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why do festivals sell out so early these days ?

9 votes
? by stillrockin

I am well old for this site as i used to buy tickets for reading or the v festival a couple of weekes beforheand if i was in the mood to go or the weather forecast looked good !! Nowadays even all the poor ones seem to sell out well in advance - Take the camden crawl sat !! It's all new bands its not particularly cheap and it will be rammed in places and you wont be able to get into see lots of the headliners !! I was waiting till pay day to buy a weekend ticket but the festival has been ruined toa degree by having a commercial sponser and moving to a weekend !! Im thinking of great escape but all is see is adverts last chance to buy great escape tickets !! Why do you all buy tickets so early ? I have mortage and car and london prices to pay so money is limited ! There are far too many festivals anyhow !! Discusss

stillrockin | 27 Mar '08, 20:08 | Send note | Report this | Reply

they are

considered 'cool' in the uk these days - thats the problem.
it definately seems to be the in thing at the moment to be going to / seen at a festival.
definately just a uk thing - because european festivals never seem to sell out or if they do its really close to the festival date itself not straight away like say t or v

funkymp | 27 Mar '08, 20:34 | Send note | Report this | Reply

You have

Hit the nail on the head here !!But if you go to them half the people dont even see the bands -look at the dickheads who spent hours queing for a beer at last years field day instead of getting into the great muisc !!- i saw loads of bands there and had 1 drink all day, if there ques at the bar id retaher go without and see bands !. most uk people can't go out anywhere now without a) getting pissed b) trying to be cool with their m8s!! If you look at the costs of foreign festivals they are much cheaper too and a wider variety of musical styles ie u get reggae ,metal ,rock n roll soul all on same bill!!Can't ahppen in uk -its too scensterish !! Anyone else think v is now the most bland festival ever and glastonbury completly overrated ?

stillrockin | 27 Mar '08, 20:42 | Send note | Report this | Reply

i know..

..first time i ever went to reading it was like 65 quid for a weekend ticket and i bought it the day i went from hmv. thats why i stopped going , i went every year from 95-2003, havnt been since. it sells out before they even announce most of the bands in like an hour of tickets going on sale. its a bit ridiculous really

fistyness | 27 Mar '08, 20:36 | Send note | Report this | Reply

but thats ok cos reading is rubbish now

it used to be so good back in the day too. now its just full of idiots

Vian | 27 Mar '08, 20:39 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I only object to this when

Punters are forced to buy before a line-up is announced if they want to attend. If you want to go to Glasto you have to pay some enourmous great sum of cash before having any idea what you're paying for.

tartrocker | 27 Mar '08, 20:40 | Send note | Report this | Reply

surely the main reason

is ebay/touting?

a guy i went to school with routinely buys reading/leeds tickets just to sell them on on ebay, and always makes a truly depressing profit. you only have to check ebay a few days after festival tickets go on sale to see just how many people have done the same thing.

navajo | 27 Mar '08, 20:48 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Touts and ebay indeed

are the reasons, and also being able to buy the tickets online, months before they are physically printed and in most cases before the bands are actually booked. The promoters don't give a shit because they're trying to foil the touts and also just want to sell out their events. Remember when we all used to buy festival tickets from record shops?

him_indoors | 27 Mar '08, 20:58 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Because, yeah,

they're being pushed to more people via more media as being cool and the place to be at, it isn't even about the music any more.

Laton | 27 Mar '08, 20:48 | Send note | Report this | Reply

agreed

it is ridiculous.
at first i think it was the advent of ebay about 7 or 8 (9?) years ago and for the first few years after that people were making money out of it and i thought that would subside as there isnt that much profit to be made any more. i think now it has become norm. there are people who may stil buy 3 instead of two tickets and use the third to buy beer for the weekend... there is also, with the big festivals, the fact that there are presale stright after the festival the year before and late release before.
having been to reading since 99 you can always rock up on the wed afternoon and buy tickets from the box office if you turn up early enough...

it has become a bit fucking 18-30s these days too, V has always been but is horrendous, but reading too has been on the slide in the last few years. from what i have read glastonbury too, although i have never been so i cant comment.

having said that, its obviously market forces like everything else.
part of me wishes the ebay/tout market was eliminated but then part of me says that if i missed out one year then i would have no other option.

bottom line

there arent many unused tickets floating about on festival weekends.

tugger | 27 Mar '08, 20:50 | Send note | Report this | Reply

errrrr

why has the camden crawl been 'ruined' by having a commercial sponsor?

shadyadie | 27 Mar '08, 21:44 | Send note | Report this | Reply