Liverpool Council have decided to cancel the world renowned Mathew Street festival due on the August Bank Hol weekend!!

This because the Health and Safety of attendees is under threat due to the extensive city rebuild that's going on due to Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture next year.

However with less than 3 weeks to go, organisers and attendees are up in arms.

Furthermore, the big local paper The Liverpool Echo, had said this afternoon, that there is no guarantee it will be on in 2008 either!

According to local news and TV, the Council is a laughing stock!

PLEASE NOTE -

This cancellation ONLY affects the open air gigs that usually take place on the bank holiday Monday - the rest of Beatle Week is unaffected.

I will keep you posted with further news as I get it.

Let‘s save Mathew Street festival
Aug 3 2007


by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo


THE ECHO today stepped in to save the axed Mathew Street Festival.

Seven venues today agreed to host some of the dozens of bands ditched by the event’s collapse.

The ECHO, together with Mathew Street Festival directors, urged any business that can stage a concert to come forward.

Our plan will take the event back to its roots in the pubs and bars of Liverpool and accommodate bands due to play on outdoor stages.

The idea has been given support by the city culture bosses who yesterday admitted they could not hold this year’s festival because of safety fears.

And some of the city’s biggest and best nightspots have already signed up. Venues already part of our rescue plan include Korova, Barfly and Zanzibar.

Other promoters contacted by the ECHO were enthusiastic about joining – and top names are set to be confirmed over the weekend and early next week.

Today, the men who started the Mathew Street Festival in 1993 said the show must go on.

Festival director Bill Heckle, of Cavern City Tours, said: “We want to take it back to the way it was for the first three or four years.

“We’ve negotiated with the Culture Company – all the contracts are done, all the bands are paid for and it’s an opportunity free of charge for city bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants to put bands on.”

Culture Company chief executive Jason Harborow met with Cavern City Tours yesterday to discuss the rescue plan and will hold more talks today.

He said: “We have bands, events staff and volunteers lined up. It’s a matter of working out the details.”

ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “This event is too important for the city to lose, especially in our birthday year.”

Any venue which wants to put on live music must have the appropriate licence and its own PA and backline.

Mathew Street Festival directors will visit venues and match them up with bands.

Clubs should send details, capacity, fire regulations and in-house PA and backline systems details to bands@mathewstreetfestival.com

