Joe GallopOrganisers of Bluedot Festival (cap. 21,000) told Sunday ticket holders to stay away from the site yesterday (23 July) after an “unrepresented” amount of rainfall over the past seven days affected the site.
The final day of the festival at Cheshire’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, which featured headliner Grace Jones, was able to go ahead despite a muddy arena ground, but only for weekend ticket holders.
Promoter From the Fields said the festival’s production company Engine No.4 laid over 1.5km of additional track mat and trackway, 130 tonnes of sustainably sourced wood chip and brought multiple trucks on site to pump out standing water.
“However, despite our continued work throughout the weekend it has reached the point where it is not possible to accommodate further audience vehicles on site,” organisers said in a statement.
“We have done everything within our power to accommodate people planning to come to Bluedot on Sunday. The Bluedot vision is borne of a love of sharing extraordinary moments of wonder, exploration and celebration with our strong community and we were proud to be welcoming you today to something we hold very dear to our hearts.
“We are very sad we can not share this with people who were due to arrive today. Thank you for your understanding.”
Bluedot had already hosted artists such as Roisin Murphy (pictured), Leftfield and Pavement over the weekend. Organisers said refunds will be issued to Sunday ticket holders.
It was announced last year that Superstruct Entertainment had acquired a controlling stake in music, science and culture event Bluedot.