Arctangent festival forced to postpone to August 2022

ArcTangent festival will not take place this summer, as on-going uncertainties about potential restrictions being imposed to manage the coronavirus pandemic have forced the organisers to push the 2021 event back to August 2022. 

In a statement the festival organisers say, “We’re gutted to have tell you that we are finally calling time on ATG 2021. We tried for as long as possible to stay optimistic but unfortunately, like so many other festivals & events who have already cancelled this year, we have had to take the incredibly tough decision to postpone ArcTanGent until August 17th-20th 2022. We’re beyond devastated that we won’t be able to hang out with you for another year.

Every single festival in the U.K. has been asking for months for a Government backed insurance policy allowing us to confidently host events this year. We were hopeful that this insurance would be in place by now, but they simply keep ignoring our requests and without it a festival this year is just too risky. This has become even more important over the last few weeks after many in the scientific community have expressed serious concerns over the new Indian variant and step 3 of the roadmap proceding, (let alone step 4).

Although they’ve provided a similar scheme for film & TV, the Government have completely let the live music industry down by refusing to back a simple insurance policy. 

It would have cost them next to nothing, unless the roadmap dates get changed (or there are further restrictions in place), and it’s the single most effective thing they could have done to get festivals back up and running this summer. Many independent festivals have already postponed because of this and we know of many other events that will shortly be announcing their postponement.

The obvious concern is that there may still be delays or changes to the COVID rules at the last minute. Without this vital COVID cancellation insurance, going ahead with this year’s event would simply be a massive financial risk. As you may know, all events have to pay out a huge amount of money in advance in artist and production deposits a couple of months ahead of the event. If the rules & restrictions change at the last minute we would essentially lose all of that money, which would obviously jeopardise our long-term survival. 

In addition to all of the above, don’t forget that ATG has an extremely international line up of bands from Europe, America, Japan and beyond. At this stage, there is no way we can guarantee which bands, if any, would be able to make it over this August. Not to mention the fact that a large chunk of our wonderful audience also come from overseas.

In short, there is just too much stacked against us for 2021. So instead, we’ll just have make 2022 all the more awesome & the best bit is, you’re all invited. Thanks for reading and we massively look forward to seeing you next year!"

Bands already confirmed for the 2022 festival include Opeth, The Locust, Cult Of Luna, A.A. Williams, Svalbard, MONO and more.

All tickets purchased for the 2021 festival remain valid for 2022.