Official Announcement from Tennent's Lager re: Tennent's VITAL 2008

Tennent's Lager regret to announce that the Tennent's Vital festival will not take place in Belfast this August.

In a difficult climate for live music events, that has seen a number of high profile events cancelled across the UK this year, the festival has been unable to secure the necessary talent to maintain the high standard of line-up which Tennent's Vital has become renowned for and that Tennent's Vital's fans in Northern Ireland have come to expect. In addition, the number of festivals in the UK has now increased to over 500 thereby increasing the difficulty of securing top acts within a climate of apparent over-saturated scheduling of talent at this level – the level Inbev would demand to deliver Tennent's Vital in 2008.

Tennent's, as owners of the festival, have subsequently been forced to take the very sad decision not to stage Tennent's Vital this year. Tennent's is currently investigating other opportunities and remain hopeful that they can continue their strong relationship with music in Northern Ireland in the near future.

Over the last six years, Tennent's Vital has become established as Northern Ireland's premier music event with headliners including Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs and Kings Of Leon. Last year's two day event at Ormeau Park was the most successful yet, with over 35,000 fans enjoying thrilling sets from the likes of The Killers and Razorlight. Within this context and rather than offer fans an event which would not live up to the incredible heritage of Tennent's Vital, the subsequent decision was taken to cancel this year's event.