Revealed: Failings that led to festival axe
AUG 3 2007 BY NICK COLIGAN & CATHERINE JONES
THE ECHO can today reveal the catalogue of failures at the heart of the Culture Company that saw the Mathew Street Festival axed.
Safety experts called in at the last minute delivered a damning verdict on the lack of planning behind Europe’s biggest free street festival.
And council leader Warren Bradley revealed he was only informed of the decision to cut Mathew Street on Wednesday night. That was AFTER our reporters heard the axe would fall.
Cllr Bradley ordered an independent inquiry into what went wrong and refused to rule out heads rolling.
Remarkably, safety consultants Capita Symonds found the Culture Company had not even appointed a dedicated safety officer for the 350,000-strong event.
In his highly critical report, Capita’s director of leisure safety Richard Lamb also said key resignations and sick leave had left nobody in the team with the capability or experience to run the festival.
The 14-page document, obtained by the ECHO despite the Culture Company refusing to make it public, revealed:
Nobody was in overall charge of health and safety.
No specific or relevant risk assessment had been put in place.
No alternative plans had been put in place for the reduced capacity caused by the loss of the Pier Head.
Concerns about city centre building work making sites unsuitable.
The planning was so shambolic it would take at least six months to put things right.
Sources today told the ECHO of the Culture Company’s year of dithering over the problems caused by the lack of the Pier Head.
Event organiser Lee Forde left his post earlier in the summer, but was never properly replaced.
Meanwhile Eddy Grant, another senior figure within the Culture Company’s events team, was on long-term sick leave with no cover. Again, there was no cover for his post.
Tim Roberts, of the Safety Shop, was to be one of the main health and safety bosses at Mathew Street.
But Mr Lamb’s verdict on him revealed "insufficient understanding" to handle the event.
He said: "There was no evidence or proof of his competence in this type of event and his CV does not support such experience."
A plan was formulated six months ago to accommodate the 350,000 expected revellers without Pier Head.
Seven stages were to be placed around the city centre, in Derby Square, Dale Street, Chapel Street, Tithebarn Street, The Strand, Water Street and Will- iamson Square.
St George’s Plateau, Sefton Park and land at the Kings Dock were all considered as an alternative for the main stage – but all rejected.
Bill Heckle of Cavern City Tours, is one of four directors of Mathew Street who license the Culture Company to run the music festival.
He said plans were still in place 10 weeks ago, but it was obvious to him there were still serious safety concerns.
But still there was no action. A meeting was held on July 20, where Merseyside police voiced yet more fears about the event.
Their fears added to those expressed at regular meetings of the city’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), a body made up of the city council, fire service, police and environmental health.
Capita was finally called in on July 27 and took just one day to condemn the event.
But, remarkably, a meeting of the council’s culture committee on Monday evening was told nothing and there was no suggestion the festival was in trouble.
Cllr Eddie Clein, a senior member of the team, today revealed his astonishment at the lack of communication and said: "I want to know why this announcement wasn’t made at that committee, rather than three days later.
"They must have known pulling the plug was a possibility when they sat in that meeting.
"As far as I’m concerned, nobody knew about this except the Culture Company. They sprung it on everyone."
Cllr Clein also called for a council inquiry into the cancellation, similar to the one established after the Fourth Grace and Boot estate debacles.
Mr Heckle said: "Ten weeks ago they showed us the plans where they had seven zones in the city.
"They’d been discussing it with the police.
"To us it appeared there had been problems, but that plan was something that solved it."
Cllr Paul Brant, deputy leader of the opposition, said he blamed the Culture Company for not "adequately" replacing former festival organiser Lee Forde when he left his post earlier this summer.
Cllr Brant said: "They should have made sure they had adequate resources at the point when he left.
"Every single well-run project has a back-up system, but here the loss of one individual seems to have been enough to cripple the entire event.
"I now want to know what they’ll do for the thousands of people who will inevitably turn up because they have not got the message.
"There should be contingencies to deal with them. The Culture Company can’t just walk away from this."
Culture Company board member Louise Ellman MP said some of her colleagues found out about the cancellation through yesterday’s ECHO.
Ms Ellman, who has called an emergency meeting, said: "I want to know when this decision was made and by who. No reference was made at any board meeting to any problems."
Beatles Week goes ahead, fans assured
THE International Beatles Week will continue as usual despite its sister event the Mathew Street Festival being axed.
Thousands of people are expected to flock to Liverpool from 30 countries to take part in the event, which is organised by Cavern City Tours.
Cavern boss Bill Heckle, also a director es, who are also directors of the Mathew Street event, said they had received panicked messages from across the world since news of the street festival’s demise yesterday.
Bill Heckle said: "Regionally, nationally and internationally, We’ve had calls from distressed fans from as far as Brazil.
"We want to make very clear the International Beatles Week is still on.
"The majority of international tourists, 95%, come for the Beatles Week and not the Mathew Street festival."
The week – which is only for people who have booked – starts on Wednesday, August 22 and includes bands playing in venues such as the Cavern pub and Adelphi ballroom.
Sunday, August 26, is A Beatles memorabilia auction takes place on Saturday, August 25, and on Sunday, August 26 there is Convention Day from 10am to midnight, and next day there is a with nearly 50 bands in a day on four stages, plus a flea market, exhibition, guest interviews, and a video and film room.
On Monday, August 27 there will be a major concert at the Empire with the Undertakers, Karl Terry and the Cruisers, Mike Pender’s Searchers, and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
The culture of disaster
How the city has been let down in the run-up to Capital of Culture Year:
THE CLOUD
Acclaimed architect Will Alsop’s design was hailed as a unique building that would have given Liverpool another world-famous landmark. But the planned Fourth Grace was axed in 2004 after engineers realised it would have cost £100m more than first thought.
ROBYN ARCHER
Hailed as a star signing, the Australian singer and festival director quit after two years in the job. It later emerged Archer had spent less than four months in Liverpool in total, working out at £2,300 a day.
In a lecture last year, she complained about council bureaucracy and early morning meetings.
LIVERPOOL PERFORMS
The dance troupes and high-art multimedia shows Robyn Archer booked performed dismally at the box office, with culture staff forced to attend to boost numbers.
One of the shows, Super Vision, sold just 600 tickets over the course of its three-day run.
SUMMER POPS
In February, it was announced the 2007 Summer Pops would be scrapped after it was revealed it would cost taxpayers at least £750,000. After the ECHO stepped in, the festival was back on at Aintree Racecourse.
'Unaware of difficulties’
LEADER of the council Warren Bradley, who is currently abroad with his family, said he was not told of any problems until 7pm on Wednesday, just hours before the Culture Company’s announcement.
He said: "When I left the UK on July 23, I was unaware of any difficulties regarding the staging of the festival.
"I was only made aware of the issues on August 1 at 7pm.
"I’m alarmed and appalled that, with just three weeks to the event, I’ve only just been made aware of the potential problems of staging the festival.
"On my return to the UK this weekend, I’m scheduling a series of meetings with senior Culture Company officers to ensure I get the answers to my questions and those being asked by members of the public and press.
"I’ve instructed the chief executive to start a full independent investigation into how this happened and why senior members of the council, including myself, weren’t informed.
"I’m adamant an alternative venue should be sought to ensure the festival is staged over the bank holiday weekend.
"I see no reason why these issues can’t be overcome."

