First Glastonbury, and now The Big Chill, the Olympic Games are having a surprisingly profound effect on the festival industry. First it was a lack of portaloos and now it’s artists unwillingness to play during the games, as Melvin Benn explained in an official statement today:

“It is with a considerable amount of regret that I have decided not to go ahead with The Big Chill in 2012.

I looked long and hard late last year at moving the date so it didn’t clash with the Olympics but the mix of the festival fans desire to keep the date and an inability to find an alternative date that works I plumped for maintaining the existing weekend.

Sadly, the artist availability and confirmations we were achieving led me to conclude that I couldn’t risk going ahead with the event as an outdoor event this year. Efforts are being made to look to bring a smaller event indoors this year with the anticipation of The Big Chill being back outdoors in 2013.

Melvin Benn

Managing Director, Festival Republic.”

This is sad news for Big Chill fans, it’s a lovely risk taking festival, but this may very well be great day for Reading fans, especially those of an artier persuasion. There was a growing fear that festivals like Melvin’s Lattitude and Big Chill were slowly stealing away the innovative indie fringe, but now Reading should have no excuse not to deliver a blockbuster line up as another huge festival temporarily bites the dust.

So who’s just a little bit excited for March?