Takedown Festival, a two-day rock event that was set to take place at Portsmouth Guildhall in Hampshire on April 13-14, has been postponed until 2025. Creeper and Dinosaur Pile-Up were slated to headline the festival on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Other acts on the line-up included Hell Is For Heroes, Dream State, Cassyette, and Terrorvision.
In an online statement, festival bosses cited building works currently being undertaken at the Grade II listed venue as the reason for the postponement. The works are aimed at transforming the basement of the Guildhall into one of the most innovative creative spaces for young people in the country, but have now been extended across the festival dates. As a result, two key areas of the festival site have been lost and capacity has been reduced, making the event unviable for this year.
Organizers, however, confirmed that Takedown Festival will return in 2025, with plans to secure “much of this year’s line-up carried forward” to the next edition. The statement ended with the promise: “WE WILL BE BACK!” Kai and Sarah Harris, Divergent Festivals Directors, stated that postponement was the only viable option for this year due to the impact of the cost of living crisis and the extended building works, but they are determined to use the additional lead-time to hit back next year and deliver the event the fans deserve.
Numerous UK festivals have been forced to cancel or reschedule recently, such as Connect Festival in Scotland, Splendour Festival in Nottingham, Standon Calling in Hertfordshire, and Barn On The Farm in Gloucester. The latter event cited “financial difficulties” as the reason for its postponement, with Standon Calling noting the “very challenging climate” for festivals currently. A recent report also showed that music festivals across the UK would be reaching a critical point if they didn’t get a VAT reduction from the government
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