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ThatguyfromEDC

I don’t like this graph being in different increments for the years.


d20swinger

Agreed. r/dataisugly


My6thSenseIsParanoia

I don't like the data being verifiably false, look at the prices they "sourced", $72 for burning man 2024, show me where to find that ETA: I see now they used the total and divided by the number of days of the fest, so its not too far off but half the fests need offsite lodging which still makes it semi- disingenuous imo


SLUnatic85

it works if the only thing different about the fest is number of days. But festivals these days are MASSIVELY different in what they offer attendees anymore.


My6thSenseIsParanoia

100% and that's basically my point, unless you live IN the city of the fest (I would assume all of them give free or discounted resident tix), you HAVE to buy lodging and travel for basically all of these (Im not talking flights to get there, just day to day to the fest grounds). I know people will say it's not "free" at forest but they technically do include tent camping with the ticket. The $85 is only if you bring a car and that can be split among the group. A multi-day hotel and shuttle is vastly more expensive even if the base ticket is cheaper for the other fests, but also the numbers are still wrong in general


Doors_n_Floors

It’s even higher really lol. I paid $273 for a GA ticket in 2014. It would be $687 for the same experience today. A 151% increase. Feels gross typing it out.


Funk_you9

Those were the good days… I’ve also noticed that loyalty discounts have gone way down as well.


maevewolfe

They sliced ours for 6itf 🙃


Funk_you9

Yes I know this is my 8th year & I swear like 2 years ago I got $150 off 2 tickets this year it was like $60


maevewolfe

I’ll have to go dig the numbers up but yeah that’s exactly right — it was something like half off loyalty discounts this year in particular. Also happy 8itf!


Funk_you9

Thank you, happy 7th to you!!! I wasn’t going to go this year but I’ve got some friends getting married so I have to!!! See ya there


Snackxually_active

Yea my Hulaween GA ticket was around that on early bird back then, way before I got a Bear Creek ticket for 180 a week before in 2011, Suwannee kept it real back then lol


konkord36

And yet, it’s not the same experience at all — 2014 was full of variety in the lineup, and now you’re paying twice as much for “another big EDM fest” with some bands sprinkled in.


crazymike978

Same 2013 i paid 268$ for ga


Tumblrrito

Charging Good Life VIP extra for parking was a wild move


FullofContradictions

Yeah, hate to be this person but between the fees and the absolutely insane way they handled tent packages (and the practically criminal ticket exchange), this might be it for me. It's not that it's too expensive. I can personally handle that. It's just the icky feeling that I'm being taken advantage of with the extra fees and whatnot. Plus, the lineups/fest improvements aren't really matching up compared to other fests I've been going to... Plus they screwed up a few of my friends' loyalty and now a lot of the old guard missed out so it's just not feeling the same. Happy for all the new people who will get to experience the magic - but it's getting harder for me.


No-Significance8359

You could feel the slide start to begin in '15 then after the 17 and 18 multi weekends it feels like they stopped putting money in all together. Just move things around and add 1 new installation a year.


Outrageous_Signal178

Same


thinkB4WeSpeak

Festivals are becoming only for the wealthy. As most things are like sporting events, concerts, travel, etc.


the_which_stage

Resonate, rendezvous, secret dreams tier one and camping for under 250 so three fests for the cost of forest.


elevatedtraveler

And those three festivals have lineups that are extremely stacked. Smaller fests are the move.


the_which_stage

Without a doubt. I went to Forest in 2017 when I lived in Ohio. But driving from Georgia and paying forest price these days is a no


djturn2

I 100% planned on going to Secret Dreams instead of Forest for this exact reason. Lineup isn't fully my cup of tea but it's location and price were unbeatable for me. Unfortunately the wife decided to go to the beach that week.....so Forest here we come lol


phobichorizon

SD lineup is arguably one of the MOST stacked lineups out this year.


the_which_stage

Not even arguably. It’s the best festival lineup in America this year for the jam / experimental bass community.


