image © PA
Today’s generation of music fans will spend the equivalent of the price of a week’s holiday in the sun to cover the cost of attending music festivals, according to a new study.
The survey of 3,000 festival fanatics, commissioned by the Lovebox Weekender, asked festival-goers to list their outgoings when heading off for a music-fest.
The shocking findings revealed the average festival-fan will spend a whopping £600 on their weekend away. The biggest expenses being cited as tickets (average £140) followed by drinks (average £130), travel (average £100), and food (average £60).
The days of the tie-dye t-shirt and ripped shorts are also long gone as festival fans (increasingly influenced by the Agyness Deyn-Alexa Chung effect) are spending huge sums on a new wardrobe and top-of-the-range designer camping gear prior to each event.
Women confessed to spending an average of £220 before they had even left the house with new clothes, designer wellies, waterproofs and tents making up the splurge.
And for bosses, the news is not good. One in five festival campers are planning to throw a sickie this year to give them an extra day to recover from the festivities. With 707,000 attending the top ten camping festivals this summer, that’s a potential 141,400 people who will be kicking back at home to recover from a weekend of excess!
The rising costs are causing many music fans to look closer to home in order to get their musical fix this year. With value for money at the forefront of their minds, 54% of fans admitted they'll be turning their backs on camping and traffic jams this year and looking for festivals within easy reach of home, while 70% agreed that local festivals were much better value for money.
image©Rex Features
Music fans are also demanding more from their festivals than just music these days. Despite a hardcore 8% of us claiming to spend up to 20 hours watching the bands play live, in reality a third of festival-goers have admitted that they will struggle to actually remember which bands they see due to excess alcohol.
One in five admitted they will take in less than six hours of music over their festival weekend, preferring instead to socialise with friends, wander around the site, and take in the atmosphere. Over half (57%) were looking forward to having plenty to eat and drink while a vain 29% confessed that their top concern was looking good.
As for key gripes, 37% highlighted filthy toilets as their key festival hang-up while 28% picked the weather, 15% lack of showers, 10% constant and lengthy queues and 10% said poor food options ruined their festival fun.
Tom Findlay, from Groove Armada, founders of the Lovebox Weekender, says: “In these credit crunch times, festival-goers are keen to get more bang for their buck and local festivals are a great way for them to watch live music without incurring the expense of camping and travel costs.
"As festival-goers get older, they want to share the experience with their children and they are looking for festivals that not only showcase great bands but also provide great amusement, atmosphere and food options for the whole family.”
In a nutshell - the average cost of a festival:
Travel: £100
Food: £60
Drink: £130
Clothes and camping gear: £170
Tickets: £140
How much do you spend going to a music festival - and do you think it's too much? Talk about it here.
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