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Hertfordshire rock festival has been cancelled, organisers have confirmed this morning.

Skindred

The Knebworth event was meant to have taken place on 6-8 July, featuring Welsh bands The Blackout and Skindred alongside the likes of Kiss, Faith No More and Queen.

It was the Queen website which yesterday fuelled rumours of the featival's demise, with a message posted: "It is with very heavy hearts and much regret that we announce the cancellation of Sonisphere Knebworth 2012".

As 'Sonisphere' began trending worldwide on Twitter, the message was swiftly withdrawn but today Sonisphere's own website carried this statement:

It is with very heavy hearts and much regret that we announce the cancellation of Sonisphere Knebworth 2012.

Putting the festival together in what is proving to be a very challenging year was more difficult than we anticipated and we have spent the last few months fighting hard to keep Sonisphere in the calendar. Unfortunately circumstances have dictated that we would be unable to run the festival to a standard that both the artists and that Sonisphere's audience would rightly expect.

We want to express our deepest regrets to the artists and to thank all the staff, suppliers and contractors who worked so hard with us to try and pull off what has proven to be an impossible task and we know how much they share in our disappointment. We also want to send a huge thanks to the Sonisphere fans who stuck by us and we are so sorry that we can't fulfil what we set out to do.

Ticket holders will automatically receive a full refund direct from their ticket agents.

Team Sonisphere.

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