All Tomorrow’s Parties 2016 Has Been Cancelled

Photocredit: Owen Ela

Manchester, England’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival announced its own cancellation, due to a “lack of financial viability.” The event was slated to run April 22-24. According to Pitchfork, the festival will refund any fan who have already purchased a ticket. Disgruntled festival curator Drive Like Jehu made a public statement via Facebook:

ATP is out of funds. It’s a uniquely cruel hoax to appeal to Drive Like Jehu’s ego and ask us to create a program based on personally inviting the bands and musicians that have inspired us and changed the way we hear music and then subject them and their supporters to this.

ATP has a history of struggling to organize events. in 2012, ATP Concerts went into voluntary liquidation and was forced to transfer all assets (which include rigths to ATP festival, label, shows) to another company – Willwal Limited. In 2014 the company cancelled its Jabberwocky Festival, an event co-presented by Primavera Sound and Pitchfork. ATP founder Barry Hogan made a statement apologizing for the cancellation:

We have tried everything in our power to save this event and continue, but the losses we have recently incurred have unfortunately been too much for a company of our size to bear.

More recently, back in March, organizers relocated from Pontin Prestatyn to the Victoria Warehouse. On April 15 a headliner John Cale dropped out of the festival only a week before kickoff, stating he felt let down by the event organizers. He canceled appearances for both planned ATP festival performances. Soulside and the Gories and the Monkeywrench have followed suit and cancelled their performances.

All Tomorrow’s Parties is a London-based organization founded over 17 years ago that promotes festivals, concerts and records around the globe. Its first festival was curated by Mogwai and took place in Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands. The festival has appeared every year since, and continues to set itself apart from mega festivals many are accustomed to by creating events that are designed to be intimate, non-corporate and fan-friendly.