Sonisphere Knebworth Festival Cancelled

This is a stunning development: the Sonisphere Knebworth festival, which was to feature performances by Kiss, Marilyn Manson and Queen with Adam Lambert, has been cancelled.

Here's the statement from promoters:

It is with very heavy hearts and much regret that we announce the cancellation of Sonisphere Knebworth 2012.

Putting the festival together in what is proving to be a very challenging year was more difficult than we anticipated and we have spent the last few months fighting hard to keep Sonisphere in the calendar. Unfortunately circumstances have dictated that we would be unable to run the festival to a standard that both the artists and that Sonisphere’s audience would rightly expect.

We want to express our deepest regrets to the artists and to thank all the staff, suppliers and contractors who worked so hard with us to try and pull off what has proven to be an impossible task and we know how much they share in our disappointment. We also want to send a huge thanks to the Sonisphere fans who stuck by us and we are so sorry that we can’t fulfill what we set out to do. Ticket holders will automatically receive a full refund direct from their ticket agents. Team Sonisphere.

Sonisphere Knebworth was set to take place at Stevenage, England on July 6-8th.

Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen also released a statement:

"We are disappointed to hear of the cancellation of the Sonisphere Festivals as we were very much looking forward to performing with Adam Lambert and particularly as the venue was Knebworth, our last stand with Freddie. We apologise for the disappointment to all those who were looking forward to seeing us. We are working to see if we can redress the situation at some other venue."