Festival cancellations in 2021 could have been avoided, and the government is to blame

It will have come as no surprise (to anyone with a grain of common sense) that Glastonbury 2021 was not to be. Of course, we could hope. But if you’d been paying any attention at all to the events of the past year, it was easy to see that this staple of British culture – the most famous music festival in the world – was going to become the latest casualty of the pandemic.

It didn’t have to be this way. In Wuhan, where the virus was first detected, a viral (for want of a better word) photo in August 2020 showed young people enjoying a packed-out music festival held at a water park. This didn't mean things were back to normal in the Chinese city, however. It meant that because enough precautions were being taken, because people were being sensible, and because strict enough measures were being enforced, officials were able to allow such a gathering to take place.

Meanwhile, in the UK, coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on our economy, on our NHS, and on the things that – for as little value as the government places on them – make our lives better and brighter. I can’t begin to express how disheartening it is – as a music critic and as a fan – to see the artists I love forced to put their creativity on hold because of the decisions of the tone-deaf elite. Politicians are notoriously rubbish when it comes to popular culture, but it really is astonishing how this government seems to actively despise the arts.

Pleas from the music industry for additional help have fallen on deaf ears. Upon the news that Glastonbury – a festival that typically welcomes around 200,000 guests (that’s about the population of Brighton) each year – was cancelled, Boris Johnson offered little more than a shrug. “We have set out the support we have made available to businesses and industry throughout the pandemic,” his spokesperson said. “That support is still available, but it remains the case that we have to ensure that we can fight this virus and reduce the transmission of it.”

Likely one of the biggest factors behind the Glastonbury organisers’ decision to cancel when they did was the government’s failure to set up an insurance scheme that would underwrite any losses if the festival was forced to shut down at short notice. Going ahead with such a gargantuan event otherwise was simply too big a risk. 

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden’s response – that the government was now looking at problems around getting insurance – feels half-hearted at best. “We’ll look into it” feels like a fob-off, a way to shut the industry up in the hope that they’ll forget until it’s too late. And it seems like a transparent indication that the government has no plans to offer the requested bailouts – a scheme more than 100 senior music industry figures have backed – themselves.

Music journalists in the UK have gone above and beyond to try to help raise awareness of the plight of the industry during the pandemic. I’ve seen countless articles on just how our current situation is affecting thousands of people, from musicians to engineers to roadies, and others advising fans on how best to support their favourite artists and music venues. But there’s only so much we – and music fans – can do.

The UK has an extraordinary reputation for the arts. Our musicians are responsible for one in 10 songs streamed globally (according to BPI figures), thanks to world-dominating artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy, Dua Lipa and Adele. The industry contributed £5.8bn to the economy in 2019. That’s around three times more than value the British fishing industry. But guess which one dominated EU negotiations during the final Brexit talks?

Our government seems intent on throwing all of that talent and success away, most recently evidenced by The Independent’s exclusive last week on music visas. I wonder what it will take to make them wake up; whether it will become so bad that the time will come when summers finally return to normal, and all we’re met with is silence.

Yours

Roisin O’Connor 

Music correspondent