Download Festival and Isle Of Wight Festival Cancel 2020 Events Due to Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, which shows no signs of relenting, has forced two more UK festivals to shelve their plans for their 2020 events due to be held in June this year.

Late this afternoon Download Festival, due to take place from 12-14th June headlined by Kiss, Iron Maiden and System of a Down, ended weeks of speculation about the event by releasing the following statement:

DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2020 STATEMENT

Download Festival will no longer be taking place this year

We’ve been closing monitoring this unprecedented situation and it’s become clear that it just isn’t possible for the 2020 festival to go ahead. This decision hasn’t been taken lightly and we’re beyond disappointed, we extend our heartfelt apology to all of you – we really did try to make this work. Please rest assured we will be back next year. Now, more than ever, we need the Download spirit to thrive and offer support to those that need it most. We’ll do out best to put together an amazing line up for you in 2021 and can’t wait to see you all then. Thank you, as ever, for your continued support.

We are working closely with our ticketing partners now and they will be in touch very soon to process your refund, or if you prefer, you can retain your ticket and carry it over to next year. Look out for an email from your ticketing agency very soon and please only contact them if you have not been contacted after 5 days as they are very busy at this time.”

UPDATE: Download Festival has now announced their 2021 weekender will take place from June 4 to June 6.

This was followed by the news that the Isle Of Wight Festival, due to take place over the same weekend headlined by Lewis Capaldi, The Chemical Brothers and Duran Duran, had also shelved plans for their weekend.

ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2020 STATEMENT

The Isle of Wight Festival will no longer be taking place this year. This decision hasn’t been taken lightly and we have tried our hardest to make it work, but it was unavoidable given the current status. The whole team was excited to welcome everyone to the island for another fantastic festival and we extend our sincere apologies to everyone who was looking forward to it as much as we were.

The safety of our audience, artists, crew and the Isle of Wight community is paramount and we appreciate your patience whilst we’ve been working through this unprecedented situation.

We’ll be back stronger than ever in 2021 and we hope to see you all again next year.

We are working closely with our ticketing partners at the moment and they will be in touch very soon to process your refund, or, if you prefer, you can retain your ticket and carry it over to next year.

Look out for an email from them very soon and please only contact them if you have not been contacted after 5 days as they are very busy at this time.

If you booked ferry travel with Red Funnel, Wightlink or Hovertravel please visit this page for information regarding your booking.

We hope everyone stays safe and we’ll see you in 2021.