreciated.”
Despite planned RMT rail strikes no longer going ahead this month due to the Queen’s death, London festival Hospitality in the Woods (cap. 7,000) will still not be taking place after the industrial action forced the Beckenham Place Park event to cancel two days prior.
Promoters HospitalityDNB – the global events arm of UK drum and bass music label Hospital Records – said in a statement that it could not “reinstate the local authority’s event permission or supplier and artist arrangements at such short notice”.
It said, “Lewisham Council do not have the confidence that the services will be running fully in time for the event to go ahead as planned on Sunday, and particularly for customers to be able to safely get home from the event.
“With no viable options for train travel the local authorities were concerned about public safety in and around the park, particularly at the end of the event where it was likely that thousands of fans could be stranded at the event site.”
Organisers of London festival Overflo (10,000) Pxssy Palace said Southwark Council withdrew the permission for the event to take place on 18 September: “We tried to fight it as much as possible but the powers that be have had the last word,” it said in a statement.