As we were putting up news of festival lineups yesterday the word began spreading that Sonisphere UK was cancelled. A message first appeared on Queen’s website Wednesday afternoon however on Thursday morning it was confirmed on the Sonisphere UK website. Slowly, it was revealed that in the other hosting countries Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Sweden it was also cancelled.

A message on the site read:

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 fulfil what we set out to do.

Ticket holders will automatically receive a full refund direct from their ticket agents.

Team Sonisphere.

Speculation is that due to poor ticket sales and sponsorship the festival had to be culled this year. When there is a more precise reason revealed then we’ll update the situation. Hopefully the show will return next year with a better and bigger lineup.

Sources http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17536642

http://sonisphere.co.uk/news/sonisphere-knebworth-is-cancelled/