Bands who are invited to appear on the annual European festival circuit are in an enviable position. Just check out Dave Markey’s 1991: The Year Punk Broke documentary for proof. These acts turn up in a variety of European locations, play before tens of thousands of people every day, and get treated like gods backstage. Sounds good, no?

Well, this year’s festivities are being reigned in. A number of festivals are being canceled as the recession starts to hit, and some bands may be glancing anxiously at their bank managers, because they make serious money from these festivals. What else could Noel Gallagher mean when he said he’d been given “2.7 million reasons” to play one festival?

The latest casualty is the Quart Festival in Norway, which was due to take place on July 2-5, and had booked Death Cab For Cutie, Dizzee Rascal, and the Enemy (among others) to appear. Quart has filed for bankruptcy after just over 2,000 tickets were sold for the 30,000 capacity event. [The Daily Swarm]