Failing festivals

It's fair to say that not all festivals go to plan. Even the biggest festivals this year have had problems; at the Chelmsford leg of the V Festival this year, headline act Oasis didn't turn up after singer Liam Gallagher caught laryngitis.

Still, at events like that you did get plenty for your money. But what about the smaller ones jumping on the festival bandwagon?

Just last week, at this year's fledgling Southern Sounds Festival, it wasn't just some of the acts that didn't turn up; neither did most of the crowd.

Watchdog was contacted by a number of festival goers who were left sorely disappointed.

The Southern Sounds festival in September should have had 100 artists, in five arenas over two days. Amy Dancer and her friends spent £41 each on tickets to celebrate her birthday.

"There were meant to be 5,000 people there as advertised, there were more like 500. We tried to dance but in each of the tents there were like 10 people and after a while you just give up."

You might think no crowds are a good thing. But some of the bands they'd booked to see weren't there either. Amy and her friends were left even more disappointed when some of their favourite acts failed to perform.

"We didn't find out Chicane weren't playing, we just stayed at main stage and waited and there was no appearance at all."

By the end of the festival, 20 acts didn't turn up. Including most of the headline acts.

The organiser of Southern Sounds, was 22-year-old club promoter Jonathan Adam Lane. He'd fancied his luck on the festival circuit. But with low ticket sales, he couldn't afford to pay the bands. That's why some of them didn't show.

Some bands, such as dance act the Freestylers did turn up. Even though they hadn't received their payment in advance. At the festival grounds, they were given cheques to cover their fee, unfortunately these cheques bounced, meaning they ended up performing for free.

Matt Cantor of the Freestylers said:

"I think his [Jonathan Adam Lane's] intentions were good but he was totally naïve about what he was meant to do. Thought he could wing it and it totally backfired on him."

Watchdog contacted The Office of Fair Trading who said in cases like this you should be due at least a partial refund:

"If the change is fairly insignificant then your rights may be limited. But if it's a significant change for instance if the headline act has changed then you may be entitled to some of your money back or perhaps in some circumstances a full refund."

So far, Watchdog hasn't spoken to anyone who's had even some of their money returned.

At least the Southern Sounds Festival did happen. Some people who'd paid for festival tickets this summer got absolutely nothing for their money. And they're still waiting for a refund.

Nineteen of this year's festivals didn't take place at all. Including Memories of Woodstock, in Shrewsbury organised by New Dawn Events. They promised great music at a great price with no hidden extras. These old hippies were planning to relive the heady days of 1969 over two days in August.

When he saw the line-up - music fan Stephen Smith was desperate to go:

"Well, I'm a child of the 60s and 70s, and I've always liked Jethro Tull, they're one of my favourite bands. I regard them as the thinking mans rock band and when we saw they were advertised on the internet we thought let's do this."

The man behind New Dawn Events is Brian Davies, He planned to sell 15,000 tickets. But without enough ticket sales, some bands pulled out. And the event collapsed.

Stephen Smith only found out the event was cancelled when he received a letter through the post:

And then we get this simple compliment slip through the post with no explanation saying the event was cancelled and we'll get refunds, but up until now they had not been received.

When Brian Davies cancelled the event, he pointed the finger at what he called 'greedy bands' and their high fees. But Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull's lead singer - says that's rubbish.

He's written an open letter to Brian Davies. And doesn't mince his words.

"An open letter to Brian Davies, despite of your intention to cancel appearance, we immediately offered to appear for 50% of the contracted fee. I utterly deplore your tactics for forcing us to accept the cancellation at this late date, and you are short changing the ticket buyers. When will you finally learn the painfully obvious lesson and give up this preposterous illusion of being a major concert promoter, you have acted irresponsibly to musicians and actors alike."

It's not easy organising big events at a time when people are short of cash. But Memories of Woodstock isn't the first festival Brian Davies hasn't quite got off the ground. He's tried before, over the last 18 months Davies has had to cancel three other festivals at the last minute. One in Plymouth and two in his native Scotland

When an event doesn't happen at all, the advice is clear.

Michele Shambrook at the OFT says:

"If you bought tickets to the festival and the festival is cancelled then the provider is in breach of contract and so you can claim the money back and potentially other costs if they're reasonably foreseeable."

Brian Davies of New Dawn Events says he will issue refunds when his insurance pays out. But our festival goers have heard that one before.

Will Stephen get his cash back? On the website of New Dawn Events Brian Davies says, "It's a sad case of affairs when people think of money before love and peace." It seems those refunds are starting to sound as hazy as the memories of Woodstock first time around.

Southern Sounds Festival told us

"Firstly, many acts did play as advertised. We did have 80% of the line-up paid for 100% in advance and confirmed. The remaining 20% of the line-up was either confirmed and had received 50% deposits or hadn't received deposits.

"Myself and family lost £100,000 just to get the gates open and the public into the event, we all believed it better to open the gates and still offer them an event as opposed to just cancelling, especially other events like cancelled without refunds. As a result my company has/is in the process of being liquidated, and refunds are not likely unless the acts that didn't play release their huge deposits for doing nothing, to the punters that paid to see them."

Brian Davies of New Dawn Events told us

"PayPal has had money deposited back into it, this way PayPal customers can get their refunds. Streamline customers that used their credit cards are being done as we speak. I myself am trying to get the people that sent cheques and cash paid. All this means that people that contacted you will be paid very soon.
"Before the show goes out on 1 October we hope to have 80% of customers refunded."
"The reason for the cancellation was due to very poor ticket sales, how can an event take place when agents want all fees three months or more before the event takes place. All deposits on bands were paid.

"We were involved with this failed event in Scotland. Myself and the agent involved agreed that this could not go ahead due to poor sales. Exeter was a non-starter after many trips to try and arrange the event, its very hard to get the public to come to a new venue.

Our May event in Shrewsbury went ahead and we catered for all disabled people that usually couldn't go to see live acts, We have emails and letters from customers that would bring normal people to tears."

Have you had any problems with festivals being cancelled? Does it make you wary of booking tickets to gigs? Let us know what you think.