Festival Ticket Prices Have Seen an Average Increase of 3,544% - How Else Have Festivals Changed?

With the UK’s festival season rapidly approaching, River Island has created a series of composite images to show how festivals have changed from the very beginning. From the very first Isle of Wight Festival in the 60’s, to today’s ever-evolving festival scene, we take a look at some of the UK’s most iconic music festivals and how they changed over the years.

Along with the imagery to illustrate the changes over time, River Island has also looked at how the cost and sheer size of each festival has grown throughout the years.

(Isle of Wight 2010s/1960s) (Glastonbury 1970s/2010s)

With the festival scene showing no sign of slowing down, its only natural that audiences are growing, River Island’s research has found that festival audience size has grown at an average of 535% since the very first Isle of Wight, with ticket prices increasing a massive 3,544%, just imagine getting the Glastonbury ticket for £1!

Festival	Decades	Ticket Price	Attendees
Isle of Wight	1960s vs 2010s	Then: £2.25 Now: £175	Then: 10,000 Now: 72,000
Glastonbury	1970s vs 2010s	Then: £1 Now: £248	Then: 1,500 Now: 135,000
Reading	1980s vs 2010s	Then: £15.50 Now: £205	THEN: 30,000 Now: 105,000
T in the Park	1990s vs 2010s	Then: £49 Now: £194	Then: 17,000 Now: 70,000
Bestival	2000s vs 2010s	Then: £100 Now: £188	Then: 10,000 Now: 55,000