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Festivals How music lovers are coping with rising prices

The Guardian

|

May 17, 2025

From Monday to Friday, Jessica Heath works as a civil servant in central London - but when the weekend comes, it's not time to relax.

- Esther Addley

Festivals How music lovers are coping with rising prices

From Monday to Friday, Jessica Heath works as a civil servant in central London - but when the weekend comes, it's not time to relax. For the past two years, the 28-year-old has also worked evening shifts most Saturdays and Sundays at a nearby wine bar, with one clear aim - to save up for her summers.

Heath has been a huge music festival fan since she first went to Leeds as a teenager and each year, including day events, she takes in at least seven, some as a volunteer. Without that and her second job, she would never be able to afford it, she says. It's not just the cost of tickets, "it's so many other things", says Heath. "The coach, the food, the drink, all the other elements."

Her most recent trip to Glastonbury cost £900 - "an insane amount of money for less than a week".

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