MUSIC festivals have long been popular with young people. But a large number of young music lovers are giving them up for financial reasons, contributing to an increasingly ageing audience for this type of event.
This trend is particularly marked in the UK, where more and more people in their 50s are going to music festivals. Some 39% of UK adults aged 50 and over have already attended a festival or a rave, according to a Saga survey of a panel of 1,000 individuals, reported by the Guardian.
Many respondents prefer to go to music festivals during the day (39%), but one in five would like to attend for an entire weekend or even longer. And that's even if it means spending the night camping.
There are several reasons why music lovers aged 50 and over go to music festivals. The prospect of discovering new artists is the most cited (52%), followed by making new friends (28%) and spending time with loved ones (27%).
Surprisingly, over a third of those surveyed attend more music festivals since they turned 50 than when they were younger. This reflects how our perceptions of age and old age are changing. Indeed, the way we age today has nothing in common with that of previous generations: medical advances are enabling us to live longer, but above all, to live better.
"People over 50 represent a larger proportion of the population and their approach to ageing has moved to an optimistic expectation of the ‘freedom years’ in which they can travel, learn new skills, and enjoy new experiences, such as attending festivals," said Lisa Edgar, chief customer officer at Saga, speaking to the Guardian.
Festivals are changing
Festival-goers aren't the only ones getting older. The artists playing at some of the world's most renowned music festivals are also older than they were a few decades ago. The average age of Glastonbury's headliners has risen steadily over the last 15 years, according to the Guardian.
Paul McCartney became the oldest headliner at the English festival in 2022, after performing to a crowd of 100,000 people at the age of 80. On the other side of the Atlantic, the oldest headliner at Coachella is Calypso Rose. This Trinidadian singer was 78 when she played a 45-minute set at the famous Californian festival in 2019.
This demographic shift is not without consequences for festival organisers. Bringing musicians with careers as long and prolific as those of Paul McCartney and Calypso Rose to the stage comes at a cost, one that is often prohibitive. But they're not the only ones demanding ever-increasing fees. Billie Eilish, who is in her early twenties, is set to receive at least €1.5 million for her performance at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 23, according to Le Monde.
And this trend is reflected in the price of festival tickets, along with the soaring costs of all service providers (transport, security, labour, etc). As a result, some festival-goers can no longer afford to attend these events, especially in the context of inflation.
This phenomenon is particularly concerning in Germany, where the price of festival tickets has risen by 15% in one year, according to Der Spiegel. Many organisers fear that festivals are becoming a luxury commodity for a minority of wealthy, and certainly older, spectators. – ETX Daily Up, July 22, 2023
