ONLY 6,000 tickets have been sold for next weekend’s Towneley Live music festival.

Organisers LiveWyre had hoped to attract up to 30,000 people to the event in Towneley Park, the first of its kind to be held in Burnley, when it was first announced in April.

After the ‘disappointing sales’ so far calls have now been made to residents to get behind the festival because ‘acts like this don’t come to Burnley every week’.

Some of the biggest bands in pop, including Scouting for Girls, N-Dubz, McFly and The Saturdays, are booked to appear at Saturday’s event.

Now tickets prices have been slashed to half price to encourage greater take-up, to the anger of some fans who bought their tickets at full price in the first weeks of sale.

The original ticket prices of £42.50 for an adult and £27.50 for a child have been sited as one of the main reasons for disappointing sales by industry experts.

Organisers have now set their sights on reaching a minimum of 10,000 sales and insisted that there is no question that the event was in doubt.

Coun Jennifer Knowles, Burnley’s youngest councillor, who represents Queensgate ward, said: “It would be fantastic if we could have something like this every year in Burnley, like in other places.

“The ticket sales are disappointing but people cannot afford it at the moment. But the bands are great and I hope it goes well.”

Harry Ashworth, a director for organisers LiveWyre, said: “We are still keen to get 10,000 plus there but we are a bit shy of that at the moment, 6,000 have been sold so far.

“We are hoping for a surge in the last week before the event on Saturday. Hopefully we will get plenty of support from the people of Burnley, it should be the first of many of these festivals.”

Mr Ashworth acknowledged that many people had paid full price for their tickets and some half price.

“We are doing a half price promotion,” he said. “Those who have paid full price will get special facilities on site.

“It is unfortunate but we will make sure they get prime viewing positions.”

Coun Charlie Briggs, leader of Burnley Council, said: “I would encourage people to go and buy the remaining tickets.

“Acts like this don’t come to Burnley every week and we should support decent ventures like this in the town.”

The most successful music festival in East Lancashire is the Beat Herder event in the Ribble Valley, which sells out to a crowd of around 5,000 people each year, and costs £85 for a three-day pass.

Ramsbottom Festival, which takes place next month featuring the Guilemotts and Badly Drawn Boy is £35 for a weekend day-pass.

Adrian Lord, who used to organise the Shamania Lugna-sadh festival in Blacko, said: “It does seem a bit overpriced, but I guess they will learn that lesson in future.

“It is hard to know how to price these events, you pay twice as much to go to the Beat Herder festival but you are there all weekend and see more acts.

“Then there are events like Arts in the Park in Blackburn which was free and had some decent bands playing. There is a lot of competition out there but when it is real mainstream acts it is hard to know what people will pay.”

Preparations at Towneley Park are set to begin on Monday ahead of the festival.

Mr Ashworth said: “We are nearly there, the stage will be going up on Monday and then more and more will be done on site leading to the weekend, it is a very exciting time.”

Police officers will be supporting stewards at the event and both uniformed and undercover police will be patrolling on foot, bike and horses and officers will be handing out crime prevention leaflets at the site.

Officers admitted that they had working in expectations of 20,000 crowds.

Inspector Mark Baines, of Burnley Police, said: “We expect Towneley Live to be a fantastic event and hopefully everyone will leave having had a really good day.

“Organisers have declared the arena a no drinking zone which means people can only drink alcohol in bars and pubs outside the venue. Anyone found with alcohol will have it confiscated and disposed of or they may be asked to leave the event.”

Tickets will remain on sale at half price next week at HMV, Burnley Mechanics and Burnley Football Club.

Tickets can’t be purchased from Towneley Park on the day, but they can be obtained from the venues above all day on the Saturday.