Sonisphere cancellation leaves ‘huge hole’ in Knebworth’s finances


sonisphere2The Knebworth estate is facing up to a ‘huge hole’ in its finances this year following the cancellation of the Sonisphere festival last week.

“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,” a statement confirming Sonisphere’s cancellation, released last week, said.




“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.”

And now, Martha Lytton-Cobbold, manager of the Hertfordshire mansion and grounds, has told The Independent: “Losing Sonisphere has left a huge hole in our financial projections. But there is a lot of economic instability which affected ticket sales and the promoters took an intelligent decision to cancel this year.”

Read Live4ever’s thoughts on the struggles of UK festivals here.


Learn More