UK's Reading and Leeds music festivals to go ahead in summer despite COVID pandemic

UK's Reading and Leeds music festivals to go ahead in summer despite COVID pandemic

The UK’s Reading and Leeds music festivals will go ahead this summer, organisers announced on Wednesday.

It comes after the UK government announced a timetable for relaxing coronavirus restrictions.

“Following the government’s recent announcement, we can’t wait to get back to the fields this summer. LET’S GO,” the organisers said in a tweet.

The two festivals, which have the same headline acts on two different sites, are set to take place in late August.

The UK’s biggest festival and the largest greenfield music festival in the world, Glastonbury, was in January cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.

The organisers of several other key events on the UK’s lively festival scene, including Boomtown, Latitude, Park Life and Download, look to be planning a return in 2021.

With many countries across Europe still in lockdown, or under other COVID-related restrictions, it’s hard to predict what the international festival circuit will look like this year.

Organisers are pinning their hopes on vaccines, rapid testing, and the reduced risk of infection outdoors meaning their events can go ahead this summer.

At the time of writing, Albania’s Unum festival, MIDI in France, and Neversea in Romania had not been cancelled for summer 2021.

The organisers of Sziget, one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe, which usually takes place in August in Budapest, Hungary, said in a note on its website that the event would go ahead.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re preparing to implement various new safety measures, so that we can give you the best festival experience in 2021 – because whatever lies ahead, the safety of our [Szitizens/visitors] comes first,” they wrote.

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