Irish Festivals Officially Announce Cancellation For Summer 2020

Festivals across Ireland have confirmed the sad news that festivals for summer 2020 will not be taking place.

In line with the government’s guidelines regarding COVID-19 and no mass gatherings of more than 5,000 people until the end of summer, many Irish festivals had to officially pull the plug on planning yesterday evening.

In statements which appeared online last night, Body&Soul, which is meant to take place for the 11th year running this year said:

“This is a challenging time for everyone, including the Body&Soul family, and I am heartbroken to confirm that Body&Soul 2020 cannot go ahead due to updated Covid-19 restrictions guidelines that were issued by the government this afternoon which states that all large scale gatherings are banned up to the end of August 2020.”

 

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A post shared by Body & Soul (@bodyandsoulirl) on Apr 21, 2020 at 12:01pm PDT

In a similar style statement, new Irish festival All Together Now which runs from the end of July also announced that it won’t be taking place this year. The festival however, urged ticket holders that if they can, keep their tickets for the festival in 2021 to help support them and make sure it returns.

 

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A post shared by All Together Now (@alltogethernow.ie) on Apr 21, 2020 at 1:42pm PDT

Also confirming the news included Indiependance festival which takes place in Co Cork during the same weekend as All Together Now.

Announcing that the will give ticket holders all the information they need regarding returns over the next couple of days, they asked their festival goers to please be patient while they navigate their next steps during this unprecedented time.

 

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A post shared by INDIE20 (@indiependence_festival) on Apr 21, 2020 at 9:53am PDT

Sea Sessions also announced the cancellation of their festival for 2020. The festival which takes place in Bundoran every year was hoping to “hold out” for as long as possible however, in light of new restrictions, had to release a statement.

Sharing a message of hope, the festival wrote:

“But don’t worry. . . . when the clouds lift and the storm settles we will be back like a new swell on the horizon with our unique mix of surfing, music and partying in summer 2021.”

 

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A post shared by Sea Sessions (@sea_sessions) on Apr 21, 2020 at 10:50am PDT

Life Festival, which was meant to be the first festival of the summer kicking off next month, also announced that it would not be going ahead. Similar to the above statements, the festival apologised and reminded everyone to stay safe during this uncertain time

The festival also shared an image of the beautiful festival grounds.

 

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A post shared by Life Festival (@lifefestival) on Apr 21, 2020 at 12:09pm PDT

Although they haven’t released a statement yet, we expect Forbidden Fruit will also follow suit in the next couple of days, announcing that their 2020 festival will not be going ahead.

In more hopeful news, there is slight chance Electric Picnic will still go ahead if the festival can receive planning for September 3 – 7. More to follow on that.

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