Nobody goes to a music festival to save money, and on both sides of the pond the biggest ones are starting to cost an absolute fortune in ticket prices alone. Glastonbury 2025 tickets set back those lucky enough to get one by £378.50, and its Californian equivalent Coachella cost at least $549 (£424) for general admission.
If you’re planning to head to California for the festival, that’s an almighty initial outlay before you consider flights, camping costs, and all the accoutrements you’ll need to make a proper weekend of it.
Even if you can spring for all the costs just to be there, you may find your leftover pocket change will struggle to get you much in the way of food and drink.
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In a weekend that saw Shakira make a surprise appearance, it turned out those hips were only the second-most shocking revelation of the event. Coachella’s 2024 visitors flocked to social media to share some of the eye-wateringly bonkers prices they were met with at the bars.
Huge food and drink prices at the festival aren’t anything new, of course. Jackie Tanti, a TikToker posting under @jackietanti, took to the platform in 2023 to reveal how much she paid for two burritos and a coffee: $64 (roughly £49).
If that wasn’t distressing enough, the 2024 prices did little to pare back the purses’ pain.
Posting again in 2024, Jackie shared that a similar order of two burritos and a cucumber water – to each their own – cost $64 once again.
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"Capitalism is crazy and I am a part of the problem," she says in the video. In her defence, it seems as though you don’t have much choice but to cough up or starve once you’re through Coachella’s gates.
"That's insane," said one person, with another adding similarly biting analysis: "F**kin wild."
Given the sheer scale of Coachella, it’s no wonder Jackie wasn’t alone in her disbelief at the prices.
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Another festival-goer shared a photograph on X displaying a drinks list at the festival.
A single Absolut Vodka was priced at $17 (around £13), and a double came in at $28 (around £21).
A White Claw Hard Seltzer Black Cherry would have set you back by $16, while a Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc was priced at $17.
"To be fair the food and drink prices are sky high everywhere in America atm,” said one X commenter, “and these prices will be without tax or tips which will add 30 percent."
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Topics: TikTok
Rachael Davis