Access All AreasLondon-based dance music festival We Are FSTVL has been cancelled, with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham stating that the difficult decision to call off the event had been made for health and safety reasons after record levels of rainfall this year.
Due to take place on 25-26 May, with a line up including headliners Eric Prydz and Chase And Status, We Are FSTVL was relocated to London’s Dagenham Central Park this year having previously taken place at Damyns Hall Aerodrome in Upminster.
The event’s promoters, Rebelia Festival’s James Cohen and David Lee, issued a statement that explained that the festival was cancelled for reasons beyond their control: “Last year, when we were looking for a new home, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham offered us the beautiful Central Park and we worked with them to create detailed plans for how the festival would work this year and be better than ever before.
“We had invested time and money into the new site, new stages and brought in a new creative team to bring the weekend to life with immersive experiences and large art installations, alongside the already fantastic lineup, which we couldn’t wait to share with you.
“Sadly, and just days before we were due to attend on site to start the build, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham accepted that they could not deliver a safe event space that was fit for the purpose of allowing us to stage We Are FSTVL 2024.”
It is the latest in a long line of festivals that have been called off this year, including NASS (cap. 30,000), Bluedot (21,000), Standon Calling (cap. 17,000), and Connect (15,000), while new launches have struggled to get off the ground.
The Association of Independent Festivals is calling on Government to reduce the VAT rate on festival tickets to 5% to help avoid further closures.