Headline bands and music fans angry at organisers of the Hope & Glory event in the St George’s Quarter amid claims of overcrowding, chaos and delays to the performances. Tony McDonough reports
Organisers of Liverpool’s two-day Hope & Glory music festival have said the second day will not go ahead amid reports of “chaos” on the first day.
Now a number of headline acts, including the Lightning Seeds, are reportedly seeking alternative city centre venues to play on Sunday afternoon.
One bar, the Magnet, has offered some of the acts the opportunity to perform there.
In a tweet the Lighting Seeds said: “If someone can find us a suitable venue, perhaps we could play somewhere in Liverpool tonight?”
The band later announced it would play at the Zanzibar from 7pm on Sunday evening.
Tim Booth, lead singer of another top act James, said on Twitter last night: “Well that was f***ed up. Sorry everyone was messed around so badly. Hope you managed to find some pleasure amongst the chaos.”
And he followed up today with: “Morning People, got up early to rehearse with the Hacienda orchestra to just discover – the show has been pulled. What a mess.”
Many more people have taken to social media to express their anger and disgust. One person who attended on the Saturday said it was “the worst festival I have ever been to”.
The festival was being held in the city’s St George’s Quarter but problems mounted as many of the 10,000 festival-goes were unable to access food, drinks and toilets.
At one point organisers were forced to call on police to manage crowds who arranged an emergency queuing system.
Delays to the line-up also caused a set due to be performed by Welsh singer Charlotte Church to be cancelled. She later performed at another city centre venue on Saturday evening.
On Sunday morning the Hope & Glory Twitter account posted two responses. The first said: “Following the unfair and vitriolic comments, some of us have decided not to proceed” and the second added, simply “no festival today”.
Later a statement from a PR company added: “We are hoping to have an official statement soon, but as of this moment, we don’t have any further information other than the fact that the festival has definitely been cancelled today.”
Promoter of the event is Lee O’Hanlon who runs a Birmingham-based events and PR company, Tiny Cow.
His latest blog on the company’s website offers advice on “what makes a great live show”.
He last spoke on Saturday evening to insist Sunday’s festival would go ahead but has yet to offer a response today.