Music Festivals given go ahead from late May...

[westholtschic]

3 hours ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I'm not intending to go but just got an email from Womad saying that will be going ahead in July. Looks like they are putting in some distancing/potential testing provisions if needed too?

We are super excited to announce tickets for WOMAD 2021 are ON SALE NOW!

The festival will go ahead from 22-25 July 2021 in line with the Government road map which aims to remove all social distancing restrictions by 21st June 2021.

Inevitably there will be some changes to the festival and we will be adapting to changing conditions to make WOMAD happen this year, with no doubt that WOMAD 2021 will be, as always a glorious celebration of the global community, its music, arts, culture and food.

We will continue to liase with the licensing and Public Health authorities to understand and implement the measures required for the festival to take place safely and for the wider community to feel totally comfortable. A 'WOMAD Roadmap 2021' is in development and will continue to be updated as those decisions are made. Some of these will include:

Line-up: International travel to and from the UK is currently restricted.  Fortunately, the UK has a rich and culturally diverse artistic community and WOMAD will celebrate this diversity with a line-up of mainly UK based artists reflecting musical and artistic traditions from all over the world. The UK artists will be announced on 12 April. But, when restrictions on international travel are lifted, organisers hope to build on this foundation by adding international artists to the line-up around the 17 May, many of whom have already committed to performing at WOMAD 2021 if international travel allows.
  
Increased Space: We are redesigning aspects of the site to increase the space in the campsite and the arena so people have as much space as they need.
 
Capacity: Capacity is continually under review. In the first instance tickets will be sold in batches with additional batches added as the consultation proceeds. The final capacity will be based on consultation and reflect the increased space available in the site and the licensing guidelines. 
 
Home Testing: We are discussing the possibility of following the schools' model and the upcoming DCMS test events of offering home-based Lateral Flow Tests both before and after the festival. Depending on the position of the Public Health Authorities these may be sold at cost price. Festival goers who have a ticket and test positive will be refunded in full or have their ticket rolled over to 2022. 

In case of cancellation: In the event that the festival is cancelled by the Government or Health Authorities, tickets can either be rolled over to 2022 or fully refunded. 
 

Fantastic news, you beat me to it😁 can’t wait to be part of the medical team there again. Excellent festival.

[Homer]

5 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

And I was unsure about going to a September camping festival due to the coldness of the nights!! 

They’ve posted saying that’s been accounted for - am guessing done indoor event at a holiday camp.

[Ayrshire Chris]

4 hours ago, zahidf said:

Sturgeon says in Scotland that end of JUne will be when social distancing will be gone

Well we will see if the Biffy open air gig at Bellahouston Park goes ahead. That’s the end of June.  I somehow have my doubts. 

[Paul ™]

43 minutes ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

Well we will see if the Biffy open air gig at Bellahouston Park goes ahead. That’s the end of June.  I somehow have my doubts. 

Doubt it. Any data from the limited Event Research Programme test events in April won't be known till the end of May. Leaving it too late I'd say for anything major happening in June and into July. 

[gooner1990]

Full list of festivals that are on or off this summer:

Festivals 2021: Which ones are still going ahead? - BBC News

[maelzoid]

1 hour ago, gooner1990 said:

Full list of festivals that are on or off this summer:

Festivals 2021: Which ones are still going ahead? - BBC News

I saw this too. I still cannot believe that BST Hyde Park is going ahead in July. I wonder how much of that article is properly sourced, and how much is simply "no comment so far = the plans have not changed"

[Paul ™]

2 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

Full list of festivals that are on or off this summer:

Festivals 2021: Which ones are still going ahead? - BBC News

Not a full list though.

[Avalon_Fields]

16 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

Not a full list though.

Yes, no Bearded Theory! As it's now September I'm pinning all my festival hopes it's safe.

 

I see First Aid Kit are at Latitude, I'll be watching out for tour dates.

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, maelzoid said:

I saw this too. I still cannot believe that BST Hyde Park is going ahead in July. I wonder how much of that article is properly sourced, and how much is simply "no comment so far = the plans have not changed"

Al festivals are going ahead until they say they aren't.

[Paul ™]

9 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Yes, no Bearded Theory! As it's now September I'm pinning all my festival hopes it's safe.

 

Final decision being made early next month, announcement on the 9th April.

If there is a risk of there being any restrictions or it being unsafe and they will postpone till May 2022.

[eFestivals]

19 hours ago, eFestivals said:

Karen now known as Scturdis.

Or Noris.

Edited March 17, 2021 by eFestivals

[Rex2]

So when they say no restrictions from 21st June? 

[xxialac]

BST won't go ahead - pretty confident of that. It's too big and too early in the season.

 

 

[bennyhana22]

1 hour ago, maelzoid said:

I saw this too. I still cannot believe that BST Hyde Park is going ahead in July. I wonder how much of that article is properly sourced, and how much is simply "no comment so far = the plans have not changed"

Why not? At present we're on schedule to immunise all UK adults by mid-June.

If that comes to pass, with possible under-16 programmes coming on line too, why wouldn't we be in a position to have that event in July?

The only reason to have any restrictions is to reduce/avoid 'unacceptable' levels of hospitalisation, death, other stress on the health service. Once the population is in a position whereby that isn't happening, and interventions make it very unlikely (immunisation plus natural immunity in the previously infected unimmunised) to happen, there is no reason to restrict public activity.

