Angry music fans slam ‘appalling’ festival that ‘should have been …

Music fans have slammed the "appalling" conditions at a local music festival after it was battered by torrential rain.

Look-A-Like Festival^[1] was forced to delay opening its gates in Southport'^[2]s Victoria Park on Sunday due to the "adverse weather^[3]". But many fans said the festival should have been cancelled altogether as some of their favourite tribute acts, from Abba to The Beatles, were unable to perform due to the pouring rain.

The festival organiser said its operations team worked endlessly to open the site safely, during Sunday's deluge. However, despite their best efforts, the organiser had to close one of the stages on Sunday evening, but the rest of the festival remained open.

Elaine Cross, 38, from Southport^[5], was looking forward to attending the festival with her mum Teresa, 68, dad Les, 73, and fiancé Damien on Sunday. However, after seeing a photo of flooding at the festival, Elaine decided not to go.

Elaine, who has heart problems, said: "It was absolutely pouring down with rain. I was seeing pictures in the morning of the entire park being flooded but they were still saying it's going ahead.

"I thought it shouldn't be really if the whole park is under water. It's not only our health and safety, it's healthy and safety of acts.

"We just thought we couldn't risk our health and safety for the fact you're going to be standing in a flooded field. I was really upset because we'd been planning this for weeks. My mum and dad were geared up to go and really looking forward seeing all the acts."

Photos show fenced off areas at the festival which had become waterlogged in the torrential rain. The festival was also hit with a wave of complaints from fans on their official Facebook page.

One festivalgoer said: "Absolutely appalling. Two hours stood in the rain to see no acts. Don't mind the weather, but should provide the entertainment! Should have been cancelled."

Another said: "The weather and flooding can’t be helped, but what happened to all the acts on the main stage? If we wanted to listen to the radio for two hours we’d have sat in the car."

A third said: "So gutted that Abba, The Beatles and Queen all had to be cancelled. They were our top three bands to watch. It was such a laugh at first in the rain but then it just got dangerous after it got heavier after 3pm.

"I really don’t understand why it wasn’t postponed when it was forecasted heavy rainfall all day from early hours this morning. Felt so sorry for the catering vans and the acts on the stages where it was leaking in and soaking them all."

A Look-A-Like spokesperson said: "As outdoor music festival organisers there is nothing more we wish for than warm summer days to enhance the festival experience. However, the UK weather is not always the brightest.

"We are pleased to see people embracing the weather and making the best of the weekend, we’ve ran amazing events at Victoria Park for multiple years. Thank you to everyone who attended over the weekend.

"On Sunday we faced adverse weather conditions. Our operations team alongside our health and safety personnel deemed the event safe to take place with certain areas restricted and against all odds we kept it rocking until 10pm.

"We would like to thank our operations team who worked endlessly to make sure we could open the site safely and we did. We continued combating the weather throughout the day. Unfortunately despite all our efforts we had to close one of our stages yesterday evening during the event. The rest of the festival remained open.

"We would also like to thank every single person who attendened and danced with us in the rain! Despite the weather. For any questions or ticketing enquiries please directly email [email protected]^[6]"

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References

1. ^{^} Festival (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Southport' (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
3. ^{^} adverse weather (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Four Merseyside pubs shortlisted for Great British Pub Awards 2023 (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Southport (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
6. ^{^} [email protected] (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
7. ^{^} Get our best money saving tips and hacks by signing up to our newsletter (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)