Tim Peacock
Brits could be going to concerts as soon as this summer, but it’s still the worst of times for continental promoters facing pandemic restrictions.
LONDON In February, when the United Kingdom suffered its third national lockdown, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson told the beleaguered live sector that concerts could resume after June 21 without restrictions if certain virus-related health conditions are met. Within days, two of the United Kingdom’s biggest festivals the 185,000-capacity dual-site Reading and Leeds festivals headlined by Liam Gallagher, Stormzy and Post Malone, and the 70,000-capacity Creamfields sold out their late-August dates. Since then, nearly two-thirds of British adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, and U.K. shows scheduled for July and beyond are reporting strong ticket sales, fueling optimism that Europe’s largest touring market will at least partially reopen by mid-summer.
Where events do not permit resale, websites offering tickets are supposed to warn buyers that they may be refused entry.
Field Day said its terms and conditions explicitly prohibited resale, yet the Viagogo website does not mention this to buyers. Listings for four other festivals that prohibit resale also did not appear to warn that fans might be turned away. Viagogo said its listings were compliant with the court order.
Annabella Coldrick, the chief executive of the Music Managersâ Forum said: âWhat we need is a safe return to live music but weâve got parasitic touts ripping people off and potentially causing safety issues.â
UK festivals 2021: Why events such as Boomtown are cancelling - despite lockdown roadmap going to plan When Boris Johnson first announced his roadmap for lifting the UK out of lockdown restrictions back in February, it seemed like normality was finally on the horizon - and for music fans, that meant a return to live gigs.
With a date of 21 June set to remove all limits on social contact, there was optimism that although
Glastonbury, the big one, had already been called off, the majority of summer festivals would still go ahead.
Reading and Leeds organisers were quick to announce the festivals would take place as usual in August, while