Perth's Replay Festival – headlined by Natalie Imbruglia and Blue – has been postponed as organisers blamed the upcoming BBC Radio 2 Party in the Park event in Stirling for a slump in ticket sales.
Postponement details
Perth’s Replay Festival was due to take place on August 15 and 16 but has now been postponed until May 2027.
In a lengthy statement, the organisers expressed “huge regret” at having to make “the extremely difficult decision”.
The Replay Festival Team said: “We fully own this decision and our heartfelt apologies for the circumstances that we are in.
“As a team, we have always been honest and transparent in our communication with our customers, and this announcement is no different.
“We were encouraged by initial Replay sales against a difficult market and what has proven to be challenging economic times for all of us in Scotland in 2026.
“The BBC Radio 2 in the Park announcement in Stirling immediately reduced sales for Replay and many other festivals by over 50 per cent.
“Had we known this event was planned, we would have had an opportunity to delay or postpone, but Stirling Council and the BBC decided to keep it under wraps for over six months before announcing it.
“To be clear, the Radio 2 event is subsidised with licence-payer money and doesn’t contribute in any meaningful way to Scotland’s economy.
“This is an event that licence payers are subsidising at the expense of the non-Central Belt area that benefit financially and culturally from the local Scottish Festival market, which was always going to be devastated with an event of this size with its free channels for marketing and publicity.
“The BBC is supposed to be nurturing new talent and encouraging musical development not killing off grass-roots Scottish independent music culture from London.”
Radio 2 event and artist poaching claims
The Radio 2 weekend in Stirling is due to take place from September 11-13 (a month after Replay).
Replay’s organisers said they “actively engaged’” with BBC executives “to secure a postponement from August until early September, the date they have always held it in England for 15 years to avoid this impact on festivals there which we hoped would help mitigate the downturn”.
But organisers claim both its headliners were approached by the BBC to perform at the neighbouring event despite assurances to the contrary.
The Replay Festival Team said: “Over several meetings with BBC executives, we were given a documented assurance from some of the most senior leaders in the organisation that none of the artists for BBC Radio 2 event would be the same as those headlining other local festivals in Scotland.
“This undertaking turned out to be false, with their recent announcement that headliners Blue from Replay, Level 42 from Discovery Dundee, Emile Sande from Summer’s End and Cast from Party in the Palace are all now appearing at the BBC R2 event, plus an approach was also made to our Saturday headliner Natalie Imbruglia which she declined.”
They added: “All of our time, effort and enthusiasm have been lost due to the powerhouse that is the BBC.
“We cannot compete with the BBC in terms of marketing spend, brand awareness and having endless resources available to them from license payers’ money. They have, of course, offered their booked acts enormous and valuable airtime as part of their fee.
“Whilst we understand that attraction, it is hugely disappointing that some acts, particularly Scottish, have elected to feather their own nest at the expense of independent festivals that helped them grow in their early years and become successful.”
Customer options and official responses
All Replay customers have been offered either tickets for the rescheduled event, a refund or a straight swap for the Summer’s End festival happening the same weekend in Brechin.
Organisers thanked the team at Summer’s End in Brechin for their support, as well as Perth and Kinross Council.
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We are delighted that BBC Radio 2 in the Park is coming to Scotland for the first time to Stirling City Park, which has a proven track record of successfully hosting large-scale events. We can’t wait to welcome fans and artists to our amazing city for an unforgettable celebration of world-class live music.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “Radio 2 in the Park is looking forward to bringing some of the biggest UK and international artists to Stirling in September. The BBC is committed to supporting the independent festivals sector and we hope that the festival will make a positive impact on the local community, just as we have done around the UK in previous years, including Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Dundee in 2023.
“Since announcing the festival was coming to Scotland we have engaged extensively with local festival organisers and stakeholders. We listened to concerns about the impact of staging it in August, when other events and festivals are taking place, and moved Radio 2 in the Park to new dates in September.”
