BERLIN, March 10 — Seven of the most renowned German and Swiss summer music festivals have been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic, German concert promoters Eventim said today.

They include the iconic Rock am Ring at Nuerburgring, one of Europe’s largest, the Hurricane festival in Scheessel and the Greenfield festival in Switzerland.

Promoters Eventim said festival organisers had decided to cancel due to "ongoing uncertainty about infection rates and mutations”. 

"2021 was supposed to a summer of reunions, and festival organisers have put a lot of time and work into hygiene concepts to make this possible,” said Frithjof Pils, CEO of Eventim Live.

However, the "epidemiological situation” and coronavirus restrictions meant "festivals of this magnitude are not yet feasible at present”.

Eventim added that festival ticket-holders for 2021 would be given "a convenient opportunity” to rebook for the following year.

Festivals like Rock am Ring and Hurricane are enormous events held at major motorsport venues which welcome tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Other major European festivals such as Glastonbury in southwest England have also been cancelled in recent months. 

Concert halls and music venues have been closed for months in Germany due to the pandemic, and currently have little prospect of reopening in the next weeks. 

Case numbers have been rising in recent days despite months of restrictions, with the seven-day incidence rate at 65.4 per 100,000 people on Wednesday, according to official figures. — AFP