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Split payments and second jobs: how music festival fans afford soaring costs

As festivalgoers do whatever it takes to pay for the summer season, struggling organisers innovate to sell tickets

For the past two years, the 28-year-old has also worked evening shifts most Saturdays and Sundays at a nearby wine bar, with one clear aim – to save up for her summers. It has been a turbulent few years in Britain’s festival industry, with huge commercial giants and smaller indies buffeted by a post-pandemic, post-Brexit surge in costs that led a record 72 events to postpone, cancel, or fold in 2024. But even coming by a volunteer place can be tough, and some have concerns that rising costs could make festivals increasingly inaccessible to those on low incomes.

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