Glastonbury ticket price changes over the years as fans are floored by new hiked up fee

Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm has seen some of the biggest names in music perform on stages across the huge site in Somerset, but fans are disappointed at the eye-watering ticket prices

Glastonbury Festival is one of the biggest events in the world, but fans have been left reeling following news of the latest hike in ticket prices.

Thousands of fans flock to Worthy Farm in Somerset every year for the music festival, with icons such as Paul McCartney, Beyonce, Adele, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen headlining the Pyramid Stage over the years. Tickets are hard to get, with thousands of fans clamouring to get their hands on them, and as prices have increased, fans are astounded by the new hiked up fee.

For a weekend ticket for next year’s Glasto, fans can expect to pay £373.50, with a deposit of £75. Tickets go on sale on 17 November, but many were gobsmacked that the price of a weekend ticket has crept up to almost £400. “I do not understand why it’s so so expensive for the amount of people that go,” one person complained on TikTok alongside a video explaining the ticket prices over the years, as another added: “Thanks but no thanks. I’ll watch it on the telly.”

The festival began in 1970, and for £1, fans were able to watch The Kinks and T-Rex perform. In 1971, it was free, but by 1979, it cost £5 for a ticket. In 1981/82, it was a slight jump to £8 for a three-day ticket, and just one year later, it had jumped to £12, with another price rise in 1984, taking it to £13. It was £16 in 1985, and £17 in 1986, but by 1987, it was £21. By 1989, the price of a weekend ticket was £28, with headline acts The Wonder Stuff, Elvis Costello and Suzanne Vega.

The 90s didn’t fare so well with ticket price increases, as in 1990, it had jumped to £38 for a weekend ticket. 1992 saw another increase, this time to £49, and by 1993, it had jumped again to £58 for headliners The Orb, Lenny Kravitz and Velvet Underground. 1994 saw only a £1 increase in the ticket price, but by 1995, it had hit £65. 1997 saw another £10 increase, and by 1998, it cost £80 to see Primal Scream, Blur and Massive Attack on the Pyramid Stage. Festival bosses decided to up the price by just £3 in 1999, and as the new century arrived in 2000, a weekend ticket cost £87.

2002 saw a jump to £97, and this was the last time that a weekend ticket for Glasto cost under £100. By 2003, it had hit £105, and a year later, it cost £112 for headline acts Oasis, Paul McCartney and Muse. The year 2005 saw it jump to £125, and by 2007 it was £145. Another year, another £10 increase, but by 2009 it had jumped to £175 - with Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur headlining - in 2010 it had gone up another tenner to £185, and by 2011, it was a bargain compared to today’s prices, at £195.

This would be the final time that festival fans would pay under £200 for a Glasto weekend ticket, as in 2013, it was £205 with headline acts Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones and Mumford & Sons. It increased by just £5 in 2014, but in 2015, fans were forced to fork out £225 for a weekend ticket. A measly increase of £3 was welcomed by fans in 2016, but it had jumped up again in 2017 to £238 for fans to see the likes of Ed Sheeran, Radiohead, and Foo Fighters. By 2019, it was £248, and when the festival returned in 2022 after the Covid pandemic, it was an eye-watering £285.

This year would, again, mark the last time it cost fans under £300 for a weekend ticket, as last year, prices had jumped to £335. And this year’s Glasto weekend ticket cost £360, and next year’s festival will see another price increase - this time, to £373.50.

Many have defended the price rise, as there are more than 100 stages at Glastonbury, with around 2,000 musical acts, including icons who command around £150 per ticket to their own concerts. Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis addressed the backlash over the price rise last year, as she said “enormous” rising costs have forced them to increase the fee.

“We have tried very hard to minimise the increase in price on the ticket, but we're facing enormous rises in the costs of running this vast show, whilst still recovering from the huge financial impact of two years without a festival because of COVID,” she explained. “In these incredibly challenging times, we want to continue to bring you the best show in the world and provide our charities with funds which are more vital than ever.”

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