Sundown Festival 2025 cancelled: UK music festival announces cancellation amid industry crisis

• Sundown Festival announced that they are cancelling their 2025 in Norwich and Malta.
• The announcement comes after research showed 72 festivals were cancelled in 2024 alone.
• The news follows the announcement by Black Deer Festival they are set to take a fallow year in 2025.

Sundown Festival has announced that they will no longer be running an event in Norwich or Malta in 2025 after publishing a statement on social media on November 29 2024.

The statement, shared through the festival’s official Instagram account, thanked festival goers for “12 incredible years” but “after careful consideration [...] we regret to announce that Sundown will not be returning to Norwich or Malta in 2025.

“If you’ve already purchased tickets for 2025, refunds will be processed automatically through See Tickets. Keep the party spirit alive and keep supporting festivals,” they also detailed.

The festival, having established itself in 2011, has featured acts like Chase & Status, Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie, Tinie Tempah and Sigma, among others and became a cornerstone for “younger” crowds by offering a number of UK top 40 acts on their bill.

The announcement comes as Black Deer Festival in Kent announced last week that they would be following in the footsteps of WOMAD and Camp Bestival Shropshire by taking a fallow year in 2025 due to financial and operational pressures, but that they will be back in 2025.

The news marks concern amongst the music industry after a report by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) which revealed that, including 96 events lost during the COVID pandemic, a total of 204 festivals have now disappeared since 2019.

In 2024 alone, 72 festivals were cancelled in total - double the amount of festivals that cancelled in 2023 as speculation mounts regarding what music festivals are currently feasible to organise and host owing to the continued cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom.

Were you set to attend Sundown Festival 2025, or are you concerned that other festivals may take a fallow year or close down altogether? Let us know your thoughts about music festivals in crisis by leaving a comment down below.