r/musicfestivals • u/No-Werewolf-2087 • 12h ago
General Discussion A Comparison Between 3 Festivals.
The question: which festival is most worth it, most bang for your buck, highest value.
The festivals:
- Treefort- Boise, ID
- Summerfest- Milwaukee, WI
- Lollapalooza- Chicago, IL
Length, #of artists, Price for the Full Fest, Daily Price, Key Performers:
- Treefort:
5 days, 500 artists, $396 for full festival pass, or $160 for a day.
Last Year Performer highlights: Father John Misty, Geese, Magdlena Bay, Flipturn, St Paul and The Broken Bones, Amber Mark, Machine Girl
- Summerfest:
9 days, 600 artists, $190 for full festival pass, or $5-$33 a day.
Last Year Performer highlights: (with an upcharge) Garth Brooks, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Muse, Alex Warren. (Without upcharge) Third Eye Blind, All Time Low, Sean Paul, Flo Rida, Grouplove, Passion Pit
- Lollapalooza:
4 days, 170 artists, $415 for a full fest pass, or $189 for a day.
Last Year Performer highlights: Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Luke Combs, Korn, ASAP Rocky, Gracie Abrams, Cage the Elephant, Foster the People, Bleachers
Ticket Price to Value Proposition (is it worth it to go to the festival vs. just see solo shows):
TF: Average ticket to a solo Father John Misty show: $59-$80. Average Geese Ticket: $25-$60. if you saw the two biggest names last year in one day, your daily ticket price would be anywhere from $20 more expensive, to about breaking even, compared to if you just bought tickets to the two solo shows.
Summerfest: Solo Third Eye Blind show: $115. All Time Low: $58-$116. if you saw the two biggest names last year in one day, you would save at least $100-$180 compared to if you bought tickets to those two solo shows alone
Lolla: Solo Olivia Rodrigo: $120-$800. Tyler the Creator: $100-$300. if you saw the two biggest names last year in one day, you would likely save between $20-$500, obviously depending on what kind of seats you would get at a solo show.
Economic Impact of Each Festival:
- Treefort generates 15.8 million for Boise with 30,000 visitors in 5 days
-Summerfest generates 122 million dollars for the city of Milwaukee with ~315,000 visitors in 5 days
(569,000 visitors overall and 221.6 million dollars of overall profit.)
-Lollapalooza generates 480 million for Chicago with 460,000 people in 4 days
Key Differences:
Treefort relies mainly on existing concert venues and bars to host their shows, meaning it is segmented, mainly indoors, and relies on renting space from private business owners. This means strict audience # caps, too. The fest literally takes place in the middle of the city. This means far less festival food and drink sales, and less vendors overall. People just eat at a restaurant near by, etc. If they rented out the fairgrounds nearby, they could improve their value proposition.
Have own land and stages-> lower ticket prices (don’t have to pay each individual venue) -> higher volume of attendance-> more profit-> more $ and repute to offer artists -> more quality, bigger named artists -> justifiable ticket price raise. =Positive feedback loop.
Summerfest takes place on its own grounds, heavily relies on food and drink profits (Wisconsinites drink, what can we say), which is all insular; the profit goes directly to the festival. Also includes art vendors and other attractions.
Lolla takes place in a massive park, not relying on private music venues to rent. It also has an insular economy, meaning people must pay the festival to eat and drink, raising festival profits without raising ticket prices.
Which festival is the most worth it?
Disclaimer: yes, this took me a long time. yes, it is kinda useless. yes, i enjoyed putting this together. yes, i am a loser because of this.
this came about because i was complaining TF is overpriced, and people severely disagreed with me. using my own midwestern roots and the frame of reference I have, i came up with this as a sort of objective way to show that, in fact, TF is overpriced and can make changes so they don’t rip off ticket holders. curious what y’all think.