'Non-natural factors at play' in festival being called off

It's bad news for music fans looking forward to this year's Silvermine Bay Music Festival. According to one of the bands scheduled to perform at the outdoor Mui Wo event, the entire three-day weekend festival has been postponed indefinitely 'for safety and liability reasons'.

The free festival, organised under the auspices of the Hong Kong Outlying Islands Women's Association, was inexplicably cancelled on Wednesday. Most of the musicians were just informed through Facebook. According to a band that did not wish to be identified, a message was sent out saying the event was off because 'the weather forecast was not very good'. When different groups questioned the decision and asked whether there was an ulterior reason, the organisers cryptically responded, 'other non-natural factors at play also'.

The Silvermine Bay event has a bit of a chequered history. In 2006, it was forced by the police to end two hours early. When we contacted the event hotline, we were told the staff were away and wouldn't be back until today. In other words, don't bother going to Lantau this weekend for music.