Liverpool’s Africa Oyé is the first UK festival to announce a postponement, cancellation or complete closure in 2025.
The announcement comes after a devastating year for the UK’s festival sector in 2024, with a record 78 events falling throughout the course of the year – more than double the amount (36) that did so the year before.
Upon announcing that the Liverpool-based festival, which is a registered charity, will take a fallow year in 2025, with dates set for a return in 2026, Africa Oyé’s Artistic Director, Paul Duhaney, cited rising costs of 30% as being unworkable, despite record attendance at last year’s event.
“With increased infrastructure and compliance costs, it is simply a case that without major investment to cover the costs of delivering a festival of this size safely, it would be irresponsible to go ahead with the event in 2025,” he said.
Combining the fallen festivals of 2023 and 2024 with the 96 events lost to Covid, the total number of UK festivals to have disappeared since 2019 is now 211.
Since the start of February 2024, AIF has campaigned for a temporary lowering of VAT on festival tickets from 20% to 5%.
