Van Morrison and The Waterboys concert at Audley End postponed until 2021
Audley End's summer concert starring Van Morrison with support from The Waterboys has been postponed until 2021 because of coronavirus.
The open-air event featuring the Northern Irish singer and the Scottish folk-rock band on Saturday August 15 is one of a series at the stately home near Saffron Walden and fellow English Heritage property Kenwood House, next to London's Hampstead Heath, to be cancelled or rescheduled as a result of the pandemic.
A spokesman for Heritage Live said: "While we do very much hope that the situation in the UK will have improved by the summer, recent social distancing measures will impact on this crucial organisational stage of the concerts, with our crew and staff unable to conduct essential and regular site visits with our numerous suppliers.
"We have also taken into consideration the unnecessary impact we would have on future ticket buyers and our partners, suppliers and traders by continuing to plan for these events, only to be forced to cancel at a later date.
"As well as this, during this period of national emergency, independent medical companies are rightly being drafted in to support the National Health Service; we would be unable to safely go ahead with our Heritage Live concerts this year without their incredible and necessary services."
The Van Morrison and The Waterboys concert has been rescheduled to Saturday August 14, 2021. Customers' tickets remain valid for the rearranged date.
Organisers of Standon Calling, the annual three-day music festival due to take place on July 24-26, have said they will make an announcement in May.
However, a spokesman for the event at Standon Lordship – whose headliners this year are Bombay Bicycle Club, Hot Chip and Primal Scream – admitted that it was increasingly unlikely that it would go ahead and that postponing to later in the summer or next year were two of the options under consideration.
A statement from the festival, which began as a birthday barbecue for founder Alex Trenchard in 2001, warns: "The reality is that whatever we decide, the cost implications on the future of the festival will be challenging."