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Escape Into The Park, Wales' biggest dance festival and one of the biggest in the UK, won't take place in 2012, it has been announced.

DJ playing Escape Into The Park

Organisers of Escape, which is held annually in Swansea's Singleton Park, have said that their reasoning has been dictated by other major events in 2012.

A statement released today said:

The organisers of Wales' largest dance music festival, Escape Into The Park, have announced that this year will see a rest year for the festival.

Like many other successful UK festivals, Escape Into The Park is taking a year off in 2012. This year is looking to be very busy for the public with a combination of a summer of Olympic sporting activity and the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in June. Therefore, we believe this is the perfect timing for us to take a year off to sit back and reassess the format of the festival with a view to coming back stronger than ever next year.

Swansea Council have always been a great support to Escape Into The Park and we look forward to working with them in bringing a bigger and better festival to Swansea in 2013. We would like to wish all our loyal festival goers a great summer, keep partying in 2012 and we'll see you in 2013!

While the rest makes sense in the context of the glut of major events happening this year, coinciding with a continuing slow economy, it's a shame for Swansea and the wider Welsh music industry.

Wales isn't spectacularly over-supplied with dance-orientated events, despite the genre's heritage in the major cities. And to have the largest dance event in the western UK is something we should be grateful for.

Building its reputation over the years, Escape has been able to attract audiences of over 20,000 and some of the highest-profile international DJs and artists.

Here's hoping that, as promised, 2013 will see Escape return to the calendar with its usual impressive roll call of talent.

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