I had one of those. I hadn't ordered the box then.

I'll throw another iron in the fire or whatever the metaphor should be...

There are I perceive far more smaller, "local" festivals these days as well, that are far cheaper than large festivals (and at 20K we would have to accept that Cropredy is a "large" festival"). Its not beyond the wit of man to see that attending one "large" festival financially equates to 2 or 3 smaller festivals.

CF Two people+camper van
Bearded Theory : £544 (3rd ticket release, first two were sold out before I even breathed!)
Cropredy : £386

Here For The Music : £171
My Dad's Bigger Than Your Dad (1-day + transport return which represents ~40% of that cost!) : £74
Trowbridge :  £220
Tangled Roots/Tangled Up in Blues/Somerset Jazz : £150

Those smaller festivals may not see as "large" acts (and not FC obvs :-) but the quality of music is high - and H4TM this year had Black Water County (Cropredy 2024), Skinny Lister (BT 2023), Trowbridge 2023 had Holy Moly and the Crackers (Cropredy 2022 ), Gigspanner (Cropredy 2017), Merry Hell (2023), Three Daft Monkeys (Cropredy 2008) - Gaz Brookfield has played the top three smaller festivals listed and he is in the same ballpark as Beans on Toast (Cropredy 2023) in terms of following and style etc (not so much swearing ;-) ) so the stretch isn't really that great at all.


TL;DR - festival attendance costs go further at smaller festivals without necessarily losing the standard of music. And if one is in the "its about the music and vibe and not specific acts" then they all fit the bill.

Oh - ale at H4TM was £4 a pint, brewed on site!


didds

I like that approach and agree, but for the comparisons to be meaningful you'd also have to facter in such areas as

* when the tickets actually got bought - first release, a week before the festival, etc etc
* weather forecasts
* other events happening at the same time, or even year ie alternative attractions/spending focusses eg olympics, world cups, brit doing well in wimbledon, royal occassions etc etc
* possibility of seeing Act X on a tour elsewhere
* etc etc etc


didds (B.Sc. (Hons) Comp. Sci & Statistics)

I do genuinely hesitate to post here.
There is a lot I could say but a lot of its being said and things ain’t going to change.The  festival has changed . Fairports have changed.
But let’s revel in Nostalgia for a bit…..
My early Cropredies , irregular in the  80’s and then regularly in a convoy with friends from 95, were about Fairports. Saturday night was the high point , the focus of the fest. A 2 day fest.
3 day fest changed things.
Peggy and Christine getting divorced changed things. Security changed. H and S changed , no longer a small (ish) folk rock driven , vaguely alternative fest.
I understand the economics.
Chris replaced Maart and Metal Matty became a more twee experience….
So people started going for the Thurs night headliner and though it’s a generalisation a large portion of the field had little interest in the Saturday night headliner.
I watched some great Fairport headline sets , with guests including Vikki Clayton , Chris While, Jerry Donahue, Robert Plant , Swarb etc etc. but those days are gone.
They were wonderful times with friends ……..
Things change.
The Brasenose Fringe lineup looks like an old Cropredy line up. Old faces, new faces but with some real quality in there.
Steve Knightlys new band, the wonderful Jon Palmer Acoustic Band ( if you want folk rock…..) Tukay and Ryan, While and Matthews .
I would go but I have no idea where you would park for the day.
Any way I write this as I am about to leave for Warwick fest , to say goodbye to Oysterband and discover new stuff.
Enjoy Cropredy everybody …..and good to see Peggy,Simon and  DM will be playing with RT ….for those people on the field who know and care, who RT is……that could be special but I understand others would rather be watching the Buggles greatest hits

Similarly, Al, we'll be out all day today, so I'm hoping - like you - that the postie puts it somewhere safe and dry.

I'll just add this:  My recollection is that 1987 was the first 20k (give or take) attendance.  So it could definitely still attract the crowds without Alice Cooper and Trevor Horn...

That is slightly missing the point that Cropredy used to be a smaller festival which did not require that level of footfall to survive. As such it had a very specific identity.

I understand that the economics of festivals have changed, the reasons for that and how it have unavoidably impacted Cropredy but that has also irreversibly changed its character. For every individual who might look forward to Trevor Horn or Alice Cooper or whoever else the Friday headliner might be in the festival's 21st century iteration, there is another mourning what has been lost and for whom Cropredy no longer holds the appeal that it once did.

David's observation remains true that the sentence he quotes encapsulates all of the above, the loss of identity, the changing audience and the commercial realities that have brought it all about.

We finally saw John Mayall about ten years ago at the tiny One World Theater in Austin. We had an autograph and a brief chat. Instead of selling his own CD, he was pushing his band mates’ records. Awesome fellow. RIP

Sad news indeed. Miller and Mayall.

Nick Drake prom on Radio 3