What happened to the High Voltage Festival?

[Digital_Man]

I don't live in the UK but was curious about this anyway. I noticed it's not taking place this year. Not sure if it did last year(2012)or not either but I don't think it did. This festival seemed to be a really good thing for prog and the festival incorporated prog in a pretty big way. Maybe there wasn't enough interest in it. If anyone has any insider information I would be curious. Also, I apologize if this has been brought up recently.

[Rufus]

In a nutshell it lost lost approx. £3 million !

They did say its would return this year but as yet zilch !The reason they said there wasnt one last year was because it would have clashed with the olympics ! It wasnt the only major festival to take a hit, I think Donnington was pulled at the last minute & that festival even had its line up...i think Kiss were going to headline the Saturday night ?

[Esoteric]

Im pretty sure it didnt lose 3 million? and I know the organisers-- Did they say this?

The main issue last year was Olympics, this year the main issue wwas HMV were sponsors of the event

[Deano]

I had press access to both HV festivals, 2010 & 2011, and they were pretty poorly attended. There were numerous complaints on the HV forum about the VIP packages in 2011 which may have increased revenue streams but left many dissatisfied customers.

Leaving aside ELP the main stage headliners (ZZ Top, DT & Priest) all play 2000 - 3000 capacity venues outside of London and are not outdoor festival headliners when compared with what Donington has to offer

Incidentally the other notable UK festival cancelled in 2012 (& 2013) was Sonisphere not Donington...in 2012 KISS, Queen & FNM had been confirmed as headliners

I doubt very much we will see HV again

[Rufus]

I had press access to both HV festivals, 2010 & 2011, and they were pretty poorly attended. There were numerous complaints on the HV forum about the VIP packages in 2011 which may have increased revenue streams but left many dissatisfied customers.

Leaving aside ELP the main stage headliners (ZZ Top, DT & Priest) all play 2000 - 3000 capacity venues outside of London and are not outdoor festival headliners when compared with what Donington has to offer

Incidentally the other notable UK festival cancelled in 2012 (& 2013) was Sonisphere not Donington...in 2012 KISS, Queen & FNM had been confirmed as headliners

I doubt very much we will see HV again

Thank you for confirming it was Sonisphere that was pulled at the last minute!

I attended the 2011 HV festival & it didn't appear poorly attended but it's hard to gauge with the size of these places! Would be interesting to compare the attendance to 2010 & 2011 if anyone has figures !!!

[PeterG]

The spark wasn't there!