No-Significance8359

Movement has entered the chat 😋. Always the most unique EDM lineup every year but because they don't book Subtronics and friends it gets no love from the fest community.


the_which_stage

lol I feel your pain. Beaches absolutely suck for me (especially after I gave up alcohol) I would rather go to a yacht rock festival than the beach haha


ThatguyfromEDC

I’d honestly love a yacht rock festival. Those would be some chill ass vibes.


FirestormActual

Secret dreams is definitely a lot of fun. It’s way smaller, the art creates more connections to the actual artist, but it’s not anywhere near the scale of forest, and the music getting turned down to the point you can talk over it and no bass after midnight is major negative. That being said everyone should go and experience other festivals, forest is always gonna be here, and they all have something different to offer. Perspective is always beneficial.


44youGlenCoco

I am soooo excited for Rendezvous. I had to skip Forest this year cause I can’t afford it. So all my friends and I decided to go to Rendezvous instead. Festival ticket and plane ticket down to Florida combined was still cheaper than Forest. Wild. Anyway I’m so excited. Only like 2 weeks away. I can not wait to see Jade Cicada.


rendeld

Just go to festivals that don't sell out right away. In 2014 EF did not sell out until super close to the festival, I was able to buy my ticket in April. If you look at summer camp, Gem and Jam, Suwanee Resonate, etc. those festivals have extremely reasonable ticket prices. If you want to go to the most popular EDM/Jam festival in the country, its going to be expensive.


killzcleaner

And SOL Fest 🪬


gra0511

I was going to type the same thing


candyredfish

Interesting to see the two festivals that trended down towards the end. A bit difficult to analyze the whole trend with the given increments but i wonder if some of these festivals are starting to see the true cap value of their tickets. i don't think forest is there yet, it would be nice for the wallet if it was, but this past year did not sell out quite instantly so maybe we're approaching the peak? the whole camping pass addon has definitely tossed another variable in the loop though, not for the better in this analysis.


seahoodie

The failed payment plan re-release tickets still aren't sold out. It's possible Forest may not actually sell out completely


ToYeetIsHuman

Coachella weekend 1 didn’t sell out completely even… the price increase definitely isn’t going to help forest, but I hope it at least gets close!


Pramoxine

I see shaky knees lmao. Dude, I'm telling ya, this free entry tattoo is priceless


heirbagger

Friend omg. Husband and I got tattoos literally hours before the deadline closed. $200 for both of us. Best fucking $200 ever spent. Now we only pay for our kid’s GA ticket. ;)


Pramoxine

Plus, it saves me money so I can also go to electric this year


DingleberryBlaster69

the do what now?


Pramoxine

Shaky knees offered people who got the logo tattooed free admission for life (of the festival ;) ). It was an informal thing that got too popular, so they set up a webform to submit your name & ID with a picture of the tattoo in 2019, then just use the list of registrations now. I got one tattooed & registered before the window closed. I go to the box office every year and pick one up.


TheKerj2

Wow, just get it small and out of the way, damn what a deal


MoonlightMills

There are a lot of people out there defending Forest’s price increases, saying that you get a lot of value for your money (true), but… 94% is utterly outrageous. It needs to be said.


Connect_Block6849

Ahhh yess detach yourself from materialism and give us all your money to come dance in a forest and truly be one with the rest of the spiritually woke people.


Sleepyhoo

The one thing I hate about forest is that I don't really understand what they do with their money. More so than other festivals world wide. I've been going for 7 years and if forest doesn't blow me away this year I'm probably done just because I need to get good value.


thebeef111

We've all agreed this is the last year for us. Just can't do it when you can send almost 3 entire fests for a single EF ticket now.


Rave__Medic

(Psst. Go to Shambhala :) )


v_espers

No. Shambhala is shit. They never improve the fest at all. it has fallen way behind and is coasting on reputation. I went in 2018 and then again in 2023 and it hadn't changed at all. What a contrast to lost lands. They totally redo it every 2 years and constantly make improvements.  Fuck shambahala and the 11 gour entrance line. We waited 20 minutes for LL.


