Wings Of Desire say the Valley Fest stage they were booked on did not exist

Wings Of Desire, an indie duo, travelled for hours with their 11-week-old baby to play Valley Fest on July 31, then found no stage where they had been booked, NME reported on August 4. Husband and wife duo James Taylor and Chloe Little said they had been booked in February to play the festival's Yard Stage, but arrived to find what they called "the infamous not-on-the-site-map stage" hosting a presentation about property development instead. The stage's curator told them he had never booked them and that the lineup had been set for months.

The pair described the ordeal on social media as like "going to an airport, through security and waiting three hours" for a flight that did not exist. With calls to the festival's bookers going unanswered, they wrote that it ended with a "pack up the stuff, nappy change on the back seat, drive two hours home."

The irony was not lost on the band: Valley Fest's own website described this year's edition as a "programme crafted with care across every stage," with every booking "chosen with intention."

Speaking to the BBC after the festival, Little said the band did not end up playing their set, adding, "We're used to no dressing room, but there was nowhere to go with the baby," and that this added to the stress of the day.

Festival founder Luke Hasell said he was "really sorry to hear about Wings Of Desire's experience," explaining that the Yard Stage had been merged with another venue ahead of the festival and its acts reprogrammed elsewhere. "There was a breakdown in communication around Wings Of Desire's performance, which meant they weren't given the information they needed," he said, adding that organizers would reach out to the band's management to apologize.

The band said afterward that they had heard nothing further and had not been compensated. "We do not appreciate being gaslit into being told it was a miscommunication," they wrote, saying they had the messages to prove it and telling NME they were sharing the story "on behalf of all musicians who have been treated poorly within the live industry." Valley Fest had not responded to NME's request for comment as of the report; you can follow other festival news on the festival tracker.