Phoenix Festival in St Helens - due to feature Boy George - cancelled

Boy George and Culture Club were set to headline the event, with organisers launching a website and issuing a press release via a marketing company last week.

Despite people having purchased tickets, the planned star-studded event has been now scrapped, with St Helens Council reporting that the organisers, Wonderland Music Ltd/Summerfest Ltd failed to secure an agreement on the hire of the land.

Initial talks had taken place, but the council say no agreement had been reached.

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It has led to angry music fans complaining why tickets had been put on sale by the company when no agreement to use Sherdley was in place.

Some have said that they have lost booking fees as a result.

Boy George will perform with his band Culture Club (Image: Culture Club)

The Star has approached the marketing company which announced the festival was coming to St Helens for a response from the organisers - but, at this stage, there has been no statement.

St Helens Council, meanwhile, has explained the situation from its perspective.

A council spokesperson, said: “St Helens Borough Council was approached by Wonderland Music Ltd/Summerfest Ltd seeking permission to use Sherdley Park as the location for the ‘Phoenix Festival’ in May 2023.

“Whilst preliminary discussions were held with the organisers, the council had not reached agreement on the hire of land and the pre-licence application consultation had not yet taken place.

“The council was unaware that the organisers were intending to advertise the event and sale of tickets prior to the launch of the website last week.

“Up to this point the Summerfest team had not provided the council with satisfactory event management documents and a meeting was held to discuss this on Tuesday 15 November.

Boyzlife (Image: PA)

“Following this discussion, the event organisers have issued a cancellation notice for this event to their ticket agencies. We were not aware they were intending to do this.

“Customers who have purchased tickets are advised to contact their ticket provider for refund information.

“The council is committed to bringing high quality events to the borough and will continue to work with experienced event organisers to bring forward a range of good quality events and is disappointed that this proposed event could not meet the required standards to progress.”

Disappointed readers have taken to social media to show their disgust with the organisers over the cancellation, with many citing that they have lost their booking deposits due to the incident.