BOOMTOWN FESTIVAL CANCELS

Boomtown has become the latest British festival to cancel this year’s event, with organizers blaming the lack of COVID-specific cancellation insurance. It was due to take place in August.

In a statement, organizers said that without “the safety net of insurance” to cover events should the pandemic prevent them from going ahead in any capacity, the financial risk is too high.

“For an independent event as large and complex as Boomtown, this is a huge gamble of up to an eight-figure sum.

“We have been doing everything within our power to try to find a solution to the mind-boggling conundrum of putting on a safe and well-run event to the sheer scale, complexity and intricate nature of Boomtown this summer. However, the time has simply run out for us to be able to proceed in a way that would live up to our high safety and production standards for the large-scale event we had planned.”

Boomtown, which usually has a capacity of 66k, was due to take place 8/11-15 in Winchester. It’s now been postponed to 8/10-14/22. Other U.K. festivals also called off this year include Barn on the Farm, Shambala, Glastonbury, BST Hyde Park and Bluedot. Currently, Reading & Leeds, Parklife, Isle of Wight and Green Man are amongst events set to go ahead.