The 55th Montreux Jazz Festival will go ahead this July in a reimagined, Covid-secure format, organisers announced today (31 March). In a first, Montreux Jazz Festival 2021 will take partially on Lake Geneva, with maximum of 600 people able to watch performances on the main stage from seats on the lake…
Swedish music fans will have to endure another barren festival summer following a slate of cancellations from the country’s biggest events.
Sweden Rock (9–12 June), Lollapalooza Stockholm (2–5 July), Way Out West (12–14 August) and Statement Festival (3–4 September) have been called off.
Urkult, Bingsjöstämman, Storsjöyran, Dance Band Week in Malung, Gefle Metal, Putte in the Park (Karlstad and Luleå), Kiruna Festival and Uppsala Reggae will also forego 2021 festival season.
Organisers’ uncertainty about the viability of the summer has been confirmed by a new government-endorsed roadmap which indicates that restrictions may not be lifted until autumn 2021.
The three-stage roadmap, proposed by the Swedish Public Health Agency and commissioned by the government, suggests that from 1 June (stage three) outdoor events can take place with 500 seated and socially distanced attendees or with 100 standing.
Sweden Rock, Lollapalooza Stockholm, Way Out West and Statement Festival have been called off
Indoor events can take place with either 50 seated and socially distanced attendees or just eight standing.
Dates for the next two levels have not yet been given but the Public Health Agency believes that stage two will come into effect later in June or July, which is when outdoor events can take place with 3,000 seated and socially distanced attendees.
The majority of capacity limits will likely be scrapped in early September, which will mark stage one of the roadmap.
The Swedish government has been notably strict with restrictions for live music. In November, it imposed one of the lowest capacity limits in Europe, permitting just eight people indoors – a limit that, according to the roadmap, may not be lifted until July.
Sweden is the latest European market to pull the plug on the 2021 festival season due to uncertainty about the 2021 festival season, following widespread cancellations in Norway, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Denmark and France.
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