London Essential Festival Cancelled

United Kingdom | 15 July 2002

Organisers have announced that the 2 day festival, due to have taken place in London's Hackney Marshes on the 3rd and 4th of August, featuring Morcheeba, The Orb, Aphex Twin and Goldie among others will no longer take place.

The cancellation was blamed primarily on "financial difficulties" stemming from the Bristol Essential event held in May, at Ashton Court, which failed to sell sufficient tickets. Many of the bigger acts pulled out at the last minute, prompting angry ticketholders to complain and demand refunds.

Secondary reasons cited included the general slump in the market for outdoor events this year, and the frankly dubious claim that the Hackney Marshes site "suffered considerable damage after the adverse weather conditions that Mardi Gras had to face" on Saturday 6th July. We were at the Mardi Gras, and it was one of the hottest days of the year, and the site looked almost immaculate when we left!

No decisions have been made, at the time of writing, as to whether Essential would be putting on any more festivals in the future.