LIDO Festival cancels CMAT and Bombay Bicycle Club’s June dates and reschedules Maribou State to August 31 to protect Victoria Park grounds
It has been a rough week for London festival season, and LIDO Festival is the latest to take a hit. The Victoria Park event, now in its second year after a 2025 debut headlined by Charli XCX and Jamie xx, has cancelled two of its three scheduled June dates and shifted its sole surviving show to late August. The reason is the ground beneath the park itself, which has not yet recovered enough from a cycle of last summer’s drought damage and one of the wettest winters in recent British history to safely host a major event.
The losses are significant. The 12th June date, which carried a lineup of CMAT, Father John Misty, and Sharon Van Etten, is gone. So is the 14th June show headlined by Bombay Bicycle Club and Metronomy. Only the Maribou State date survives, moved now to 31st August, with the full support bill, including Kelis, Folamour, and Theo Parrish b2b Moodymann, intact. Ticketholders for the cancelled dates will receive automatic full refunds. Those with Maribou State tickets will have them honoured for the new August date, though refunds are also available for anyone unable to make the change.
Both headliners responded with the kind of directness that makes the news sting a little more. CMAT, who had been due to headline a day alongside Father John Misty and Sharon Van Etten, addressed fans directly on Instagram. “I am very very sorry to tell you that due to issues with the ground at Victoria Park, Lido Festival has to move to new dates in August, and as a result, I, like others on the bill, am no longer able to play,” she wrote. “I am truly devastated not to be able to play this festival.” Bombay Bicycle Club were equally candid, acknowledging the situation was “very much out of our hands” while making clear how much the impact on fans was weighing on them. “We know many of you made special plans and were going to travel from far and wide for this show,” the band wrote, “and we are very sorry for the inconvenience.”
A Park Under Pressure, a Season Under Strain
The backstory here matters. Victoria Park took serious damage during last summer’s extended drought, with dust issues during festival season drawing significant attention. AEG committed to an extensive reseeding and improvement programme in response, and organisers say that work has been “highly successful,” leaving the park in solid shape for everyday community use. The problem is timing. Following an unusually wet winter, the areas that were restored needed more recovery time before being subjected to the footfall of a large-scale event. Advisors recommended the delay, and organisers followed that advice.
AEG Presents UK and European Festivals CEO Jim King framed the decision in terms of long-term responsibility. “Moving LIDO to August means stronger events this year and a park that’s even better placed for the years ahead,” he said. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets permitted the schedule change and confirmed all financial commitments between AEG and the borough remain fully in place.
The news lands in the same week that Wireless Festival was pulled entirely, following the controversy around Kanye West being denied entry into the UK. Two major London festivals gone from the summer calendar inside a single week is a notable moment for the city’s live music infrastructure. LIDO has tried to limit the damage where it can. The Maribou State show on 31st August preserves at least part of what was promised, and the support bill around that date remains a genuinely strong one. But for fans who had built travel plans around CMAT or Bombay Bicycle Club, an automatic refund is cold comfort.
More information on refunds and the rescheduled date is available at lidofestival.co.uk.