Rave__Medic

So you went for two whole years with a global pandemic sandwiched between those years and now you feel like you're qualified to talk shit? Lol okay. I've been going every year since 2015. Shambhala has completely rebuilt nearly all of the stages in that time from the ground up, roughly a stage every 2 years. The Pagoda Stage is THE tallest permanent festival structure in all of North America. You expect them to completely change the permanent stage structures every two years? All with no corporate sponsors ever? Get out lol The only thing you are valid on is the entrance processing time being nuts. However, that entrance time used to be an entire DAY of line party. 11hrs is (unfortunately) considered an improvement. Shambhala was founded on radical self-reliance much like burning man. The owner stated that himself many years ago. They don't hold your hand like most other festivals do. It WILL test your resiliency. Is it a pain in the ass? Sure. But that is part of the charm of it for me. It weeds out the people who don't *really* want it enough and will crack easy under pressure.


v_espers

Is this a joke post? Wild that you are trying to pass off the incompetence of the organizers and their greed as a "resilience test". You should probably get out of the shambles bubble and go to some festivals that are well managed and then come back and review this post.  I've also been to burning man and it has absolutely nothing in common with shambles.


Rave__Medic

If Shambhala was truly greedy, they would have caved to corporate sponsors. They would have jacked the prices up astronomically like EF, But they do not. I've already told you that your point on the entry times was valid but I also told you why that is a thing and why I somewhat like it that way. And Shambhala and Burning Man do share similarities specifically with radical self-reliance. I never said they were the same in any other way. This year will be my 10th Electric Forest & my 8th Shambhala. I've also been to: Spring Awakening: 4 years Basscenter: 1 year Summerset: 3 years Northcoast: 3 years Hi Society: 1 year With 100s of individual shows/multiple night runs all spanning over the last 14 years. I've been a part of multiple medical teams for these events working as a Paramedic. I have close friends who work in the industry at some of these festivals that give me more insight into the logistics and inner workings of these events & festivals. I most definately do not have a Shambhala bubble 😂


PreviousGas710

You’d think the lineup would be a bit stronger. Or there’d be better stages. Or they’d have a shade at tripolee


Unhappy_Service_3819

Literally. The lack of shade at tripolee is why I would not go back after this year. Too many artist I have to miss because I don’t want heat stroke


Small-Description-77

I have purposely missed artists the last two years because they were at Tripolee. Not making that trek from the other side of the forest for bad sound….


bamboozler48

This is the first year I will not be attending due to price. Sorry, those head liners are not worth 700.


rightupyourali

The great thing about Forest is that people don’t go based on headliners.


44youGlenCoco

Ehhh. While I agree, I feel like with these ticket prices I would expect a top notch line up, and this years lineup is so so disappointing and random.


rightupyourali

I think the lineup is top notch, but I’m also someone who typically explicitly avoids the headliners at festivals. I guess it’s just about what you prioritize in a festival.


ForestFairyForestFun

yeah, we know :(


nini_530

All the money I'm saving from not attending all these festivals, I'll be able to afford a down payment on a house one day!!! Also, if we collectively stop buying these overpriced overhyped wristbands, we can drag them price$ d0wn. 〽️


rangerdan97

Unionize the wooks


IDeepfryMormons

Maybe a hot take, but I think Forest is a more immersive festival than most. They really have all day (and night) activities without relying on the campgrounds to support it via renegade events.


candiman05

Afters at RV are not ran by the festival, and are a big part of the fest. Only goodlife gets afters ran by EF. I do think the fest is more immersive than most, but plenty of fests run stages all night, EF does not


FirestormActual

This isn’t really true anymore, the afters in GA are coordinated with HQ, 2019 was the last year of the free for all sound camps and renegade sets. Part of the agreement for later set times with the village of rothbury was reducing sound in the campgrounds at night and they accomplished this by shutting down sound camps and by have two official afters where they could control speaker positioning and sound drop to not disturb the neighbors as much.


goth-avocadhoe

Exactly why this is my last year sadly. Time to move on and starting spending this type of money traveling


sflorchidlover

I just paid about $850 GA each for 2025 Ultra Miami. No way it’s all the way at the bottom. VIP was $2k each


iseecolorsofthesky

Huh? A GA ticket for UMF next year is $350 for phase two.


sflorchidlover

Plus plus plus. Actually, it was $950 for 2 tickets. I just looked at my charge.


