I hear that some crazy kids are quite partial to a music festival these days, I of course am far too refined to slum it in a field with only a tent to rest my weary head but whatever works for you, I say.
Unless you’ve been under a rock the last few years (so basically, geologists), you will have noticed the rising costs of attending some such festival, in particular, the Latitude Festival, in Suffolk. Now, hailing from Suffolk myself, I applaud the fact that it has a festival that is seen to be up there with the likes of Glastonbury and the Reading/Leeds festival but on the other hand, I must take issue with its’ prices. Most festivals are all about the music with only really Glastonbury and Latitude catering for fans of other interests such as poetry, literature and comedy. The problem with this is that some may only be interested in the music and thus it it unacceptable that they be expected to pay the extortionate price to cover seeing both. I don’t really object to Glastonbury charging the price it does because it is a festival steeped in history and when it comes to music, organiser Michael Eavis only gets the cream of the musical crop but the organisers of Latitude can hardly claim the same.
Year after year, the line up is awash with acts that are only really popular with a small cross-section of society who can hardly be classed as household names, and that would be fine if they didn’t charge so much for one to attend. This year, there are about half a dozen acts (across all the sectors of the arts) who are reasonably well-known with not one household name and still it costs almost £200 to attend. The Reading/Leeds and V festivals charge similar to less, with bands playing that people have at least heard of, despite your musical tastes.
I have no objection with Latitude being a festival for the, arguably, more elitist music fan but don’t then charge as if you are appealing to a wider base, because you are not. These lesser known bands will have been less expensive to book and that should be reflected in the ticket price. A friend of mine came up with a solution to this recently and I can only honour his good thinking by relaying the solution to you, the blog consumer. Charge 3 separate prices. One for people wishing to partake in just the music, one for those wishing to lounge in literature and comedy and one for those who want the best of both worlds. No, not bisexuals!
So how about it, Latitude? Listen to the fans, eh?!
