This week, one of the big dance festivals in recent years - Glade - has just announced the cancellation of the 2010 event, and from the sound of the official statement, it sounds like the end of a six year era for the festival.

In a year which has been much more stable festival-wise than 2008/ 2009, there have been very few cancellations, but financial and logistical pressures proved too much for the independent, sponsorship-free festival.

Citing the increased cost on policing, the lack of communication with said police and poor performance of ticket sales, the event has been cancelled.

The statement reads:

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.

If you're a ticket-holder, you are advised to watch this space for a while (well, this one at least: www.gladefestival.com), since the guys behind Glade are trying to secure a scheme where you will be able to swap your ticket for another festival at a discounted rate.

Failing that, you will need to contact your point of purchase for a refund (which if purchased via allgigs will be Ticketline - customerservices@ticketline.co.uk / 0844 888 4409).

Save Glade!

Just two days after the announcement, a 'Save Glade!' Facebook page has been setup (see link in the sidebar to the right), with the aim of setting-up a free Glade offshoot festival, asking for people with a passion and skills to offer their services, equipment or time.

Update: Big Chill 2010 Festival Ticket Exchange

The Big Chill 2010

The lovely people over at the Big Chill have offered a ticket exchange for Glade 2010 ticket-holders, announcing today the following scheme:

Any festival goers who purchased full price Glade Festival tickets via Ticketline for £135, can contact Ticketline requesting to swap their Glade ticket for an Adult Weekend Big Chill ticket. Glade ticket holders will be charged an additional transaction fee of £7 per ticket swapped, meaning that they will get a Big Chill ticket which would have cost them £155 + £7 booking fee for £135 + £7 booking fee instead, saving them £20.

Sounds like a pretty cool deal to me!