{"id":16822,"date":"2025-07-31T17:24:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T21:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/07\/31\/big-ticket-why-music-festivals-are-so-expensive\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T17:24:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T21:24:04","slug":"big-ticket-why-music-festivals-are-so-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/07\/31\/big-ticket-why-music-festivals-are-so-expensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ticket: Why music festivals are so expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The arts and music festivals come thick and fast at this time of year.<\/p>\n

This weekend we have All Together Now \u2013 following on from Longitude just a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

And they come after the likes of Forbidden Fruit, Beyond the Pale, Kalidescope \u2013 with Another Love Story, Body and Soul and Electric Picnic yet to come (not mentioning the countless other music and artists festivals that take place across the country).<\/p>\n

And they’re an expensive to attend. Tickets for the (sold out) All Together Now started at \u20ac250, Longitude was \u20ac200 \u2013 though there\u2019s no camping available for that. Electric Picnic tickets were closer to \u20ac300.<\/p>\n

And if you were going as a couple \u2013 or even with your entire family \u2013 that\u2019s going to add up quite quickly. And that\u2019s before you factor in the transport costs, and the cost of food and drink for the weekend.<\/p>\n

You could very quickly find yourself in the ‘foreign holiday\u2019 realm of spending \u2013 and that\u2019s assuming you\u2019re just going to one festival and not multiple events.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the good old days of Lisdoonvarna and F\u00e9ile\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

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Yes \u2013 from time to time sometimes see ticket stubs and posters for old gigs and festivals doing the rounds online and people always hone in on just how cheap the tickets were back then.<\/p>\n

At the first Lisdoonvarna in 1978, for example, a weekend ticket was a whopping \u00a35. That would be the equivalent of around \u20ac37 today.<\/p>\n

Although things had picked up a good bit by the first F\u00e9ile in 1990 \u2013 it would have been held this weekend 35 years ago. A three day weekend ticket to that was just under \u00a330 – which is equivalent to \u20ac80 in today\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

So even in that decade or so you can see things getting much more expensive, but even that would still be considered startlingly good value for a three day festival nowadays.<\/p>\n

Bar the fact that everything is more expensive nowadays \u2013 why are festival tickets so much dearer?<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

The first thing we need to do here is recognise our own part in the problem.<\/p>\n

Because the reality is that consumer tastes and expectations have changed dramatically since the late \u201870s \u2013 and even early \u201890s, when compared with today.<\/p>\n

The likes of Lisdoonvarna and the Trip to Tipp might be the stuff of legend \u2013 but I don\u2019t think they\u2019d pass muster with gig-goers nowadays.<\/p>\n

For a start the line-ups were almost exclusively local acts.<\/p>\n

Lisdoonvarna was all Irish trad, while the only international act at F\u00e9ile 1990 was Meatloaf.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with that \u2013 but at the same tie there\u2019s definitely an expectation nowadays that a premium music festival has to have at least a few big, internationally-popular acts in the line-up.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t be Irish \u2013 among All Together Now\u2019s headliners are Fontaines DC and CMAT, while Electric Picnic has Hozier. But they sit next to global stars like Chapell Roan and Nelly Furtado; and wherever they\u2019re from those big-name acts are going to cost more to secure.<\/p>\n

Gig-goers today also have a higher expectation around the look and sound of the acts. You\u2019d probably be foolish to go to a festival purely for the sound quality, but you do expect it to sound somewhat decent.<\/p>\n

And we expect festivals to have multiple stages as well as the likes of comedy tents, chill out zones, wellness areas and even activities for kids.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the entertainment where our expectations are higher \u2013 it\u2019s the facilities too. It\u2019s fair to say that Lisdoonvarna and even F\u00e9ile would have been a much more \u2018informal\u2019 affair than what you\u2019d get at a festival nowadays.<\/p>\n

Of course there would have been toilets and food and drink \u2013 and maybe camping \u2013 but it would have been fairly minimal stuff.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re talking ham sandwiches and maybe a burger and chips\u2026 compared to a wide variety of food and drink options now, catering to all kinds of tastes and diets.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all driven by consumer demand – the legal requirements on festival organisers has also changed a lot, even since the 1990s. It\u2019s no longer good enough to pick a large field somewhere, cobble together a stage, and then start selling tickets. Because there are now significant health and safety requirements around holding public events.<\/p>\n

You need adequate numbers of toilets based on the number of attendees, for example, you need to have proper walkways for people to safely get around, you need good lighting on those walkways \u2013 you need to have a traffic and crowd management plan for people coming to and from the event, you must have adequate security. And of course all of these facilities \u2013 especially the stages – have to be built to a very high standard to ensure won\u2019t collapse or cause injury in some other way.<\/p>\n

Insurance is often cited as a big factor in the high price of Irish gig tickets, isn\u2019t it?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"MADRID,<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a common refrain from some promoters defending high ticket prices in Ireland.<\/p>\n

Back in 2023 Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions blamed insurance costs in Ireland when he was defending the high price being charged by Bruce Springsteen for his RDS shows that year.<\/p>\n