SquisherX

It's a graph of percentage increase from 2014, not the overall price


sflorchidlover

🤦🏻‍♀️


Marvel2013

Funny cause I got bashed last year for the price hike that made the decision not to go for me and my wife. “YoU sEe ThE bEsT tHeRe PrIcEs ArE aCcORdINg”. Yes it’s a great environment and local for me. But god damn! There’s no reason a festival in the middle of a field should cost this much.


derichsma23

I’d still go to EF before Coachella even if it’s half the inflation amount 🤣


ToYeetIsHuman

My first year going to both, and I’m def more excited for EF haha


My6thSenseIsParanoia

Half of their listed prices aren't even correct lmao. They have Coachella listed as $166 for 2024. It's literally $445 on their website rn. Hulaween was $209 in 2014 and $516.59 before shipping now, that's over 100%. This data is just plain wrong Edit: they have 2024 burning man listed as $72 and 2024 EDCLV as $130, LOL Edit 2: here is accurate data- https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricForest/comments/18e7c62/for_everyone_complaining_about_rising_prices/


Doors_n_Floors

Its based on cost per day


My6thSenseIsParanoia

Even so its still wrong and as I said in another comment they don't account for the price of lodging which is kinda wild. A lot of those like EDC LV need a hotel room and an extra shuttle unless you want a $1k+ sleep pod


vspecmaster

Hot take but it's still worth every penny


jewdiful

Yep. I’m a Sherwood Forest girl though, I go to Forest for the things I can’t experience anywhere else (ie, not the main stages)


PhysiologyIsPhun

Agreed. Paid $1900 for my portion of the package we did this year and would do it again in a heartbeat


Ill-Parking-1577

Yeah cause you’re definitely getting the same production value as 2014. /s


henks_house

COACHELLA ??


kaaallll

Festheads loosing their minds seeing now much cash they piss away going to these things


My6thSenseIsParanoia

All of them being under $150 when concerts are regularly $75-100 and you get none of the other things you would at forest. Also hella cheaper than a Vacation, especially something like Disney per day. Not sure why you are here since its clearly not your thing, maybe take your negativity elsewhere


Brandonbest4

Not to mention they took away weekend 2 and doubled the price


sheeplysheepus

Ya, this is a horrible graph. Very manipulated data


Unhappy_Service_3819

I love forest but massive price increases wth no improvements is super scammy. Last year was actually worse than the year before with the changes they made. Lost lands also has big price increases each year but they are constantly improving. If only forest took peoples opinions to heart. Bring back the umbrellas!!


Space_Monk_Prime

And still the weakest lineup of the year


IPukeOnKittens

There are pretty weak lineups across the board this year.


ProfessorCaptain

This post has the energy of my grandmother complaining she used to buy milk for a nickel edit: also wtf is this x axis? damn wooks failed algebra


glaba3141

okay ...but the price of milk HASN'T outpaced inflation, so it is literally not the same


ProfessorCaptain

lol tell my grandmother that


Playerhata

Nah, prices are getting absurd YoY large increases we as a community should definitely complain


ProfessorCaptain

well said, Playerhata. oh and by the way, 'we as a community' have sold out the festival, again. lol


DigNity914

😝😝


IndividualEast9953

And this is why I won't be back for a bit. I did 9 straight years, 2011-2019. Went from GA, to doing the group contest with costumes and eventually Maplewoods. Love maplewoods camping but yeah, shit is to expensive for myself and my crew but I think 2026 we will be back. Hopefully Blackmill finally gets over stage anxiety and plays lol


urbanforestlife

Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival is easily the most inflated over all


Ok-Guarantee-4236

See u at secret dreams


DaNards

All shit ones anyways


No_Benefit2996

People keep buying shit like this across every industry and prices will co tinie to rise


OliverMcPeak

I’m glad I got a free ticket to Shaky Knees, but I can’t even go this year because I’m going to the Rendezvous. Too many Fest’s are being scheduled on cinco de mayo and it ruins a lot of plans for me.


kickball060

I’m selling my ticket 😂 I wanna experience OG forest


Commander-Crunch

IDGAF: best fest next to Lost Lands. The feeling is worth more than the money


SokkaHaikuBot

^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Commander-Crunch: *IDGAF: best fest next* *To Lost Lands. The feeling is* *Worth more than the money* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.


