The wettest June and July in the UK and Northern Europe since
meteorological records began in 1776 brought chaos and cancellations to
the summer
festival programme.
In Germany, the Southside Festival went ahead, though promoter Folkert
Koopmans considered calling off the 22-24 June event after 75mph winds
demolished the tent stage, causing the death of a paramedic. Further
south, at the Heineken Jammin' Festival in Venice a week before, strong
winds and heavy rain toppled equipment and overturned trees and
vehicles; 19 people were admitted to hospital.
 The wettest June and July in the UK and Northern Europe since meteorological records began in 1776 brought chaos and cancellations to the summer
festival programme.
In Germany, the Southside Festival went ahead, though promoter Folkert Koopmans considered calling off the 22-24 June event after 75mph winds demolished the tent stage, causing the death of a paramedic. Further south, at the Heineken Jammin' Festival in Venice a week before, strong winds and heavy rain toppled equipment and overturned trees and vehicles; 19 people were admitted to hospital.
Festival organisers did everything humanly possible to combat the extreme weather, with varying success and at great financial cost, prior to and during the events. Glastonbury again improved extensive drainage systems, and at Roskilde in Denmark, drainage trucks preceded volunteers, laying thousands of cubic metres of wood chips, but still the rain created more and more mud. In Scotland, on the first day of T in the Park, laying 1,600 tonnes of metal track-way still couldn’t prevent the closing of waterlogged car parks and campsites.
WOMAD celebrated its 25th anniversary year in torrential rain, at a new site in Wiltshire. Close to their previous – now flooded – Rivermead home, Melvin Benn, desperately preparing for the 24-26 August Reading Festival, told IQ, “I’m operating 14 pumps with 70-180 thousand gallon capacities, moving a million gallons an hour offsite – and I’m still up to my knees. Basically, I’m trying to move the River Thames!”
On 9 August, Christof Huber of Yourope told IQ of more flooding in Switzerland but reported no calls for assistance or actual cancellations from any of the 40 members of the Europe-wide festival association. In the UK however, several events were called off. The promoters of the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire were forced to pull their event at the last minute, with their site under several feet of water. In Wales, music and extreme sports festival Wakestock was abandoned after 36 hours of relentless rain, and the first Fflam Festival, with more than 50 bands due to perform in Swansea's Singleton Park (13-15 July), was cancelled after an initial postponement due to torrential weather.
The newer and smaller events also suffered from festivalgoers holding back as they kept an eye on the clouds. The BBC’s 6 Music-sponsored 3-day LodeStar Festival, due to take place in Cambridgeshire on the last weekend of August was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The organisers blamed bad weather for the lack of interest.
It remains to be seen what the long-term consequences will be for the festival market. The environmental question also has to be considered – it’s not easy to continue to be green and clean on a site that has turned into a quagmire!
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