Boomtown festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row

Fans are absolutely distraught


Boomtown festival 2021 has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to a lack of Covid-specific insurance.

In a tweet this morning, organisers of the 66,000 person event said: “We are absolutely devastated to announce that unfortunately, we will no longer be holding Boomtown Chapter One: The Gathering this year and it will now take place from 10 – 14th August 2022.”

Although large gatherings like Boomtown are allowed to happen this summer, currently there is no insurance scheme protecting them if the event is forced to cancel due to coronavirus.

“For an independent event as large and complex as Boomtown, this means a huge gamble into an 8-figure sum to lose if we were to venture much further forward, and then not be able to go ahead due to COVID,” A post on Boomtown’s website reads.

Without the certainty of an insurance scheme, festival organisers are unable to commit large sums of money to paying production companies, freelancers, suppliers and anyone involved in putting on the festival.

The government is yet to rule out an insurance scheme but is waiting to see the effects of reopening society first.

Music insurance broker Tim Thornhill, told The Times: “We can expect many more events to be lost unless the government begins to heed the sector’s call for intervention”.

Bristol fourth year and Boomtown regular Oscar Chow told The Tab: “Absolutely devastated, events like this one have been keeping me going throughout these tough times. I’m now worried others won’t go ahead.”

Tickets for the festival will now roll over to next year and refunds will be available for those who want them.

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