O2 hangs up on Leeds Festival

Live Nation have decided to can the Leeds O2 Festival after two years of underperformance. The official spin is that they can't do the festival and a series of mini, indoor events as a warm-up for the London Wireless event:

"O2 and Live Nation are determined to bring the flavour of the O2 Wireless Festival to as wide an audience as possible, by arranging a series of pre-festival gigs around the UK during May/June 2008.

"Under the banner of O2 Wireless Weekenders, a number of confirmed artists appearing at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London, will take to the stage in local clubs, giving music fans a unique opportunity to enjoy their respective music.

"Due to this new initiative, we will no longer stage the O2 Wireless Festival in Leeds."

Managers at Harewood House, which has hosted the festival, were downbeat:

"Obviously I'm disappointed that the O2 Festival is not going to have a northern presence this year. It was a popular event and, I believe, was an established date in the festival calendar."

To be honest, we'd completely forgotten it existed, which makes claims of having been established seem a little weak - and since it was at the same venue as the Leeds leg of the Reading Festival, it was totally overshadowed. We're not expecting much mourning.