News / Bristol festivals
Sunrise festival cancelled at last minute
After a temperamental few years with planning issues and venue changes, Sunrise Festival today announced this year’s event would not be taking place.
The festival, which was set to take place in Monmouthshire from May 21-14, has been cancelled due to issues over noise restrictions – with organisers revealing the decision on their blog and social media. The lineup included a DJ set from Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin Criminals), Omar Perry & Homegrown and Sam and the Womp.
The post read: “It is with great sadness that we must tell you that Sunrise is cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and it is only after being placed in a position where we could not produce the festival we had promised that we have made this decision.
is needed now More than ever
We’re deeply in shock about this, as I’m sure you all are and we apologise it’s taken us until this afternoon to make this announcement.
We’ve been told at the eleventh hour by the powers that be that we can’t run our main stage and dance stage above a level much louder than you would find in a library offsite, after 11 o’clock with unclear assurance that we would even be okay before that. We’ve tried every which way to get round this. We can’t. So with deepest regret we’ve had to cancel.”
Organisers assured ticketholders that they would be entitled to a refund. The added: “We are so incredibly sorry that this has happened but in all conscience could not have opened the gates to you to a festival with the threat of immediate closure hanging over our heads- these are strange times we live in.”
But the Sunrise crew won’t be left completely redundant this summer, as they plan to get involved with Boomtown Fair instead. A Facebook statement posted just hours after the original announcement read: “In the midst of the devastation we have been talking to some of the other independent festivals who have rallied behind us to offer us their support and ticket swaps and we are delighted to announce that the most exciting of these have come from our talks with BoomTown.
We are looking to create a new woodland meadow Sunrise zone within their festival. We share a lot of culture and roots so this feels like the perfect opportunity to combine the magic and keep our annual summer gathering. Nothing is set in stone but we are all working extremely hard to make something very special happen.”
Any Sunrise ticketholders keen to still go to a festival can upgrade their ticket to a Boomtown Fair one for an extra £10. More information here.
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