Last month, 210,000 people flocked to Glastonbury Festival in its 52nd year to see artists including Coldplay, Dua Lipa and SZA take to the famous Pyramid Stage.
Given the fierce competition for tickets to this and other major music events, many would assume that the festival industry is thriving, but the truth is far from the case when you look beyond the biggest names.
Just two days before Glastonbury was set to begin, Northwich’s Geronimo Festival announced it was cancelling for 2024, becoming the 50th festival to be cancelled, postponed or closed altogether this year.
The event’s organizers made the decision due to rising costs coupled with lower ticket sales for the festival, which they attributed to years of high living costs.
Quit: Benny Greenstein was previously able to attend the Wireless Festival because he covered the event for a magazine, but says he will no longer buy his own tickets because they are too expensive
Meanwhile, the Association of Independent Festivals said it expects more than 100 festivals to suffer the same fate in 2024.
Following the cancellation, Cheshire’s Deva Festival offered a 20 percent discount to attendees with proof of ticket purchase for a cancelled festival.
While events such as Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and Wireless may not be losing popularity, ticket costs have been rising in recent years and some young people say they will not be able to afford them if they pay more.
Tickets for Glastonbury have risen to £355, from £335 last year, and just £285 in 2022. Ten years ago, tickets cost £210, and just £1 when the festival began in 1970.
Even people who choose to attend individual concerts rather than festivals are likely to face very high ticket prices. Tickets for Billie Eilish’s upcoming London tour dates are currently on sale at over £250 for standing room only, much to the horror of her fans.
Festival-goers will spend an average of £469.51 each year to do so, including tickets, travel, food and drink, research by MoneySupermarket shows.
This is around 70 per cent of the average monthly disposable income of £666.53.
Gen Z festival-goers (mostly adults aged 16-27) attend three festivals on average each year and spend £566 in total.
However, going to a music festival becomes increasingly difficult when the budget is so tight.
For Benny Greenstein, 26, who has attended more than 40 festivals in the past, this means giving up one of his passions.
Greenstein, a social media personality who focuses on music and culture, told This is Money that his views on events have changed dramatically in recent years and he can no longer afford to spend his hard-earned money on festivals.
Stuck: Greenstein says money spent attending a festival could be used for a vacation
“As a culture and music fanatic, I loved festivals – the atmosphere, the excitement. For my birthday, I would ask my parents for a contribution to buy tickets and every summer we would prepare for the festival my friends and I wanted to go to,” Greenstein said.
“But in recent years I have come to hate them, for the simple fact that I could spend the same amount of money on a summer holiday abroad, in the sun, sleeping in a comfortable bed.”
He said: ‘Tickets alone can cost upwards of £300, but then you have to factor in travel, drinks, food for the weekend, tents and other camping equipment – it’s hundreds and hundreds of pounds, which people simply don’t have in this climate.
“You wouldn’t even have convinced me with a free ticket to Glastonbury. Everything is too expensive anyway.”
We still love our music and going out for a great night, but we can’t afford it.
A pint of beer at Glastonbury in 2024 reportedly cost £7, while soft drinks were as much as £6. Even water was £2.50 a can.
“It doesn’t make sense for me anymore to spend my money on a very expensive weekend, most of which could be spent in a wet tent,” Greenstein said. “It’s a shame because when they’re good, they’re great. It’s just a risk to the consumer, almost a pressure to have fun.”
Greenstein said the high cost of attending a major festival means they could soon be dominated by millennials (those aged 28 to 43) as they generally have higher incomes.
He added: “It seems like festivals have become more of a millennial thing – they still want to go out and have fun, but they have more disposable income.”
According to MoneySupermarket, millennials spend significantly more on music festivals than their younger counterparts.
On average, millennials spend £923 each year on festivals and attend up to four different events each summer.
“A lot of older generations think that we young people don’t want to party as much as they did back in the day,” Greenstein said.
“Are we more concerned about health? Yes, of course, but we still love music and partying, but we can’t afford it.”
Fed up with ever-rising prices for festivals and concerts? Get in touch with us: editor@thisismoney.co.uk
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