According to http://www.essentialfestival.com/: "It is with very sad regret that Essential Entertainments are announcing the cancellation of the forthcoming Essential Festival due to be held over the 3rd and 4th August in London¹s Hackney Marshes. Essential have made this very difficult decision after considering a number of issues in the build up to the event. The disastrous Rock Day at Bristol¹s Essential Festival has created significant financial difficulties for the event, which have not been able to be sufficiently resolved. In addition to this, the site suffered considerable damage after the adverse weather conditions that Mardi Gras had to face last weekend, with the result that Essential are not wholly confident that the location would be suitable for hosting the festival. This year has also seen a substantial slump in the market for outdoor events, with the notable exceptions of Glastonbury and Oasis, with many of the major events being subject to low attendance." Regards, Nick ;-)

It's unfortunately official. The Essential Festival in Hackney Marshes (London) has been cancelled. More details can be found 9 mins 45 secs into this;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/media/news/main_news/newsbeat.ram

Please note this file will be updated with a new report at roughly 18:00 BST today.

If The Orb are now at a loose end on 3rd August I'll be happy to put a tent up in my back garden, invite a few mates over and stream it over the internet. How about it?

From a very sad Billy :(

-----Original Message----- From: orb-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:orb-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of billy.b Sent: 12 July 2002 12:02 To: orb@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Orb] Essential cancelled?

If anyone else is listening to Radio1 can they confirm they just heard Briggy Smale say that the Essential Festival is cancelled. More news is promised on air within the hour.

I'm off down the pub for lunch but if someone else can get to listen to this (live stream at www.bbc.co.uk/radio1 ) and confirm to the list I would be very grateful.

Billy