Hope and Glory Festival - official statement after Liverpool festival disaster

Hope and Glory

Organisers of the troubled Hope and Glory Festival have made an official statement after the events of the weekend

The festival, hit by delays, cancellations and audience complaints during Saturday, cancelled its second day, where Ocean Colour Scene, Hacienda Classical and Clean Cut Kid were due to perform.

On Saturday and Sunday night, Liverpool venues such as EBGBs and Zanzibar offered bands who lost their slots the opportunity to perform to Hope and Glory ticket holders, with Lightning Seeds, Charlotte Church and Clean Cut Kid playing impromptu sets.

At shortly past noon today, organisers posted the following on their Facebook page:

‘It is with the deepest regret that the organisers of HOPE & GLORY made the decision to cancel the Sunday of the festival. We can appreciate how disappointed and angry the festival-goers are as we are feeling the same. To say that the organisers feel anything short of devastated would be a gross understatement.

Whilst we accept responsibility for our festival, we believe it is important that we are wholly transparent with the issues that led to our decision.

We will now address some of the key points that led to our decision and also provide correct information about some of the comments that we have seen made about the festival and other matters of concern:

Hope & Glory Festival wish to once again apologise to all our customers and acts and others involved. We are desperately saddened that what was to be a superb and exciting festival ended in cancellation. We did so because the Health & Safety of all of our customers takes precedence over anything else and we felt that given the issues of the Saturday, these could not be assured.

Such concerns will always be our priority and we will update you on more as our investigation continues.’

The full 10,389 word statement can be read on the Hope and Glory Facebook Page here.

The council has also put out its own statement today, which reads: “Liverpool City Council, along with our safety partners, is to hold an investigation into the Hope and Glory Festival.

“What materialised over the weekend was completely unexpected and highly unusual.

“The event organiser has 25 years’ experience in the live music industry and has managed events featuring some of the biggest stars in the world, most recently Tom Jones in Wales.

“The plans for this festival were robust and were independently assessed and approved. All efforts will now be made to understand what lessons can be learnt.

“We’d like to thank all those Liverpool venues who stepped into host the acts that had been booked and questions will be asked of the organiser to ensure the festival goers get their refunds.”

UPDATE: September 4: Company behind failed Hope and Glory festival in Liverpool has gone into liquidation with debts of £900,000 – reports the BBC.

Insolvency firm Butcher Woods said 32 creditors were owed £888,984, including Liverpool City Council.

Company director Iain Kerr has been contacted for comment.

The council said it was “seeking recovery of costs associated with the clean-up operation” for the festival at Liverpool’s St Georges Quarter.

Ticket selling websites Eventbrite and Skiddle said they had given full refunds to people with tickets for the cancelled day and a 50% refund for weekend ticket holders.

Pictures by Getintothis’ Lucy McLachlan and Michelle Roberts.