Festivals

[Westcoasthippydreamgirl]

I think the bubble is bursting though. Small indie festivals cant afford the headliners anymore to stand out against the bigguns, but the bigguns have become so unbearable and unaffordable that they are struggling to sell tickets.

A friend of mine was gifted 6 free tickets to a big festival recently because she got screwed over by ticketmaster (after catching covid last year, they said they would carry over her tickets but wouldnt) so she tweeted the organisers and they sent her tickets without even proof of what had happened. A sold out festival I dont think would do that.

I work in the industry and heard that hardly any festivals sold out this year, and many havent come back since covid which may mean the bubble will burst and the unique cheaper little ones will come back!

 

[Onamishmash]

Love the smaller festivals, I used to love womad it was so chilled. I bought a Sunday ticket for reading festival this year which I haven't been to for many years, just to see rage against the machine but they have pulled out! Absolutely gutted!!

 

[Baby Giraffe]

I always find it weird that people talk about festivals like they're all the same. In my 20s I went to Reading, Glasto and the now very defunct Pheonix. By the time I was in my 40s I was getting fed up with the size of those and started going to some smaller and middle sized ones and now mainly go go quite small friendly ones. There's something for everybody and whilst I totally hated V when I went there in my late 30s despite it having a great lineup (it was full of kids celebrating their exam results and just getting drunk, I wanted to just chill and listen to the music so was out of place) but I also went to a couple of other festivals that year that I loved. A lot of the smaller ones are very good value and let you take your own drinks and food anyway

 

[Bleurghgram]

I don’t think the appetite for them is wearing off. For me personally it is but that’s an age issue. Like most things, its a case of chasing profits and increasing the number of attendees and measures aren’t put in place to adequately cope. But there’ll still be more young people willing to try them next year. The fact tickets costing £300+ sell out before we even know the lineup is evidence of that.

I don’t know what people expected from Boardmasters? The weather was as forecast. No one died and there aren’t any reports of

Spoiler

rape

from what I’m aware. It was unfortunately timed alongside the Woodstock ‘99 documentary but from what I could see it was mainly parents kicking off on Twitter. There was no problem accessing water in the main arena. Boardmasters really encourages trips into town to watch the surfing, there are free shuttle buses every five minutes, so it’s not as though those kids were stuck on a campsite with no options.

 

[whyhellothere83]

I used to absolutely love festivals and would go to 2-4 a year. I went to one this year & simply cannot afford to go to another. The price of drinks was insane.

 

[Roseannanna]

I always find it weird that people talk about festivals like they're all the same. In my 20s I went to Reading, Glasto and the now very defunct Pheonix. By the time I was in my 40s I was getting fed up with the size of those and started going to some smaller and middle sized ones and now mainly go go quite small friendly ones. There's something for everybody and whilst I totally hated V when I went there in my late 30s despite it having a great lineup (it was full of kids celebrating their exam results and just getting drunk, I wanted to just chill and listen to the music so was out of place) but I also went to a couple of other festivals that year that I loved. A lot of the smaller ones are very good value and let you take your own drinks and food anyway

I need to go to smaller ones I think

I used to absolutely love festivals and would go to 2-4 a year. I went to one this year & simply cannot afford to go to another. The price of drinks was insane.

Its bonkers! i could barely afford Glastonbury this year and I volunteered

 

[Roseannanna]

I think the bubble is bursting though. Small indie festivals cant afford the headliners anymore to stand out against the bigguns, but the bigguns have become so unbearable and unaffordable that they are struggling to sell tickets.

A friend of mine was gifted 6 free tickets to a big festival recently because she got screwed over by ticketmaster (after catching covid last year, they said they would carry over her tickets but wouldnt) so she tweeted the organisers and they sent her tickets without even proof of what had happened. A sold out festival I dont think would do that.

I work in the industry and heard that hardly any festivals sold out this year, and many havent come back since covid which may mean the bubble will burst and the unique cheaper little ones will come back!

I hope so … i hate it when Festivals get commercialised. Definitely less chilled crowd at Glastonbury

 

[Roseannanna]

Going to festivals has become incredibly popular over the past few years meaning 1. It's attracting a lot more of the people I go to festivals to avoid and 2. It's getting a more expensive hobby. I look for more niche little festivals and stop going once they get popular with the wrong crowds

Totally it’s lost the true music fans

 

[Roseannanna]

I used to work at loads and I have paid for a few festivals but I am feeling the magic wear off. I don’t know whether it was the cost of them or the hassle? Lack of staff and issues with infrastructure. Board masters was nicknamed boardmasters 99 last weekend!