Joe GallopLeighton Live festival (cap. 9,999), organised by Northern Powerhouse Events, has become the latest music festival in the UK to be cancelled.
The event, created by the team behind Highest Point festival, was due to take place on Queen’s Jubilee bank holiday weekend (3-5 June) but organisers said rising costs meant it could not go ahead.
Other festivals to have been cancelled recently include Breakout in Fife, Bournemouth High Tide Festival, Northern Love in St Helens, Brainchild Festival in East Sussex, Festiva in Lancashire, and Newcastle’s Leazes Live and This is Tomorrow.
Access understands that a meeting is taking place next week to see whether the charity-run At Ease festival at Euston Park, Suffolk will be going ahead as planned or whether it will be postponed.
The one-off festival Leighton Live was due to take place at Leighton Hall Estate in Lancashire, with a lineup including UB40, Ministry of Sound Disco and Sister Sledge.
In a statement, Northern Powerhouse Events said, “We often see people produce all sorts of reasons why they cancel events, but we do not wish to stray from the truth – with two weeks to go, the whole project just isn’t going to work.
“Events are ridiculously expensive things to stage, with the ever-increasing costs required to put each one on covered not only by the ticket sales but by the bars and on-site catering too.
“It has taken us the past four years to get Highest Point Festival to the point where it breaks even and has a secure future, and continuing with Leighton Live would heavily jeopardise that.
“We have spent the last week or so working through various forecasts and scenarios, but ultimately, we have to make the decision to cancel the event rather than incur any more expenses in delivering the show.”