Published 19:17 IST, March 18th 2020
Glastonbury music festival cancels 50th anniversary event due to coronavirus
Following new government measures announced this week, and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty, this is now our only option, Glastonbury hosts said.
The organisers of the annual Glastonbury music festival announced on March 18 that they cancelled this year's 50th-anniversary event due to the coronavirus pandemic. Artists like Beatles icon Paul McCartney, US rapper Kendrick Lamar, and Pop superstar Taylor Swift were reportedly set to perform in the event.
"We are so sorry to announce this, but we are going to have to cancel Glastonbury 2020," organisers said in a statement on social media. “Following the new government measures announced this week, and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty, this is now our only viable option,” it said. The organisers further added saying that the tickets for the 2020 event will be applicable in 2021 as they hope to conduct the famous event next year. Britain's best-known music festival has been held without fail at a rural farm site in southwest England since the year 1970. At least 135,000 tickets for the 50th-anniversary festival went on sale in the month of October and reportedly sold out in 34 minutes.
"We are no longer able to spend the next three months with thousands of crew here on the farm, helping us with the enormous job of building the infrastructure and attractions needed to welcome more than 200,000 people to a temporary city in these fields,” the Glastonbury organizers said in a statement, adding they hoped the situation will have improved by the late June, the date of the festival. “We apologize to the 135,000 people who already paid a deposit,” the event organizers further added.
Total 1,950 cases in UK
According to the reports, British artist Dua Lipa, the Manic Street Preachers band and Primal Scream were among the other confirmed performers. Organizers Emily Eavis and her father Michael Eavis claimed that they had to make the decision on their own after the British government recommended a raft of social distancing measures, and prohibited mass social gathering due to COVID-19 outbreak. Britain has recorded over 1,950 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and at least 71 fatalities.
Updated 19:17 IST, March 18th 2020