Christopher BarrettKambe Events has cancelled its 15,000-capacity Shambala festival for the second consecutive year due to uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, and a lack of Government-backed cancellation insurance.
Shambala, which was due to take place on 26-29 August in Northamptonshire, is among a growing number of 2021 festivals to have been cancelled including Bluedot (cap. 21,000), Download (85,000), BST Hyde Park (65,000), Junction 2 (12,000) and Glastonbury (147,000).
In a statement, Kamble said the team were heartbroken to announce the event’s postponement for another year, “We would reiterate that without a government backed insurance scheme, independent festivals such as ourselves are put in an incredibly tricky position. Even with the amazing support shown from our audience over the last year and the Cultural Recovery Fund grant we received, without such a government supported insurance scheme, a last-minute cancellation would risk the very future of Shambala. That’s not a gamble we are willing, or should have, to take.
“Whilst we very much hope that the various targets in the roadmap are met and restrictions are lifted in mid June, there’s still a very real possibility that social distancing measures will still be in place. With this in mind, we’ve been engaged in a somewhat nightmarish game of Tetris over the past few months trying to envisage how Shambala could work. The short answer is, it couldn’t. It just wouldn’t be Shambala.”