Temples Festival 2016 cancelled on less than a week's notice

Temples Festival artwork
Temples Festival artwork

Temples Festival 2016 has been cancelled on less than a week’s notice due to a lack of funding.

The event was due to take place from June 2 to 5 at Motion in Bristol, with Mayhem, Melvins and Carcass set to headline.

But chief promoter Francis Mace has today admitted that he “made a series of bad business decisions and dealt with the situation very poorly,” leading to the withdrawal of the festival’s main funding source.

He says he has been riddled with debt since 2015’s Temples Festival and could not face a similar hardship this year.

Mace says: “My intention was always to setup a unique UK festival which books bands who are rarely seen in the UK, I’ve tirelessly dedicated myself to this event for a long time now and the decision to cancel this year’s event has been unequivocally the hardest call I’ve ever had to make in my life.

“My sincere apologies to those of you who will lose out as a result of this, I am truly sorry - but I can’t face another year of debts and damage.”

He adds: “Having already lost in the region of £70,000 throughout Temples Festival’s existence - I’m afraid adding more debt to that will simply cripple both myself and the festival, and after such a difficult year it’s not an option for me to take on such a huge debt personally.”

Mace says ticket refunds are available at the point of purchase.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.