Peter Gabriel announces hiatus of Womad Festival
Every year, as of late, it seems as though more and more music festival events are folding, usually as a result of rising costs, inflation, and difficulties in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented live events from happening. Now, Peter Gabriel has announced that his Womad Festival will take a hiatus in an attempt to grapple with some of these difficulties.
First founded by the Genesis musician in 1980, the World of Music, Arts and Dance (Womad) Festival has been showcasing global art and music for decades. The festival incorporates events around the globe, supporting its international ethos, but since 2007, its predominant home has been in Charlton Park, Wiltshire.
However, that location is now up in the air as Gabriel released a statement claiming that the festival is “moving to a new home” away from Charlton Park in London, though he affirms that the new location will be “not far” from its current site. This move, brought on by rising costs and difficulties putting on a live music festival, means that Womad is taking a year off in 2025 before returning the following year.
This effectively means that Womad 2024, which saw headliners like Young Fathers, Goldfrapp, and Baaba Maal, will be the last edition of the festival to be held at Charlton Park. As Gabriel shared in a statement on November 5th, “To ensure that the festival can continue to thrive for years to come in our new location, we have decided to take a year off in 2025 before returning fully charged in 2026.”
“Womad, like many festivals and events,” he continued, “has seen some challenges post-Covid and we are now engaged in the process of re-evaluating, regenerating and reinvigorating everything we do – and where we want to go in the future. We’re delighted to say we’ll be announcing our new plans over the next few weeks.”
While the announcement of a fallow year may worry and disappoint festival fans, Gabriel and his team seem confident that the festival will return rejuvenated in 2026. Tragically, the same cannot be said for many other festivals.
Bluedot Festival in Cheshire, for instance, announced that it would be taking a fallow year in 2024, following a particularly muddy weekend in 2023. However, at the time of writing, the organisers have not announced plans for the festival to return in 2025.
Why are so many music festivals struggling?
In short, so many music festivals and live events in the UK are struggling to stay afloat as a result of rising costs, inflation, and difficulties in recovering from the lockdown period. Furthermore, the cost of living crisis means that fewer people are willing to spend upwards of £200 on a weekend ticket for a festival.
Earlier this year, the Association of Independent Festivals released a study that found 21 music festivals were no longer a part of the calendar, and a further 100 events were at risk of permanent closure. “Without intervention”, the AIF argued, “It’s expected that the UK could see over 100 festivals disappear in 2024 due to rising costs.”
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