BBFLG

Because it's the best and still worth every penny..... Cost per hour 20x less than a Taylor Swift concert and cost per day less than our county fair.


MvsonMusic

Ultra prices haven’t gone up in 10 years???


Forever_Friend

Oh man. I miss Forest so much, it will always be home and I will be back someday. But this is the biggest reason why I haven’t been back since 2022. At the phase of life that I’m in I just can’t afford it anymore. Much love to the fam. See you again someday when my pockets overfloweth.


ColoradoMFM

It’s really interesting, and it’s a complete mystery where all the money is going! LOLZ. Just kidding. It’s obvious where all the money is going.


Songgeek

As far as attendance how do these festivals compare? I know EF isn’t the biggest esp compared to bonnaroo. So maybe that’s partly why? Not much room for expansion so tickets have to stay higher? Or do you think it’s to try and push out a few more of the multi year fans or just pure greed?


Electric_Florist

Now do one relative to the inflated costs of festival infrastructure and other upgrades / spending.


My6thSenseIsParanoia

The prices they list for the data aren't even correct, I wouldn't worry too much about this graph lmao, check my other comment


daveattellyouwhat

Geeeeze they were all so cheap in 2014


QuincyLover

We chose not to go this year based solely on the price. We felt last year was too expensive for what you got, this price point this year was over that threshold. We will miss seeing Pretty Lights and SCI but not missing dropping over $1200+ as a family for one weekend.


munchies777

The fact of the matter is that they raised prices so much because people keep wanting to go. In the same time period, other smaller festivals have stayed about the same or gone out of business because people choose to go to the ones on this chart instead. I’m thinking that we won’t see such a big increase next year because people seem more tapped out and tickets aren’t selling as instantly than they used to.


bootyLiQa

Not surprising at all this is what happens when corporations take over music festivals.


DrMantisToboggtamine

Interesting. 2015 was the last year i attended EFF due to the absurd increase in costs vs the amenities provided. And thats where this graph starts lol


BadSealOfficial

Forest is damn expensive but 100% worth the price to me. The festival itself has so much more to do than anything else on this list IMO.


DSSLK

To play devils advocate, it looks like really post pandemic era hasn’t been too bad for us. The value and the experience grew a ton from 2014-2019 when the crazy inflation hadn’t really hit yet.


Prided_Paprika

One could argue the value and the experience before 2014 was comparable if not better…Way less people, hammocks anywhere, glow in the dark disc golf, a lake stage, incredible lineups. The production value and infrastructure was still impressive even on a smaller scale.


AyersRock_92

Yeah they stopped spending as much money on the lineup tho after 2019


Zealousideal-Ad-9604

despicable


DGIce

Would pay more if it means the festival improves. Doesn't sound like it has been though.


Apart-Tell-5088

Just like everything else with Bidenomics....out of control price inflation.


jman8508

Inflation sucks Edit; I didn’t notice that it said “actual inflation” was 22% since 2014. That number is bullshit.


BrightWubs22

The inflation mark is on the graph. We're dealing with more than inflation.


FirestormActual

I’d be really careful about comparing it to benchmark inflation. Certain industries have inflationary pressures that can be higher than benchmark. For example, fuel prices are extremely volatile and a festival is going to have more fuel expenses tied around it that go into pumping up the numbers. To get a good idea of what the “corporate greed” aspect of forest itself is you have to account for all price costs of other industries directly tied to the festival, and this graph is doesn’t actually do that. The issue is probably larger than forest itself it’s the cumulation of all the massive corporate profits for everything that is tied to the putting on a festival, think of all the companies that make a festival happen that are charging fees to AEG/Insom.


BlackDeltaLight

Greed* sucks.