It’s beyond belief. How could they cancel ... with only 3 weeks to go?
AUG 3 2007 BY CATHERINE JONES, LIVERPOOL ECHO
MATHEW Street Festival fans and local businesses reacted with fury yesterday after learning the 2007 event was being axed.
The under-fire Culture Company cited health and safety grounds when they announced the shock decision.
They said losing the Pier Head stage combined with other regeneration work around the city posed serious problems.
The International Beatles Week event will run as usual, but the outdoor Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday Mathew Street Festival was cancelled.
Radio DJ, entertainer and ECHO columnist Pete Price said: “It’s completely beyond belief.
“What about health and safety every other year? How can they possibly cancel this with three weeks to go? What does that tell us about Capital of Culture?
“People from the US are flocking in. They love it.
“We’ve had the worst summer in the world and people have looked forward to the Mathew Street Festival. They come from all over the world because it’s such a wonderful event.
“This makes us look stupid.”
Creamfields boss James Barton said: “Health and safety has to come first but at the same time it does feel as though a contingency wasn’t made, and there’s been plenty of time.
“The roadworks aren’t something new. And they’ve known for at least 18 months the Pier Head was going to be out of use.
“It’s a real shame that once again this council, however they’ve got there, have found a way of screwing up an important piece of Liverpool’s cultural activity.
“I hope they’ve thought about the tens of thousands of international visitors who have now got no way of turning that around.”
And The Beatles first manager Allan Williams said: “I couldn’t believe it. I thought the world had gone mad.
“It’s the biggest festival in the UK. All the people from Europe and beyond come to it.”
One Mathew Street bar owner said: “This is an absolute shambles.
“Liverpool is supposed to be Capital of Culture next year but all I can see is new shops and now we can’t even organise this festival.
“Normally the festival helps to tide us over for the slow period so this cancellation is more than a kick in teeth, especially at such short notice.
“This will have a bad effect on my income but more than anything it means the rest of the country is laughing at us.
“We’re supposed to be showing the world that we can organise great events. Whoever is responsible for this should be sacked.”
Duty manager at the Lord Nelson Hotel Mary Patten said: “It’s absolutely awful to do this four weeks before the festival is due to start.
“This will affect the whole of Liverpool, every business, be it hotel, bar or whatever will suffer as a result.
“We’re now just waiting for the cancellation calls to flood in.
“This is a crazy situation, surely they could have looked at alternative venues? Someone should be held to account.”
Food and drink manager at St Thomas Hotel Mathew Sloane said: “We expect to be busy at that time despite this news because most of our business is locally based anyway.
“But the pubs and bars in the area will really feel the effects. Those few days can represent a whole month’s takings in some places.
“I find it amazing with all the project managers currently employed to deal with these issues no one identified the potential problems earlier.”
Sales manager at The Liner Hotel Joanne Heaven said: “We’re very disappointed with this news and we’ll see the fallout over the next few days.
“People have been calling us all day to ask if it’s a hoax and there is a lot of confusion surrounding what will and will not be happening.
“More than the impact on business, the whole thing looks like a flop and makes the city look stupid, leaving everyone involved with very little confidence in the Culture Company.”
Great Homer Street Market trader Terry Bennett said: “People here are going mad. A couple of weeks ago they were using the excuse of not having the Pier Head because of the new canal. But they didn’t have the stage there in the past.
“The festival always spins off on us. What will happen now?”
Verdict from our forums
Sometimes you just want to hide your head under a blanket and hope it all goes away.
Michael
This council is an absolute disgrace. The Mathew Street Festival is the highlight of the year for thousands and as far as I'm aware there has never been an incident resulting in major injury to anyone. Why the need to involve these so called health and safety experts, who we all know would cancel every event ever organised? These people have ruined the best weekend of the year.
Priest
You can make anything safe by cancelling it. What are they getting paid for? To take the easy way out every time?
Mike’s Plumbing
It’s pretty obvious that it couldn’t be held as usual, as the site has been dug up. But it could have been moved to one of the parks. Still, it’s only one year and I am sure next year’s will be even better than usual.
The Southport fan
Surely they knew this was going to be a problem a couple of months ago? All that will happen is that the pubs around the area will be packed, ‘cause they will still have live bands on.
Gary Boylan
I was at the event two years ago when building work was going on in the city centre and it wasn't cancelled then, so why now?
Kacey
Is it to late to sack Jason Harborow and his cronies?
Media
I’m over the moon: I can’t stand all the crowding and waiting to be served. It’s time to stop clinging on to the one thing we are famous for.
Steve
Doesn't exactly bode well for Culture year does it?
Joe
catherinejones@liverpoolecho.co.uk

Everyone who works for any council is a laughing stock.

GOOD NEWS!

The only thing that has been cancelled are the open-air gigs arranged for the Monday - everything else is unaffected. Of course it's disappointing that the gigs are no longer out-doors, but they are being re-arranged at various venues in and around Liverpool town-centre.

So everything is going ahead - just not quite as planned!

No need to panic then!