Organizers of the annual Summer Breeze festival, which takes place in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, have checked in with an unfortunate update regarding the 2021 edition of the festival.

Forced to cancel the 2020 edition due to the global pandemic, the 2021 edition, which was supposed to take place from August 18th - 21st, will no longer happen. Bands that had been slated for the festival included Paradise Lost, Alestorm, Exodus, Testament, Finntroll, Unleash The Archers and more.

"The Summer Breeze 2021 has to be cancelled!

We have fought with all the strength our team could muster, but as of now it is certain:
The Summer Breeze 2021 cannot take place in a form adapted to the state of the pandemic and must be cancelled.

In advance: We are currently preparing all options regarding tickets for the beginning of July and will inform you by then.

Unfortunately, with the relevant political decision-makers unable to provide us with a desperately needed reliable framework, today’s step is unavoidable.

At Summer Breeze, you as fans have always been the most important people to us. And it will stay that way! When it comes to staging our festival, it is a huge concern for us that we can offer what has made our festival so strong, especially in recent years. The biggest acts from different genres, world stars of the metal scene, side by side with a whole lot of up-and-coming young bands, a colorful merchant mile, variety in food and drink – all in what is basically a family atmosphere. However, with the current uncertainties to the pandemic and its development, more and more bands are forced to cancel and postpone their summer tours. Of course, this also affects our program.

What was already the case in 2020 is all the more important to us today: we continue to hope for your unbelievable patience and support to cope with the enormous upcoming tasks.

The Summer Breeze belongs to all of us. By that we mean fans, whether they act in front of or behind the stage. We mean every single band, every crew member. We're in this together, and we're going to make sure that we can celebrate the Summer Breeze in Dinkelsbühl for many more years to come. We, together with you, and you with us!

This experience of celebrating together in Dinkelsbühl will be denied to us in August 2021. We are still convinced of the strength of our concept for infection control, which we presented in April. However, our proposal has not found support with the political decision-makers. In fact, we were denied any constructive exchange. Instead, our concept was shunted from table to table - and the state government failed to schedule a meeting to work constructively on the concept.

However, we would like to express our gratitude to the city of Dinkelsbühl and the municipality of Wittelshofen, as well as all local and national partners, who were always cooperative, open-minded, and supportive.

Both, we and our industry are in urgent need of a perspective. But unfortunately, the responsible politicians have still not come up with a concrete, realistic and implementable roadmap! Neighboring countries such as Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and England are miles ahead of us considering their far-reaching roadmaps and full range opening scenarios, including the provision of related framework conditions.

In Germany and Bavaria, on the other hand, the authorities remain in a state of shock - with fatal consequences for the continued existence of cultural activities and, as a result, serious economic uncertainty for those who create them. Bavaria's great opportunity to take the lead in a pioneering role, and to gather crucial insights into the pandemics in August continues to be wasted. Also, the fact that events can create vaccination incentives for the young population continues to be fatally ignored.

We have done everything in our power to offer a safe Summer Breeze 2021 - but have failed due to our politicians’ lacking willingness to talk, rendering us unable to make binding decisions.

Despite this deep blow for all of us, we will continue to pursue our activities behind the scenes in numerous task forces, so that by August 2022 at the latest, we will be back on the field together with you in Dinkelsbühl! Maybe even sooner, who knows?

Thank you for sticking with us!
Your Summer Breeze Team."

Watch for updates via the official Summer Breeze website here.