"premium" camping at festivals..

[hairyben]

Who the hell buys this?

http://sonisphere.co.uk/rock-royalty-vip/

£810 to rent a 2 man tent for 3 days?

£1540 to rent a "luxpad" *coughmarleycough*?

It's not so much an idealogical "problem" with it I'm commenting on here although thats a discussion in itself- each to his own and all that, and a part of me wants to say if fleecing the frivolous economises the whole gig lets roll with it. But while I'm apt to enjoy the finer things in life more than I'd admit to a howling mob of drunken slayer fans, what kind of person thinks this is reasonable expenditure? How does anyone think a £50 tent someone's spent 20 mins pitching is worth £800? Is it all journos/freeloaders on expense accounts?

Has anyone ever bought this, or met anyone who has? For half as much you could book a reasonable hotel and charter a cab firm.

[PinkRinse]

Holy sweet macaroni! When Download started in 2003, I got the premium tickets which meant we slightly more room to camp & access to "proper" toilets & showers but it still cost way less than £100. No way on God's green earth would I pay that!

[Sarkmeister]

I think the bigger advantage is the layout of the tents. They actually have plenty of space around them (or the ones at Glasto do). Therefore you can be confident in the fact that someone isnt going to pitch their tent 1/2 an inch from the door of yours whilst you are out...

[Meteor Madness]

Its an insight, I think, into the kind of demographic these festivals are increasingly aimed at.

[southendpier]

Done motorhome upgrade at download. Well worth it.

[Catz]

Meteor Madness said:

Its an insight, I think, into the kind of demographic these festivals are increasingly aimed at.

I think you're probably right.

Festival goers used to be a hardened crowd!
Saying that I always managed to blag into the performers fields at Glastonbury to get space, the green room, decent loos and showers.

[z4chris99]

friend runs camp Kerala. that's the king of posh camping at Glastonbury

celebs, helicopter transfers, backstage passes, buggys to the stages etc

[The_Doc]

z4chris99 said:

friend runs camp Kerala. that's the king of posh camping at Glastonbury

celebs, helicopter transfers, backstage passes, buggys to the stages etc

My old boss did this for Glasto a while back. He was/is loaded and not a young man any more, he told me. "I can't sleep in the mud like I used to"

If you're rich and you like live music, and I mean properly rich, then £800 or £8000 for the experience is just a squiggle on the cheque book if the tent is nice enough...

[bigandclever]

Not sticking up for them, as such, but do these include the tickets at £215 each?

[Type R Tom]

Going on the amount of money Chris Evans raised with his Children in Need dinner thing (£30k a couple), for example, and the number of these clamping companies popping up there are obviously lots of people out there with serious money to spend. As jealous as I am of these people, if my numbers come up I'd be joining them pretty quick.

Saying that I was at the IoW festival in 2012 and with all the money in the world you couldn't avoid the mud, it was a definite leveler, only difference being the rich people could go back for a nice shower!