Organisers have confirmed that Hertfordshire music festival Standon Calling 2021 will take place as planned in July.
The music and arts extravaganza is set for Standon Lordship in the Hertfordshire countryside from Thursday, July 22 to Sunday, July 25.
This is just days after the government's planned move to Step 4 on the roadmap out of lockdown on Monday, July 19.
After a week which has seen a number of high-profile cancellations, Standon Calling is set to go ahead as one of the first full capacity UK festivals in nearly two years.
Festival founder and director Alex Trenchard said: “To be able to confirm that Standon Calling 2021 will be taking place this year is something that brings me incredible joy.
"We are incredibly grateful to our staff, artists and suppliers who have worked tirelessly with us to get to this point."
Standon will be one of the first shows of the summer taking place without government Event Research Programme (ERP) status.
A negative pre-event COVID lateral flow test will be a prerequisite for attending Standon Calling 2021. This follows similar processes seen at the government’s test events.
Explaining the decision to stage the independent festival this summer, Alex Trenchard said: "The government’s impressive vaccination record, the Event Research Programme data published at the end of last week (which showed there were no substantial outbreaks at phase one of the test events) and yesterday’s comments made by the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that July 19th will be the 'end of the line' for Covid restrictions have encouraged us to go for it.
"For the past four months we have been working with colleagues at Certific, a leading COVID testing verification app, and Imperial College London in the development of a Covid transmission risk assessment system that has been positively received by our Local Public Health Authority.
"We are looking forward to sharing full details with ticket holders over the coming weeks and are confident that it will help keep everyone safe.
"Most of all we want to thank our Standon Calling family who have stuck with us and supported the festival through this time, this year’s festival is in honour of you – and we think we may have just pulled together the best Standon Calling line-up of all time.
"I can’t wait to be back in front of that Main Stage, and I look forward to dancing together with you all once again. Bring it on!”
The positive news comes as more names are added to the festival line-up, including BRIT Award winner Arlo Parks.
Dry Cleaning, London Afrobeat Orchestra, and Yard Act have also been added to the bill.
Already set to headline the Friday night, Bastille have announced that they will be bringing a special ‘Bastille Reorchestrated’ show to Standon Calling this summer.
The festival's diverse music line-up also includes headliners Primal Scream and Hot Chip alongside Craig David Presents TS5, Mahalia, De La Soul, Sister Sledge, Jake Bugg, Everything Everything, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Akala.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here