Holy shit. Last time I went was Horace Andy about 10 years ago. Probably one of the best live bands Ive ever seen, so tight. Sure as hell wasnt the best part of 500 bucks.
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I like the free summer concerts in the park here in Sacramento area. Just bring a cooler full of drinks and lawn chair and relax.
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I think we’ve all dated ourselves here lads. Definitely a theme of “twas ok in my youth, but as the decades have passed it is no longer for me”. I am in the same boat. I have been on the fence about going to a few over the past 10 years or so and have been turned off by the associated costs every time.
The last big one for me was Coachella in 2006 (Massive Attack, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Sigur ros, Tool, etc - Very epic) and was maybe $200-$250 for the weekend. Now it is minimum $600. That scene was way too much for a dim room dweller like myself anyhow. Choosing a comfortable venue is a huge consideration for me as I age, which sounds like common sentiment in this thread.
Edit: found the presale price for 2006 - $165.
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Absolutely, looks awful.
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I don’t mind spending €200,- for a festival with a great lineup If there are more then 5 bands or performers that i like to see. That’s still cheaper then go to seperate concerts, and i like the concept of different stages, tents,
food and mostly relaxed vibe. What i don’t like is you can’t bring your own drinks or food, so you’re forced to pay insane prices for drinks. €5,- to 7 euro’s for a Coke/Pepsi or beer in a plastic cup is insane. A ham sandwich for €12,- is crazy. Adding the spended money
For parking, traveling, food, drinks and sometimes even costs for using toilets in combination of the high ticket price makes me less enthusiastic to buy tickets.
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Yeah one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen was a Free Adelaide Fringe performance in the Adelaide parklands (Adelaide CBD is 1 square mile and is surrounded by a green belt used for community events and recreational activities).
The Tea Party played in the East Parklands. It was mid 90’s and marijuana was decriminalized for personal use and minor cultivation at the time. Never seen so many people… so much…
I digress. When it comes to performance and live entertainment $$$ is not necessarily an indicator of quality or enjoyment.
Spending big $$$ to go to a performance only ensures you are surrounded by others who have too. Are you birds of a feather, like-minded, similar fools… ?
I’m not sure what’s supposed to be so awful about it, it’s just another large-scale event. It certainly isn’t full of “hippies” unless you define hippy as “middle class teenager”. I went twice in 1999 and 2000 (I was 19 and 20) and I had a good time. I can’t imagine doing it now but that’s just being older I guess. The music and arts on offer were very varied, from the obscure to the mainstream. Same now it seems to me, just a matter of choice.
People are so weird about this stuff. I had a university mate back in the day who said something like “I wouldn’t go to Glasto as it’s too commercial” so instead he repeatedly went to the (sponsored by Carling) Reading festival to see loads of mainstream rock bands instead, because he was so cutting edge.
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Sorry.
Glastonbury looks amazing, can’t wait to go one day.
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Seeing Stereolab supported by The Delgados and some local band in a tiny shitty venue in the 90s, cost 7quid to get in. Was way better than almost every festival I ever went to, and I still managed to catch the last train home and sleep in my own bed. I remember it well. Priceless.
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What you mean spending $42K on a black market Taylor Swift concert wouldn’t be more enjoyable???
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Middle class teenager is almost the dictionary definition of hippy.
Even the 60 year old ones.
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I went once. It was shit. Me and the girlfriend at the time left early. I think I saw Prodigy and Orbital, we left the next day.
Stop trying to be edgy, you loved it.
Taking your point, it is a waste of time to expend energy on ‘hating’ Glastonbury or anything else others take enjoyment from.
And generally I don’t.
I’m not one of these who hopes it rains or everyone comes down with e-coli.
Im happy for people to enjoy it.
I just don’t want it rammed down my throat by the bbc that it’s the best thing in history of humanity.
It’s become another sacred cow like Ibiza used to be.
Well I went to Ibiza back in the day and it was fucking shit.
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Yeah I agree with all of that. It’s just a matter of taste and in defence of the BBC they just give the people what they want, much like the festival organisers. I think the BBC coverage is very popular so they keep showing it.
I think we’re all guilty of the same “old fart” behaviour of complaining about stuff we don’t like as if the old stuff we liked was better. It wasn’t. I can’t stand most modern pop music but clearly lots of other people like it so there you go. I can’t go 10 feet without hearing a reaggaeton beat but I guess that’s what the youngsters like now!
I’m going to put my false teeth back in and watch antiques roadshow, you kids keep the noise down.
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I really didnt. It was horrible. Lost said girlfriend, found her in the medical tent (no sign of our tent) freaking out. We Eventually got home to find my bedsit had flooded.
Sounds like that once in a lifetime glasto experience
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Exactly. “Getting together with good people”.
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My first impulse goes in the same direction. When I started going to Festivals, all I’ve heard from family or friends who’ve never been to one or are not into music were like “why would you pay that much money for a weekend, that’s insane”. Back then I mostly went to one of the bigger festivals in Southern Germany (Southside) - and the “insane” price was around 70-100 euros.
I then used to list the 15 to 20 artists I saw at the festival and that around 3 to 4 of the shows would have already cost more (or for headliners, one show). I think this still kinda holds up even for the bigger festivals, as prices for live shows have increased significantly since it’s the only way to make money with music anymore and additional post-pandemic problems.
That being said, the distribution of money surely is completely unfair, as has been pointed out by many in the thread. I could also live without the headliners most of the time. Although I must say that festivals are the only times when I saw “bigger” artists live and they often lent that special element of seing a really big show to the weekend. Kraftwerk, Portishead, Massive Attack or Radiohead come to mind here.
Concerning the mainstream festival I’ve mentioned, it already was mostly crowded by drunk teenagers who didn’t care for the music at all when I went there between 2006-2011. Instead of filming everything, they wore animal costumes and yelled. But they still had an impressively diverse setup, at least if you were into rock music. I mean in 2007, they had the who’s who of post rock (ISIS, Aereogramme, Mogwai), beloved legends (Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, Frank Black), all of the hottest indie bands (Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party) and lots of others (Blood Brothers, Biffy Clyro). The next year, they head Sigur Rós co-headlining for Radiohead, followed by Chemical Brothers. Nowadays, they only book the safest possible boring acts that are guaranteed to sell the most tickets as fast as possible. I’ve since moved on to go to smaller festivals or more grassroots raves. But it’s unfortunate that artists that are a bit less safe have disappeared from mainstream festivals, at least in Germany. I’m sure at least some people would stumble into something transforming they’ve never heard of and their life was changed.
A curious edge case seems to be Le Guess Who in Utrecht. It’s been my go-to festival for the last couple of years. It also became a lot bigger and a lot more expensive. At the same time, it got increasingly bolder and more risky with its lineup. I rarely know anything from the lineup and there’s always a high chance you will absolutely love or hate a show, without really knowing before. So it kinda went the opposite direction as the festival I’ve described above. Would be really interesting to see how the revenue is shared there, as the prices have also gone up quite a bit. My hope would be that artists across the board and all the staff are paid better there. Also, Björk will politely say “excuse me” while passing you on the staircase to get to her secret DJ set in the underground that was only billed as “DJ set”.
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While I often agree with your sentiment Simon, if spending money made you a good person people of the likes of Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg would be the best (goodest) people in the world???
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