The four events at Engelfield for this year have been pulled amidst losses at other stately homes.
In a further sign of just how brutal the live music and festival scene has become Heritage Live have pulled all their scheduled events at Engelfield House, the Audley End Estate and The Sandringham Estate. The Englefield Estate, located a few minutes by car from Reading, was due to see headline performances from Richard Ashcroft, UB40, Faithless and Ministry Of Sound Classical. Audley had Scissor Sisters, Pete Tong Ibiza Classics and Faithless set to play. Sandringham cancellations include three massive names in Lionel Richie, Christina Aguilera, and Janet Jackson.
Organisers blamed the huge rise in costs over recent years and an oversaturated festival season, coupled to the cost of living crisis resulting in lower than average ticket sales. Reading Indie Life have seen with our own eyes this year plenty of events that have struggled to sell the level of tickets we would expect of them. Heritage Live were one of the largest independent companies left in the festival/outdoor events market and their collapse will send ripples through the remaining independents. Given the highly inflated cost of live tickets recently, events clearly have to ask themselves what an audience expects, and whether they can meet those expectations. Whilst Englefield had seen a series of big names in recent years the most common comment Reading Indie Life heard from attendees was how woefully inadequate the transport infrastructure for the events were. People were frequently stuck in the car park for over an hour after the music had finished, the nearest railway station was a significant hike away and the car park chaos made it hard to reach coaches in reasonable time. When people are paying more they expect more, shoehorning live music into pretty locations without providing a high service level seems increasingly fanciful. The huge amount of events available is also spreading hardcore gig-goers much thinner. On the same weekend as the Englefield events were scheduled people had the choice of Truck Festival, Live At Melbourne Hall, Somerset House Summer Series, Lazydays Festival and Together Again Festival before even considering what is on at any of the big music venues across the country.
Today we have seen a range of posts in gig forums from people panicking about getting a refund. We believe everyone with an Englefield ticket should receive a full refund, however it may take a few days to be resolved as some ticket services get up to speed on what is required to happen.
The full statement:
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