Goa trance Offworld UK 2009 CANCELLED
The Offworld promotion team , today announced that they would have to cancel this years festival, Owing to difficulty in finding a suitable Location for the psy trance festival and also traffic concerns airising from the festival. The ticketing company Access all areas will be in touch wth any ticket holders about refunds. The full statment can be read below.
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we are forced to announce that OFFWORLD 2009 has now been cancelled. Even though we've really enjoyed 2 great OFFWORLDs so far, and desperately wished to carry on with this our 3rd, we are now faced with no alternative.
We tried everything we could to keep the show on the road, but after many factors above and beyond our control we are left with the simple fact that we do not have the time frame or resources available to pull it off in the way that you deserve, and we would've had to have made far too many compromises. The option to continue on the same site as in previous years (Liddington Warren, Wiltshire) was removed by the actions of another festival that used the site some six weeks after us last year, and upset the locals with their approach towards sound management (the complaints about noise reached double figures).
This along with the concerns of the local authorities about their lack of road traffic management and general safety and hygiene has meant that the license now has amplified music limitations after midnight. We have a good relationship with the local authorities, after 2 years without complaint, a good safety record, and good dialogue with the land owners.
But license conditions are license conditions regardless of good relationships.
To shut the music down at midnight for us is not an option.
The other site we had booked in Aldershot with a 24 hr license for the 3rd to 6th of July (our original date) had to be changed to the 31st July to 3rd August after a clerical oversight brought us into a conflict of interest with a larger event in the same area. The results of this date change at such an advanced stage stretched our resources across the board, and affected our confidence to deliver.
Whether this would have affected ticket sales in the long run is now a matter of conjecture.
The situation is that we've not enough advance ticket sales to proceed with confidence. With some unforeseen rising costs, the knowledge through experience that costs will rise in the weeks before the event, and against the backdrop the worst recession in many of our lifetimes, it all started to make no sense.
After making a loss for the last 2 years, (which we understand is normal for any small festival, and always accepted this from the beginning) we have all pushed our personal finances to a critical point. OFFWORLD has no sponsors and ultimately everything comes down to money, regardless of how determined or romantic we are.
We tried everything, but you just have to know when to quit. We know that this will cause all manner of issues for those that have made plans around it, and please believe us, we are sorry.
Of course we are all disappointed.
The biggest and sincerest apology goes to those of you who had faith and bought a ticket early. We were really looking forward to partying with you in our 3rd SuperSpecial OFFWORLD... and we suuure hope we'll have the chance again soon!
We will make sure you are first to know what we are up to, and first in line for any other events or consessions in the future.
TICKET REFUNDS: AccessAllAreas will be in touch with all ticket holders to arrange for your refund.
The team would like to take this opportunity to say how thankful we are to everyone who has been involved in OFFWORLD so far - from the crew and artists to our friends and YOU, right through to the all local authorities/agencies and license holders that we engaged with. You have all been very helpful and supportive ~ thank you!
We are going to go and analyze how we could have done better. We will be back. We have 3 pairs of clown shoes.
Calm Down, Carry On
teamOFFWORLD