There are currently fewer than 8000 patients in UK hospitals with COVID. For a single disease process that is NOTHING! Now, cases will inevitably rise with the easing of lockdown, but that should be countered by an incredibly successful vaccine rollout, so that cases will NOT likely result in a problematic rise in admissions/ICU/death etc - since the groups producing almost ALL admissions and deaths will have been vaccinated by then.

There really is every reason to expect that, without a major, unforeseen complication going forward, if vaccination continues as it is now, festivals this summer are GO.

Ben

[bennyhana22]

1 minute ago, xxialac said:

BST won't go ahead - pretty confident of that. It's too big and too early in the season.

 

 

That's just not true. If all follows the plan for no restrictions by 21 June, there is no logic for that. Now, it may yet not, but we have no logic on which to base that, other than the occurrence of a major confounder that is not currently anticipated.

To reiterate - on a healthcare population level, it doesn't 'matter' if cases go up, if that does not translate into admissions and deaths. A few years ago there were something like 50 000 excess deaths from a very bad 'flu season. What happened thereafter? Nothing! Of course, coronavirus is not a direct comparison, but 'flu has NOWHERE near the extent or efficacy of vaccination compared to our current position.

Ben

🙂

[Paul ™]

The event research programme running in April with results due end of may is not wide enough a study to drop all restrictions for mass gatherings in June.

I fully expect there to be further announcements of test events in June, but with less restrictions than the April ones.

Am still going with no mass gatherings without any restrictions, till the end of July at earliest.

[xxialac]

I'm not justifying the decision.

I'm however confident that we don't go from 1,000 max non-seated audiences on 20 June to 65,000 two weeks later.

And we won't have vaccinated all adults by mid-June. 

[bennyhana22]

Just now, Paul ™ said:

The event research programme running in April with results due end of may is not wide enough a study to drop all restrictions for mass gatherings in June.

I fully expect there to be further announcements of test events in June, but with less restrictions than the April ones.

Am still going with no mass gatherings without any restrictions, till the end of July at earliest.

On what basis do you suspect that? There is no indication to the industries that, say, mass testing is likely at large events like festivals. The test events will have safeguards that may well not be implemented/be unimplementable when restrictions are lifted to full capacity.

I acknowledge that there is much uncertainty, but the evidence and logic suggests that once population spread is very low and vaccination very high, we could easily be like New Zealand.

Ben

[xxialac]

3 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

The event research programme running in April with results due end of may is not wide enough a study to drop all restrictions for mass gatherings in June.

I fully expect there to be further announcements of test events in June, but with less restrictions than the April ones.

Am still going with no mass gatherings without any restrictions, till the end of July at earliest.

Yeah, make a lot of sense all of this.

I think August is the most likely month for things really opening up and even then they might want elements of testing included too.

[bennyhana22]

Just now, xxialac said:

I'm not justifying the decision.

I'm however confident that we don't go from 1,000 max non-seated audiences on 20 June to 65,000 two weeks later.

And we won't have vaccinated all adults by mid-June. 

We will (likely) have all adults offered vaccines, resulting in, on a population level, a MASSIVE proportion if things continue as they are now, and well above the sort of percentages modelled to provide 'safe' herd immunity. I think people underestimate just how comprehensive this programme is and is becoming...*

Ben 

 

 

 

*because we in the NHS have been charged with its execution...!

[xxialac]

1 minute ago, bennyhana22 said:

We will (likely) have all adults offered vaccines, resulting in, on a population level, a MASSIVE proportion if things continue as they are now, and well above the sort of percentages modelled to provide 'safe' herd immunity. I think people underestimate just how comprehensive this programme is and is becoming...*

Ben 

 

 

 

*because we in the NHS have been charged with its execution...!

Yeah, though offering a vaccine is not the same as vaccinating.

You wrote that we'll have vaccinated all adults. There will be a significant proportion that haven't been by mid-June. 

Plus the positive effect of the vaccine is a few weeks afterwards.

And NZ had 80 cases in total  when they were running full scale concerts.

[gooner1990]

working at home, buzzing off two strong coffees, listening to Radio X wishing I could go to a festival right now

[Paul ™]

18 minutes ago, bennyhana22 said:

On what basis do you suspect that? There is no indication to the industries that, say, mass testing is likely at large events like festivals. The test events will have safeguards that may well not be implemented/be unimplementable when restrictions are lifted to full capacity.

By speaking to people in the industry.

Despite ticket sales being better than expected, confidence isn't high for early events (say in early July).

The test events they have selected so far, are so far off the mark from the mass gathering that they need to have these trials done at is obvious.

Only time will tell, but as we hurtle towards the roadmap dates, expect to see some of these events that have sold well, be pulled.

 

[swede]

Foals gig at Castlefield Bowl that was due to take place 30th June has been rescheduled to 22nd June 2022, thought that one might have be a tad too early to take place this year. 

[DeanoL]

I've just had gigs at The Barbican in London between 1-5 September 2021 postponed to the same week in 2022.

People can shout as much as they like about how things *should* be back to normal but if promoters aren't agreeing with you they simply won't be.