Once again there will be no Glastonbury Festival this summer, as the organisers have today announced the headline music weekend will not take place in 2021.
It's one of a number of events that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taken from the 2021 calendar, with the festival - that takes place in Somerset on the UK June Bank Holiday weekend - attracting over 200,000 festival lovers the last time it ran in 2019, with tickets selling out in minutes.
“With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us,” organisers Michael and Emily Eavis said in a statement. “In spite of our efforts to move heaven and earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down.”
The festival usually takes a 'fallow' year once every five cycles, with 2018 the last voluntary break for the land, the locals, and the organisers.
However, now with two enforced fallow years in a row, the Eaves' have promised to deliver something 'very special' for 2022.
The decision comes as festival organisers are calling on the UK government to provide an insurance scheme, for festivals that are forced to close - with the fate of the 2021 festival season - both in Ireland and abroad - still very much in doubt.
UK festival organisers have said they face cancellation and possible financial ruin if the government does not institute an insurance scheme to protect them from bankruptcy in the event of cancellation owing to the pandemic, similar to a scheme that has kept TV and film productions in business.
But for Glastonbury, the decision has already arrived - which means no Sunday night headlines, no highlights on the telly, and no hilarious flags on bendy poles...
Best flag of #Glasto2016 so far: @MartyM_RTE in space pic.twitter.com/d8sLZiVrOB
— Rachel Collins (@OrrCollins) June 24, 2016
*Sigh*
Such a shame...
