UK music festivals: how to get the best-value tickets

Events are setting out their stalls for this season – here’s a rundown of how much they cost, from £250 to free

Tickets for what’s almost certainly Britain’s most expensive music festival – costing £250 each – go on 
sale on Monday and are likely to sell out in minutes, despite the fact it’s only a one-day event and they haven’t even announced any of the acts.

House Festival, taking place this year at Kenwood House in Hampstead, London on 5 July, has been dubbed “the poshest festival in the world”, and the decision to hike the price once again – tickets were £200 in 2014 – is unlikely to deter its well-heeled clientele. Organised by Soho House, the event is renowned for its big pop names – last year’s bill included Erasure, Dua Lipa and Rag’n’Bone Man – and that hefty price traditionally includes unlimited high-end food and booze 

By contrast, Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) this week revealed it will be charging just £5 a day to see acts including Example & DJ Wire, Wiley and Stefflon Don on 21 July, and Hacienda Classical, a Basement Jaxx DJ set and Young Fathers on 22 July.

LIMF takes place in Sefton Park and used to be free, but it says recent government cuts mean Liverpool city council can’t continue to fund the event in its entirety, adding: “Without a doubt, LIMF remains one of the best-value music festivals in the UK.” General admission tickets are £5 per person a day in advance (the walk-up price is £10), with VIP tickets costing £15 (£20 on the day).

Big festival slashes its prices

Some festivals are bucking inflation by keeping prices level or, in some cases, slashing them.

This summer’s first-ever Rize Festival, which is basically a rebranded V Festival and is being headlined by Liam Gallagher and Stereophonics, has cut the face-value price of day tickets to £59.50. That’s down from the £89 that fans paid last year to attend the final V Festival. Weekend camping tickets this time cost a maximum of £165, compared with £189 last year. Rize Festival is a two-day event taking place at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex on 17-18 August, and other acts playing include Bastille and the Manic Street Preachers.

The daddy of the genre, Glastonbury, is taking a breather this year – it returns in June 2019 – but despite this, there is arguably a glut of festivals taking place in 2018, which may help explain why events are having to price more realistically. Some, to put it bluntly, were simply charging too much money: last year a number of events had to resort to two-for-one deals and other special offers to shift tickets.

The festivals where prices are frozen

One of the events that will be hoping to benefit from Glastonbury’s absence this year is Latitude, which recently announced its three main stage headliners: Solange, the Killers and Alt-J. To be fair, the price of a full weekend ticket to the Suffolk festival - taking place on 12-15 July - has been kept at £197.50 for the third year running. However, that’s still a far cry from the £112 charged in 2007.

It’s a similar story with the Readingand Leeds festivals on 23-26 August, where the cost of a full weekend ticket is once again £205. It’s been the same price since 2014.

The new low-cost entrants

Some new players are shaking things up this year with reasonably-priced tickets.

The All Points East one-dayer in London’s Victoria Park on 1 June, headlined by Catfish and the Bottlemen, costs £39.95. Meanwhile, Community, a festival in London’s Finsbury Park on 1 July with a bill including Two Door Cinema Club and The Vaccines, is charging £40.

Another good-value festival is Sheffield’s Tramlines, taking place this year in Hillsborough Park on 20-22 July, where the current price is £69 for the three days (it’s set to rise to £79 soon). Acts playing include Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Stereophonics and De La Soul.

Sold out already

You might think March is too early to think about sorting out your festival plans, but some high-profile events have already put up the “sold out” signs, including Wireless, which takes place in Finsbury Park on 6-8 July and is being headlined by J Cole, Stormzy and DJ Khaled, and Cumbria’s Kendal Calling on 26-29 July, which this year features Catfish and the Bottlemen, the Libertines and Run DMC.

Taking time to pay

Many festivals allow you to pay by instalments. For example, Latitude lets you split the cost into three monthly payments. Some, such as Tramlines, do bulk-buy deals.

Or you may want to consider holding your nerve, as there will almost certainly be special offers and other deals as we get nearer to summer. Monitor the websites of the main ticketing companies and keep a look out for offer emails.

Get your festival fix for free

Major free music festivals include:

• Coventry Godiva Festival, War Memorial Park, 31 August- 2 September

• Walthamstow Garden Party, Lloyd Park, London, 14-15 July

• Dartford Festival, 14-15 July

• Festival Too, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, 30 June-1 July, 6-7 and 13-14 July