skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Indeed. I went to a gig just last week at the Strongroom Bar in Shoreditch for £9 to see ÄTNA - probably my best gig of the year too.
Did it all through the DICE app. No Ticketmaster involved.
The cost of gigs and festivals
- Thread starter skyscraper101
- Start date
Indeed. I went to a gig just last week at the Strongroom Bar in Shoreditch for £9 to see ÄTNA - probably my best gig of the year too.
Did it all through the DICE app. No Ticketmaster involved.
My best so far was probably the goldborns at the Paddington railway club. Don't think they put many gigs on. Its tiny probably 50 people max. Pub prices and Paul Weller was in the audience.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
Would these be the same bands that are coining it in from endless merch, screwing the punter with VIP experiences, meet n greet stuff, not to mention selling their back catalogues for hundreds of millions.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Actually going to a gig on Wednesday, I think it's a small-ish venue , seeing The Long Ryders, supported by Morton Valance , all for £35 . It's at a place called 229, London. Bit of a vague addressapparently it's near Great Portland St.
It's opposite the tube station, where International Student House is. I haven't been there myself but I saw photos from the Frank & Walters gig the other day and it looked decent.
The Albany accross the road is a nice pub too - used to be a nice good gig venue too downstairs. I managed the gig nights there for a while. Pop fact.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Really good from Robert Smith. It’s telling that so many other bands, despite often possessing performative liberal politics, don’t do the same at The Cure.
Smith is right that the fact that they don’t is a cop out and also that the stand his band has taken does pay dividends in terms of loyalty.
The Cure’s Robert Smith: ‘Ticket pricing is a scam. It’s driven by greed’
www.thetimes.com
Smith is right that the fact that they don’t is a cop out and also that the stand his band has taken does pay dividends in terms of loyalty.
The Cure’s Robert Smith: ‘Ticket pricing is a scam. It’s driven by greed’
The Cure’s Robert Smith: ‘Ticket pricing is a scam. It’s driven by greed’
The singer is back with the band’s first album in 16 years. In a rare interview, he holds forth on touring, grief and why he’s going to call it a day at 70
www.thetimes.com
ska invita
back on the other side
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Robert Smith tells it how it is.
Riff
B@nned from eGofestivals
If anyone lives in or can easily get to Sheffield, they also have some decent small venues such as The Yellow Arch, The Leadmill and The Corporation.
Wow great to here the leadmill is still going
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
£378.50 for a ticket to Glastonbury 2025 
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
ska invita
back on the other side
TBF Glastonbury is bigger and has more shit (acts
) in it than it used to - has the capacity gone up a lot?The biggest jump is pre and post covid 248 in 2019 to 373 in 2025
Scores of big festivals have closed becasue they cant afford it
I gather the majority of musicians aren't getting paid or not getting paid much, including fairly big names
I havent seen the budgets but I propose cut back on some of the OTT production costs, sack off all the big pop stars and see what happens to overheads and the vibe
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
TBF Glastonbury is bigger and has more shit (acts
The biggest jump is pre and post covid 248 in 2019 to 373 in 2025
Scores of big festivals have closed becasue they cant afford it
I gather the majority of musicians aren't getting paid or not getting paid much, including fairly big names
I havent seen the budgets but I would guess cut back on some of the OTT production costs, sack off all the big pop stars and see what happens to overheads and the vibe
Tbh I don’t really care what they do with it. Glastonbury’s over. The vibe died ages ago. Anything that once was alternative about it is now long gone. Smaller festivals with less people and less mega huge artists is more my vibe.
ska invita
back on the other side
i cant comment on that but i think glastonbury is a different thing from the price gouging off ticketmaster.... i think its more costs and too big scale.... i heard they were enacting some cost cutting measures last year anyway....
but yeah its twice as expensive in real terms as it was in 2000, but as i say the production has more than doubled in scale i expect
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
I think the most I paid last season was £120. One festival was £30.
I have just paid a stupid amount for Bearded next year, and I'm not entirely sure why.
The little DIY stuff is far more my scene.
story
Changing the facts
Not entirely true. It’s proper shit down in Babylon but there’s still loads of old school Glastonbury stuff going one elsewhere on site.
It’s true they don’t pay top dollar for the big stages, relying on the festival’s reputation tempting bands to want to play there.
One of the problems right now is that the Pyramid arena holds up to 120,000 people, and there aren’t any /many headline bands who can pull that kind of crowd. It’s alright for the heritage slot but who would you put on for the Friday and Saturday headline acts?
They’re currently discussion what to do with that huge space: make it smaller and add more camping? Ask bands to tender for it? Cut it into smaller stage spaces? Some bonkers ideas, but they recognise it’s an issue right now, although that might change in the future.
Some stages don’t pay at all, or don’t offer free tickets (eg Strummerville), instead getting their bands from those who are already on site. That might be secret supports from bigger bands, or bands who are playing on other small stages, or mash up bands with known names at the front plus the odd pick up musician filling in for absent friends.
Re: the ticket price: even though marshals and many site crew don’t get paid, they all have to be fed and catered for. Tens of thousands are on site before the festival starts and there are bars and canteens open for them. Firewood isn’t made available for ticket holders the way it used to be, but there are tonnes of free wood for the tea tents etc, all that has to be arranged, sourced, bought and hauled in. The car park fields have to be rented from neighbouring farms. Health and safety checks are diligent and carried out all over the site before and during the festival. Car rescue services are free onsite but paid for by the festival. Same with a lot of other services that can’t be bought with a free ticket. Who hauls way the tonnes of shit during and after the festival? Who lays down and then takes up all the water infrastructure? All the stuff we expect and take for granted needs to be safe, reliable, and paid for.
And all those who do get a free ticket (not guests but those who are offering everything from massage to saunas to all night shops etc), all the services and support stuff for them has to be paid for too. They get in for free and many /most don’t get paid for what they do (unless they have a side hustle) so ticket price also covers the infrastructure and essential crew for those workers.
And it’s definitely bigger than it used to be.
Obviously it’s expensive, but I’m not sure it’s a rip off.
2023, it cost £63 million to put the festival on.
I like Glastonbury because it’s a city. I like living in the city.
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pesh
Well-Known Member
Exactly that.
