Not So Splendid

Bit of a whinge here. This one against the organisers of the Splendour in the Grass music festival. The reason? Their astronomical ticket prices.

Before I start my rant, I just want to say that Splendour is my favourite music festival. I’ve been to five in total going back to my first one in 2003. I’ve done plenty of other festivals but Splendour at Byron in late July stands out the most.

Three days of great music and great times while keeping a camp-like feel to it in only selling 14-15 thousand tickets each time. Magnificent setting near the beach and access to all the weird and wonderful things in and around Byron. Plus plenty of awesome acts and even more awesome memories (still smiling from Moby’s version of “Shook You All Night Long”).

Alas, Splendour became a victim of its own success and by 2007 it had expanded in ticket sales and by 2010 had moved to Woodford to a bigger site to accommodate the larger numbers of nearly 30,000 punters.

None of that is my gripe though. My gripe is the price of the 2011 tickets. $390 for an event-only ticket and $525 for an event-camping ticket, which let’s face it, is the only way to go given the dearth of accommodation options at Woodford. $525! And that’s before you even start eating and drinking.

The lineup is great and a good time would definitely be had. But at $525 a ticket and then spending money on top, that would make it a combined bill of $1600+ for the wife and I. For a weekend.

Of course money is tighter for us since the son arrived, but that sort of money is ridiculous for an EveryDayMan and Woman. We could holiday for a week or so in luxury in Fiji or Asia for that. So it’s just too darn expensive for us and a lot of punters. And the blatant money grab angers and confuses me. It turns me away and I’m a diehard fan.

Yes, I now it costs money to bring international artists out to Australia. But the Aussie dollar is killing it right now and they bought international artists out all those years ago for combined event-camping tickets of $250-$300.

In fact, I think I paid only $180 for a combined ticket at my first Splendour and that bill contained some big overseas acts such as Coldplay, Placebo, Gomez and Goldfrapp.  And don’t give me inflation. There’s no way its tripled in only eight years.

The ridiculousness of the situation is further demonstrated by the fact tickets (event and camping) to the biggest music festival in the world, Glastonbury, only go for 200 pounds or roughly A$305.

And that’s a five-day event with the likes of U2, Coldplay, The Chemical Brothers, Mumford and Sons, BB King, Queens Of The Stone Age, Kool And The Gang, Fat Boy Slim, Carl Cox and Primal Scream just to name a few.

One glimmer of hope in all this relates to the fact that Splendour used to sell out in 24-36 hours. Yeah, it was a bit stressful but the limited numbers meant that only the true punters were on to it and made sure they got their tickets in time.

Well, as the prices have gone up, so too has the sell-out time lengthened. Because this year with their stupidly insane prices, the festival did not sell out in a matter of days. In fact, you can still get a ticket some six weeks after they originally went on sale.

Yes, I’m certainly hoping that sends a message loud and clear to the organisers. That they’ve priced themselves out of the market and there’s a backlash in the wind. Especially as they’re having to advertise to sell the remaining tickets. Something they’ve never had to do in the past.

So come on guys. Get real and give us some reasonable prices. The punters will be back if you do and you can quickly bank your cash again with sell-outs being the norm.

Anyway, there’s my current whinge. Stay tuned folks because I’m sure there will be more. Because I’m an EveryDayMan with everyday problems.

EDM.