As an example, he said Ed Sheeran\u2019s 2022 gigs in Cork had cost \u20ac65,000 to insure \u2013 compared to just \u20ac1,500 for his show in Belfast.<\/p>\n

Similarly he said a Rod Stewart gig in Belfast had cost just over \u00a3200 to insure \u2013 but his Dublin show cost \u20ac10,000.<\/p>\n

But those in the insurance industry say the cost of cover is not nearly as big of a factor as some would suggest. Generally, they say, you\u2019re talking less than a euro per ticket sold \u2013 at least for basic public liability insurance.<\/p>\n

In the context of an organiser probably having to pay out tens of thousands of euro if a festival goer falls and breaks an arm or leg, that\u2019s not a lot.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s clear even if you take Peter Aiken\u2019s Rod Stewart example. At \u20ac10,000 for a gig in 3Arena, which holds between 9,300 and 13,000 people depending on the configuration, you\u2019re still talking about \u2013 at most \u2013 a cost of \u20ac1.07 per ticket sold.<\/p>\n

And how is the insurance cost calculated for something like a festival?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"image<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Jane Brady of Brady Insurance, which specialises in insuring events from small village fairs to the St Patrick\u2019s Day festival, there are two main factors that influence the cost of event insurance.<\/p>\n

One is, obviously enough, the number of people who will be attending the event; because the rate would be X amount per person.<\/p>\n

The other factor is the venue. The big variable there is whether it\u2019s a permanent venue \u2013 like an arena or a concert hall, or whether it\u2019s in a temporary, outdoor venue – as most big summer festivals tend to be.<\/p>\n

And this is where all of those facilities \u2013 like walkways, lighting, toilets and so on, come into the mix. Jane said an insurer would want to know that festivals have a thorough event plan in place – and are prepared for as many eventualities as possible \u2013 as part of their cover.<\/p>\n

And she said having a track record helps a lot here \u2013 if this is your 10th time organising an event like this, and they\u2019ve all run smoothly in the past, you\u2019ve shown that you know what you\u2019re doing. Whereas there\u2019s obviously a higher risk involved if it\u2019s someone who\u2019s holding an event like this for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all taken into account for public liability insurance.<\/p>\n

Another optional extra that festival organisers might take out \u2013 that would add to the cost \u2013 is cancelation cover, which means they can get back most of their costs if they have to cancel due to the likes of bad weather, or if an act pulls out at the last minute.<\/p>\n

And does the type of acts taking part in the festival have an impact?<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes actually \u2013 insurance underwriters would treat certain types of music differently to others, for example.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re a festival that specialises in something that\u2019s a bit more \u2018energetic\u2019 like metal or EDM \u2013 you\u2019re probably going to be seen as riskier than the average.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you\u2019re looking for insurance for a choral music festival, there\u2019s probably not too much concern on the insurer\u2019s part that someone is going to get injured in the mosh pit.<\/p>\n

But the type of act can influence the insurance cost in a different way. For example an act that has a reputation for not turning up to perform would naturally have a higher risk rating when it comes to cancellation cover.<\/p>\n

But an older act might carry a heavier risk burden too \u2013 because there\u2019s a greater potential for them to get sick, or injured, or lose their voice. That\u2019s especially true if they have a heavy tour schedule, and they\u2019re not building in plenty of breaks and days off between shows.<\/p>\n

This summer we saw one festival \u2013 Beyond the Pale \u2013 have a bit of a wobble where it looked at the last minute like it might not go ahead. They blamed cashflow issues \u2013 and did manage to fix the problem\u2026 but would something like that be covered by insurance?<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

No, cancellation cover would protect you against something else that was out of your control. Not having the money to hand to cover costs would be seen as something that the organiser would be across.<\/p>\n

But that highlights one of the other key issues that can make a festival so expensive \u2013 because it\u2019s a high risk venture, especially for the newer festivals that aren\u2019t guaranteed to sell out immediately in the way that the likes of Electric Picnic does.<\/p>\n

The planning on a festival starts a year or more before it takes place, and the initial line-up usually gets announced around nine months ahead of time in order to drum up ticket sales.<\/p>\n

That means those acts have to be secured long before money starts to pour in \u2013 while you will also have to start handing over deposits and payments for other things like the venue, the staging and facilities, as well as getting together the crew that can make it all happen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of a \u2018build it and hope they\u2019ll come\u2019 situation.<\/p>\n

And this is part of the reason why corporate sponsors have become so important to festivals of all sizes \u2013 because you can get them on board relatively early, and get some revenue from them to help cover those inital, upfront costs.<\/p>\n

So while people may dislike how branded and corporate music festivals have become \u2013 and they perhaps yearn for more festivals like Glastonbury or the Woodstocks and Lisdoonvarnas of old – the reality is that, without those brands, a lot of these events simply would not happen in the first place.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The arts and music festivals come thick and fast at this time of year. This weekend we have All Together Now \u2013 following on from Longitude just a couple of weeks ago. And they come after the likes of Forbidden Fruit, Beyond the Pale, Kalidescope \u2013 with Another Love Story, Body and Soul and Electric […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}