Shock tremors hit the dance music community on Wednesday with the announcement that one of favourite festivals ‘Glade’ has been cancelled. The event was pulled due to “unexpected forced increases in security and police costs as well as a level of advanced ticket sales below expectations” organisers revealed. Some ticket holders have already shown their disbelief and sadness over the news..
Writing on Glade’s official Facebook page, Norbert Norbitron was one of the first fans to react writing, “thanx for destroying my summer time,” while Alan Holt put, “I don’t want to believe this”.
Others looked at the reasoning behind the cancellation with Jon Turner writing, “What is wrong with our society? Why is it that people dancing and enjoying themselves in harmony is a target for restriction? There is something very wrong.”
Monika Jagodziewska added, “there is something very wrong for just FEW boring, old and definitely not happy people to ruin great festival for so many …. this would have been my 4th year – I can’t believe that it will not happen – my summer has been ruined.”
Some fans looked back to the past like Roger Oram who wrote, “I’ve been to every Glade! And in the beginning there wasn’t even any police, how’s things have had to change… This is very SAD news, the lineup for this year was looking to be one of the BEST!” While others, like Jeremy Kurchaba, looked to the future when he put, “Does this mean no more glades ever? I am devastated about this year.”
Glade Official Statement 11th May 2010
With great sadness we have been forced to cancel the Glade Festival 2010.
When we started back in 2004 we did so out of a love of electronic music, free spiritedness and alternative culture and in response to the vibrant free party scene in the UK. We wanted to have our own version of the kind of colourful, creative and non-corporate events that happen in many places across the planet… Looking back it is amazing that it happened.
As many Glade fans will know over the years we have fought hard to maintain the integrity of the event against steadily increasing restrictions imposed by local authority and police. The resulting compromises have led to increased costs, increased ticket prices and a throttling of the very essence of what we wanted to do. It led to us finally having to move from the lovely Wasing estate due to late night noise restrictions and the police’s demands for an ever-increasing security and police presence at the event.
At our new venue, Matterley Bowl, there has actually been some amazing support from the local council who’s officers recognize the professional and co-operative way we run the event and the contribution to the local area and the country’s cultural diversity. They have worked with us to ensure the Glade is a safe and enjoyable event and openly recognize that we have one of the best event management teams in the country to do this.
However this year the requirements imposed upon us for policing, security and stewarding have been greatly increased. To make matters worse the reluctance of the police to negotiate in advance and deliberately delay any dialogue with us has resulted in our being unable to tie down a final costing for the event. This, along with unexpected legal fees associated with a last minute license review, has radically increased the cost of the festival.
We are an independent, sponsorship free event. The ethos of the Glade is to provide a place where people can safely come and express themselves freely and peacefully, dance and be in the countryside with the music they love without a heavy urban police and security presence. We strive to put on the most diverse and interesting festival we can by spending a large part of the budget on the ambience of the event and by having multiple stages with music from a myriad of both established and up and coming artists, musicians and djs from the many genres of the thriving underground electronic music scene.
Faced with what is already an expensive event to put on and with these unexpected forced increases in security and police costs as well as a level of advanced ticket sales that is below our expectations we have no choice but to do the responsible thing and cancel the event.
We have explored every way we can to keep the event going and, unfortunately, have been unable to find a solution. We have been unable to secure sufficient financial backing and scaling back the event, to a level where we can be confident we could pay all our bills, would mean losing smaller venues and the quirkiness that make up the heart and soul of the festival.
We’d like to send our thanks and love to all musicians, artists, crew and fans that have made the Glade what it was. We appreciate all the support and love over the years. It has been a brilliant trip and there’s been some beautiful moments in time but for now we can’t go on. We hope that this is not the end of the story and we will continue to strive to create a genuine grass roots, community based, control free, true spirited dance festival in the UK.
To all those who have bought tickets to this years event, please go to the point of purchase to claim back a refund.
If you have bought your tickets from Ticketline, either directly or by buying tickets on Glade’s website, please contact Ticketline’s customer services by email at customerservices@ticketline.co.uk or by phone on 0844 888 4409 who will refund you for the face value of your the ticket. Booking fees will be retained as an admin fee.
We are in talks with other festivals that we feel you will be interested in as Glade festival goers about the possibility of swapping your ticket for another festival at a discounted rate. We will be in touch as soon as possible, so please wait until then before applying for your refund.
