The Fate of Festival Season 2020 Unveiled

It started with Ultra Abu Dhabi, Ultra Miami and Tomorrowland Winter – now it befalls Tomorrowland main, Parookaville and Electric Love Festival. With the start of the Coronavirus, aka the COVID-19 virus pandemic, people have been anxiously looking towards their summer festival planning. More and more festivals are befalling to the fallout of the effects of Covid-19. As a result Ultra Abu Dhabi postponed the debut edition of the festival in the Middle East. With Ultra Miami, Electric Love Festival and Tomorrowland Winter edition already cancelled. Germany and Belgium have now cancelled everything through the end of August. In addition, Tomorrowland cancelled their main event with heavy hearts.

Ultra Abu Dhabi

Originally slated to take place on March 5 and 6 at the largest open-air venue in the region, du Arena on Yas Island, Ultra Abu Dhabi would host some of the world’s biggest electronic, dance and techno DJs. The lineup would include Alesso, Afrojack, DJ Snake, Eric Prydz and his alias Cirez D, and KSHMR amongs many others.

For Tomorrowland Winter and Ultra Miami there will unfortunately be no new dates this year.

Tomorrowland Winter was due to run from March 14-21 in Alpe d’Huez.

For Ultra Miami it will be the first time the festival hasn’t taken place since it first started in 1999. Ultra Miami was scheduled to be held from March 20-22, now postponed to March 26-28 of 2021.

With the spread of the Corona pandemic, more and more European festivals are pulling the plug.

First it was Austria’s biggest electronic dance music festival, Electric Love, that pulled their plug, originally held on July 9-11 in the beautiful city of Salzburg. Once they canceled their event, it was all eyes on the other big players in Europe and what they would do.

Since Germany and Belgium extended their rules regarding the control of the pandemic, German and Belgian governments made the choice for them. They cancelled all major events until the 31st of August, and sadly this will take a toll on most of Germany’s major festivals. Our beloved festivals like Parookaville, Nature One, Airbeat One or Open Beatz Festival will not take place this year and for some it might even be uncertain what this will mean for the 2021 editions.

Tomorrowland

The most anticipated festival, Belgium’s Tomorrowland is, among other Belgian festivals, officially cancelled. In other words we can look forward to a spectacular Tomorrowland 2021.

“With a lot of pain in our hearts, we have to inform you that Tomorrowland cannot take place in 2020. We understand and support the governmental order that has just been issued. The 16th edition of Tomorrowland will take place in the summer of 2021 (July 16–18 and July 23–25).”

Read the full statement here.

It is only a matter of time before we see some other major festivals getting cancelled. Festival lovers worldwide are in for an uncertain and difficult time ahead. What the future holds for the festival organizers will also be uncertain. What may be the fate of larger festivals may not be the same as smaller festivals, but for now all is left to speculation.

Stay Safe and Healthy

To sum up, only time will tell how this ripple affects all the jobs in the entertainment industry. Loads of people depend on the season to make their income. With 2020 festivals not happening, one wonders how this will affect the 2021 festival season. Certainly the festival landscape of 2021 will look very different from what we might have anticipated. Not just for festivals but for nightlife in general as well.

At the start of this crisis the party people, the festival organizers, the DJs and everyone else stayed optimistic. We trusted that the Government would do anything in their power to save the festival season. Meanwhile with the whole world at risk now and every Government trying to keep the virus from spreading, we have to accept the current conditions.

Even if party people are mostly understanding, after all, it is about the health of everyone, but the sadness can be felt everywhere. Weeks, even months in advance, all festival lovers usually look forward to the season. Above all we can only hope that the measures will work and that we can rave together again in 2021. #staysafe #stayhealthy #flattenthecurve