It is with a very heavy heart that we write to you to announce that, due to financial pressures, we have no responsible option but to cancel Rough Beats Festival 2012.

This is huge personal blow and incredibly disappointing as we truly believed that the brilliant line-up, the amazing collaborators and the physical and financial investment made by everyone involved was a winning formula and that we were on course to produce one of the most talked about music events of the summer. Anecdotally, on the blogs and in the press, everything suggests that people are excited about the event and planning on coming. However, it is proving to be a very difficult environment for festivals.

The decision to cancel has not been made lightly - indeed it goes against every instinct of our hearts - but not to do so would put all the contractors, contributors, artists, traders and suppliers at risk of substantial losses.

Rough Beats Festival, although small, has always tried to be as ambitious as possible and over the last nine years, it has reflected the character of the individuals putting it on and the personality of those who have attended and performed. 

Ticket refunds:

Tickets bought online will be refunded automatically in full over the next few days, you do not need to do anything but if the money has not shown in your account by Friday 18th May please email your ticket details to [email protected] with the subject line “Ticket Refund”. If you bought your ticket from Jumbo Records or from another outlet please return your ticket to the shop and they will make the refund.

What’s Next:

We have to take stock financially, physically and emotionally over the next few weeks before we can consider what’s next. Please feel free to leave your feedback on the facebook page - positive and negative - and we’ll keep you updated with any developments.

Thank you for all your support and contributions, we hope you have a great summer.

Yours,

Mike McSherry, Dominic McSherry, Tony Frances, Brendan McSherry, Fionn McSherry and Kieron McSherry