Newcastle’s This is Tomorrow music festival has been canceled for 2022.
Organizers have confirmed that the major exhibition center event will not take place this year, just two months before its scheduled date. The announcement comes after a row over noise complaints saw Newcastle City Council impose a tough set of new restrictions, which it says will make it impossible to hold concerts in the park.
This is Tomorrow bosses say the tougher rules are ‘tough’ but are not the cause of the postponement, which has been blamed on rising costs and an ‘oversaturated market’. The three-day festival was due to take place from June 3-5 – but no act was ever announced for it.
Read more: Noise crackdown on fairground music festivals – throwing events like This Is Tomorrow into doubt
Early bird tickets have been on sale since last September and organizers say those who have purchased one have been or will soon be refunded. The popular festival, which attracted thousands of fans to watch Sam Fender and Gerry Cinnamon, is now set to return in May 2023.
A spokesperson for This Is Tomorrow said: “We have made the business decision not to hold the festival in 2022 and we will return on the weekend of May 26-28 in 2023. With an oversaturated market, the current economic crisis and rising costs, 2022 is the wrong year for the festival to grow further after a successful sold-out year in 2021.
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
“The recent discussion and licensing restrictions for the exhibition grounds are difficult, but that is not the reason we are choosing to have a gap year. Last year’s event was pushed back into the timing due to Covid and the site setup was limited by other events going on in the city at the time Next year we will be back to the May bank holiday which will help to minimize any disturbance.
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More than 90 complaints have been made about the “horrible” disturbance caused to neighbors in Jesmond by the four-day This is Tomorrow last September. Following a recent hearing in which Urban Green Newcastle, which has managed the city’s parks since 2019, sought a new events license for the exhibition centre, the city council has set up a set of strict new rules.
They include a maximum of nine days per year for events with between 500 and 15,000 people, the requirement to give six months’ notice before a large event takes place and the requirement to completely close events before 10 p.m. when they take place before a weekday. . Councilors also backed a crucial restriction on noise, limiting it to no more than five decibels above existing background levels in the nearest homes – which Urban Green’s lawyer had claimed would prevent the holding of gigs.
This is Tomorrow organizers said they were “working on some noise modeling” ahead of next year’s event. The spokesperson added: “We will work with the council, Freemen, local residents and other stakeholders ahead of next year’s event to minimize any disruption to residents and maximize the fan experience of the festival in the Northeast.
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
“The handful of early bird ticket buyers have already been refunded or are in the process of being refunded. We look forward to a great festival in 2023 for the local people who attend and work on the event.
Two more music festivals are due to take place on the Town Moor this year – starting with the Rock N Roll Circus from June 9-12, headlined by Years & Years and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. And artists like the Black Eyed Peas and Joel Corry will be on stage at Loose Fest, July 30 and 31.