‘We eat and drink risk’: higher costs bring curtain down on more UK music festivals
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- Womad Glasgow, co-founded by Peter Gabriel in 1982 and staged in 30 countries, was cancelled last week due to low ticket sales, becoming the 20th UK festival casualty this year.
- Where It All Began organisers postponed their grassroots festival on the former Secret Garden Party site in Cambridgeshire despite raising £180,000 in crowdfunding, citing a potential £60,000-£80,000 loss and 10-15% increases in infrastructure and transport costs since the start of the Iran conflict.
- Red Rooster festival in Suffolk, run by Henry Fitzroy for over a decade, entered liquidation with no refunds for ticket holders, blaming higher costs and weak sales.
- Association of Independent Festivals data shows 43 closures last year and more than 250 festivals shutting since before the pandemic, though 2025's count is the lowest since the pandemic began, according to CEO John Rostron.
- Artist fees for top-tier talent have risen 60-70% over the past five to six years, hitting independents harder than corporate players, the AIF said.
- Live Nation — under scrutiny after a parliamentary committee flagged a "climate of fear" among witnesses and called on the CMA to investigate its dominance — is simultaneously launching two new large UK festivals headlined by Kings of Leon, Alanis Morissette, Michael Bublé, and Katy Perry.
Why it matters: Independent festival organisers commit costs 11 months in advance and can no longer absorb price shocks — artist fees alone have risen 60-70% in five to six years, per the AIF. With 20 closures already logged in 2025 and Live Nation simultaneously expanding into two mega-festivals, grassroots UK live music is consolidating into corporate hands rather than simply weathering a bad summer.
