Co-presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties, Pitchfork, and Primavera Sound, the inaugural Jabberwocky Music Festival was set to launch this weekend in London with an impressive lineup starring Neutral Milk Hotel, James Blake, Darkside, Kurt Vile, Caribou, Liars, plus Australia’s Ben Frost, Mick Turner, and more.

However, music fans and bands alike woke up to the news yesterday that the two-day arts, film, and music event had been cancelled, just 72 hours before it was set to go ahead at the ExCel Centre in London.

Offering apologies in a statement, ATP promoter Barry Hogan said full refunds would be available at point of purchase while explaining the short-notice cancellation was due to financial difficulties in staging Jabberwocky that, had they gone ahead, would have ended ATP.

“We have put everything into promoting Jabberwocky, and despite healthy ticket sales; all our efforts could not take those sales to the point that we needed to finally stage the event,” writes Hogan.

“Over the past month and all the way up until this moment we have tried every possible course of action to follow through in delivering Jabberwocky to you, but the position we unfortunately find ourselves in as a result of a succession of events that have lost money in an increasingly aggressive festival market, means we are no longer able to do so.”

As Consequence Of Sound reports however, as recently as last week, ATP Festival had been promoting Jabberwocky as being on track for a sell out.

In yesterday’s statement, Hogan details: “In the past ATP has weathered losses such as this and gone on with the show, taking huge direct financial blows as an independent company. But on this occasion, with an event of this scale and the high production costs that come with it – if we had gone ahead; it would have 100% been the end of ATP. We do not take this decision lightly and it was the hardest we’ve ever had to make. All other ATP Presents shows will go ahead as planned, including ATP Iceland with our local partners there in 2015.”

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“We apologise to all the people we have let down from fans to the bands, the venue and all the suppliers. We have tried everything in our power to save this event and continue, but the losses we have recently incurred have unfortunately been too much for a company of our size to bear.”

The cancellation has surprised both bands and fans who have taken to social media to express their disappointment. Among the online backlash and bitter posts (“CANCELLED WITH LIKE 20 SECONDS NOTICE WHAT THE FUCK MAN!” wrote one angry commenter), many have questioned the financial arrangements of festival organisers while also expressing anger for those who had booked accommodation and flights for the London festival, only to turn up to a cancelled event.

Two artists set to perform at Jabberwocky, Speedy Ortiz and The Bug, also announced the sad news on twitter along with plans to co-ordinate replacement gigs.

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