Music festivals are a fickle business. One minute they're riding high, making money and pulling in rave reviews. The next, organisational and financial concerns see them off.

And Kent has certainly seen plenty come and go over the years. As the Reading and Leeds festivals take place this weekend - in a calendar ravaged by Covid concerns - we take a look back at some of the biggest and best from before the pandemic years, which soared high and then crashed to the ground.

Remember Zoo8? Chances are in was probably for all the wrong reasons.

It should have been a memorable event. It turned out to be described by many as "the worst festival ever".

Zoo8 had all the ingredients to be a success. Set in the beautiful surroundings of Port Lympne Wildlife Park, near Hythe, the weather was set to be hot and sunny, and the line-up featured a host of big names.

Among them Dizzee Rascal, Ash, Mark Ronson and British Sea Power.

Some 10,000 fans descended on the site and, almost immediately, the problems began.

The gates weren't opened for several hours, then water dried up on site, stages had to be closed for safety reasons, perimeter fences collapsed and, to cap it all, a number of the big names pulled out. All were related to what the red-faced organisers would later describe as "miscalculation over cashflow".

The band Ash described the experience: "We arrived at around 2pm with no idea what was going on.

“No-one had played on the main stage yet, the local stage hands (unsure they were getting paid) had walked off in protest to the farce that was unfolding and the second stage had been completely shut down.

"The stage manager, who was trying to deal with the unfolding chaos, had just been fired and was being circled by security eager to find a reason to pounce on him.

"We knew we'd been given the run around by the promoters in the run up the the show. Half the fee was supposedly transferred to our bank account in advance but the truth was, it was never sent, they'd blatantly lied to us.

"We heard rumour that Mark Ronson was paid with wheelbarrows of pound coins from the on-site bars, desperate measures indeed, and a whole list of acts seemed to be cancelling or being forced to cancel as they wouldn't be paid.

"Mid-afternoon, the crowd at the main stage was audibly angry and you could sense the tension from backstage. I thought we were going to witness a riot, as punters, who'd paid a lot for tickets, where baking in the heat and nothing was happening.

"Around 5.30pm a group of executive types from the zoo arrived and in a move to save face for the festival and wildlife park, took the event over. They took control of the festival and secured the fees of those acts that had remained wanting to perform."

You will not be surprised to learn it didn't return the following year.

While we're talking about Port Lympne, not only was it the last resting place of the ill-fated Zoo8, but also the Hevy Music Festival.

Growing from its initial one-day event on Folkestone seafront in 2009 - and featuring the likes of Feeder and Gary Numan - it grew into a three-day event, settling down for a summer knees-up at the wildlife park while moving to a diet of rock acts.

It ran until 2015, with Sepultura, Gallows and Napalm Death among the performers.

But then it uttered the dreaded words "financially untenable" and "pressure to offer good quality value with spiralling costs" and it was gone.

Electric Gardens was, in comparison, a rather more sedate affair, but no sooner had it developed a reputation for its two-day events in 2006 and 2007, increasing competition in the festival scene in the county and fears of losing money hand over fist, it announced it was all over.

The event had been staged at Mount Ephraim Gardens in Hernehill, between Faversham and Canterbury and featured Supergrass, the Happy Mondays and Kate Nash.

Staying in Canterbury, many still mourn the loss of Lounge on the Farm, which rose from a small gathering to a major, critically acclaimed extravaganza.

Running for nine years, it attracted the likes of Nile Rodgers, Echo and the Bunnymen, Soul II Soul and Ellie Goulding.

But after a string of shows pulling in close to 10,000 music fans, the landowner decided he could do with his farm not being trampled for three days by cider-fuelled revellers and told organisers they would have to find a new home. They didn't and it hasn't been seen since 2014.

Sellindge, between Ashford and Hythe, is not normally associated with the festival scene, but in 2008 and 2009 the Sellindge Music Festival grew with the likes of Supergrass headlining in its farm setting. But by 2010 it was consigned to the history books with that rock n roll issue of cashflow being blamed.

Heading up the coast to Thanet, Quex Park in Birchington staged the Sound Island Festival between 2008 and 2013 and pulled in a diverse range of performers, including everyone from UB40 to Katherine Jenkins, Madness to JLS, and Rita Ora to the Pussycat Dolls.

But after announcing it was taking a break for 2014, it rode off into a Thanet sunset, never to be seen again in the county.

Which, sadly, was also the outcome for the Hop Farm Festival - perhaps the county's most star-studded and most-missed music event.

From its humble one-day beginnings in 2008, held next to the oasts at the Paddock Wood tourist attraction, with Neil Young headlining, it became a two and then a three-day event.

During which time it delivered the likes of Prince, Bob Dylan, Morrissey, The Eagles, Paul Weller, Van Morrison, Blondie and Peter Gabriel.

But after a costly 2011 event, which saw it lose money, 2012 would be its last under heavyweight promoter Vince Power.

Revived in 2014, with a new promoter, a somewhat eclectic line-up which included the likes of Grace Jones, Billy Ocean and James Blunt didn't do enough to make it a success and it's never returned.

To read more of our in-depth features click here.