Cancelled festival leaves Bjork fans wild in the city

Cancelled festival leaves Bjork fans wild in the city

Wild in the Country had promised "one of the best line-ups of the summer", but the music festival due to take place today was cancelled with just two days' notice, leaving a lot of fans fed-up and out of pocket.

The 18-hour event, which was to feature Bjork's only UK festival appearance this year, appears to be the latest victim of an overcrowded season that has seen even Glastonbury, the granddaddy of them all, hit by slow ticket sales.

Wild in the Country was to take place at Knebworth Park, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and its line-up also featured acts such as Soulwax, Foals and Pendulum, as well as a raft of big-name DJs. But it seems its fate was sealed on June 27 when the Icelandic star pulled out, claiming she had been "forced to withdraw" because of "significant problems with the event".

On Wednesday afternoon the organisers, Renaissance, said that, despite the absence of Bjork, they were "incredibly excited" about the event. However, the following morning came the announcement that Wild in the Country had been cancelled "due to lower-than-expected ticket sales and a key investor withdrawing at the last minute".

The organisers said they "will make every effort to ensure that ticket purchases will be refunded" - not quite the 100% gold-plated assurance that some were looking for.

If you bought a ticket via a leading agency such as See Tickets and Ticketmaster, they will probably have already been in touch with details of.....continued below

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where the tickets should be returned for a refund. Usually the money will be put back on to your card within a few days. If you bought tickets direct from the organiser, contact Renaissance (renaissance.com). Its phone number is 0115 910 1111 and the address is 52a High Pavement, the Lace Market, Nottingham, NG1 1HW.

Even if everyone gets their ticket money back, some fans are complaining that the last-minute nature of the cancellation means they will be hit for travel and hotel costs.

On Renaissance's internet forum, "Deacon" said: "People have spent hundreds on travel and accommodation. A friend of mine is coming over from the States for this." Meanwhile, "Michealtbh" said he was due to fly over from Belfast especially for the event, and Jonny Townsend said he had paid £1,000 for a coach and was trying to see if he could get any of that refunded. "Half of the people were paying on the coach, too, so at the moment I may face being skint and unable to drive to work or feed myself for the rest of the month," he added.

Wild in the Country is the latest in a line of summer events that have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales, and some of the events that have gone ahead have seen sparse attendances. Tomorrow's Neil Young-headlined one-day festival in Paddock Wood, Kent, looks set to sell out, though this week some punters were less than happy to discover that Carbon/Silicon, the band fronted by Clash legend Mick Jones, are now no longer playing.

r.jones@guardian.co.uk

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