UK Festivals On The Way Out?

In the same week that The Observer published a debate on whether UK festivals are on the way out, two more of them were reported having serious problems.

Truck Festival, which has taken place in Oxfordshire for 14 years, reportedly can’t pay its creditors and Newcastle’s Ignition Festival was scrapped at the last minute, allegedly because the organisers failed to submit an event safety plan.

The Observer debate had Esquire deputy editor Johnny Davis saying UK fests have hit “a natural ceiling” because there are just too many of them.

He said 34 were canceled last year and there’s 31 so far this year, although it’s not clear if that number included Ignition.

In July even Glastonbury chief Michael Eavis was casting doubts on the sustainability of British festivals.

“Partly it’s economics, but there is a feeling that people have seen it before,” he said. “In the year Jay-Z played we nearly went bankrupt.”