The 2026 Glasgow edition of WOMAD Festival has been cancelled due to low ticket sales.
WOMAD, which stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance, was founded by Peter Gabriel in 1980 with the aim of spotlighting an eclectic mixture of genres. Since then, the festival has travelled to 27 countries across the world.
In December, it was confirmed that the event would be taking place in Glasgow, the first Scottish edition of the festival, and set to take place at Kelvingrove Park on July 3 and 4.
Now, Glasgow Life – who were working with the festival organisers to bring the event to life – have confirmed that they have made the “difficult decision” to cancel the event due to poor ticket sales.
In their statement, organisers said that the move was “one that has not been taken lightly”, and told those with tickets that full refunds would be available. Those affected by the decision will also have access to discounted tickets for the North Wiltshire edition of the festival, taking place at Neston Park between July 23 and 26.
Artists set to perform at the Glasgow event included Reggae artist Hollie Cook, Stornoway folk-rock trio Peat and Diesel, and Pakistani instrumentalist Ustad Noor Bakhsh.
“While audience response to the programme and the vision for the event was extremely positive, ticket sales did not reach the level required to deliver the festival sustainably in its inaugural year,” a statement from the festival read.
“This reflects the challenge of launching a new large-scale event in a competitive and crowded market at this time,” it added. “We know this news will be hugely disappointing, particularly for those who have already purchased tickets, and we sincerely apologise for that.”
In 2024, Gabriel announced that WOMAD would take a break in 2025, before returning to a new location for 2026. At the time, he explained that the festival was “re-evaluating, regenerating and reinvigorating” after facing challenges post-COVID.
Last year, he announced that WOMAD festival was “officially back” and added that “while we’ve been away, all the team have been working away regenerating our beloved festival and poring over your extensive feedback – and finding so many great suggestions.”
WOMAD is just one of many festivals being forced to cancel its event in recent years. Last year, for example, Kubix, Monument, Stone Valley and Wannasee festivals were all axed due to money issues.
The year prior, NME shared that 72 UK festivals were cancelled or postponed in 2024, doubling figures from 2023.
The figures came from a report by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) which revealed that – including 96 events lost during the COVID pandemic – a total of 204 festivals had disappeared since 2019.
Those affected in 2024 included Nozstock Hidden Valley, who announced that 2024 would be their final incarnation after 26 years due to “soaring costs”, as well as NASS, Bluedot and PennFest.
Speaking to NME that year about the cancellation and postponement of various music festivals, Oscar Matthews – co-owner of Barn On The Farm festival shared: “It’s inevitable and it’s already started, but when you start to lose smaller festivals, events, gig spaces and venues, the opportunities disappear for new and emerging talent to get on stage and get their music heard.“They’ll suffer and that will inevitably have a knock-on effect further up the chain.”
