Isle of Man music festival cancelled
A new music festival on the Isle of Man has been cancelled due to a lack of ticket sales, organisers said.
Festival-goers, who were expected to enjoy acts such as Primal Scream, Paloma Faith and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr at the event on July 6, will receive refunds for tickets priced from £55.
Sponsored by mobile phone manufacturer Alcatel in association with MTV, the one-day festival had been billed as the Isle of Wight Festival of the north.
Tickets for the event at Nobles Park, which has a capacity for up to 15,000 people, were to be offered to residents of the island first before packages for those travelling went on sale.
A spokesman for organisers Rockingmann Festivals said: “At this time, the event can’t move further forward due to the lack of ticket sales.
“The risk in pursuing the event would put businesses on and off the Island in jeopardy.
“A great festival was planned for the Isle of Man – with global artists, international and local media partners and world reaching sponsors. Sadly, this cannot now be realised.
“The organisers wish to thank all those who committed their support and those people who did purchase tickets.
“Ticket refunds should be directed to the agent from where tickets were purchased (i.e. PayPal or the Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre).
“Every endeavour to make full refunds on tickets will be made by organisers.
“Any further information will be released via the festival social media platforms which will continue to be manned for the rest of this week.”
Fans expressed their anger and frustration at news of the cancellation on Facebook.
Rory Jackson wrote: “If MTV can’t get a festival to work over here, it’s just not going to. Sorry. Besides, if everyone over here is not going to book because they think it will get cancelled then it will! People are idiots”
Ste Trimble said: “Bad times... No warning? No 11th hour appeal to Islanders and local businesses to get behind it or lose it? No sharing ticket sale numbers with clear go/no-go threshold? No chance of saving it? Dear oh dear. Embarrassing.”
“I think a lot more tickets would have sold if the bands/artists were more popular. It is a shame though,” Sammi Crowe said.
