You'll never believe how much tickets to these musical festivals used to cost
With the UK’s festival season rapidly approaching, 135,000 Brits are expected to cough up £248 each for this year’s Glastonbury.
But they might be shocked to learn tickets to the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970 cost just £1! That’s a staggering increase of 25,000%.
In fact, analysis by River Island shows that since the birth of the British music festival – the first ever Isle of Wight Festival in 1968 – ticket prices across the scene have shot up by a massive 3,544%.
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Meanwhile, those attending the Isle of Wight Festival will spend nearly 8,000% more than they would have done in the late 1960s – £175 compared with a mere £2.25.
And Reading Festival this year costs £205 per ticket, up from £15.50 in 1961 – a jump of 1,222%.
Scotland’s T in the Park has seen a smaller but significant increase of 295% since its debut in 1994, with tickets already costing £49 back then and now sitting at £194.
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And 2004’s Bestival cost £100 per ticket, meaning its current rate of £188 is an increase of just 88%.
The festival scene shows no signs of slowing down either. It’s not just ticket prices that are up – attendance is through the roof.
Audience size has grown at an average of 535% since the very first Isle of Wight, River Island found.
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While this year’s Glastonbury Festival will see about 135,000 guests, the original event sold just 1,500 tickets. This demonstrates an increased attendance of 620% in just under four decades.
Meanwhile, the Isle of Wight Festival has grown from 10,000 goers to about 72,000.
Likewise, Reading (250%), T in the Park (311%) and Bestival (450%) have all seen attendance skyrocket.
