Whats peoples thoughts, in light of the current financial situation and that, do you think t will sell out this year?

Yes. Without a doubt.

yeah it will but i don't think it'll sell out as quickly as it has done the past few years. people were struggling to shift tickets on ebay this year.

T in the Park sold out years ago.

don't think any fests in 09 will sell out, even Glasto.

Nah most folk will do what they normally do in a summer next year. Be it festival or holiday. The crunch isn't as bad as what it seems.

The Credit Crunch doesn't exist.
Just like Global Warming, Santa Claus, and a decent follow up to Because of The Times.

The majority of people who go to T in the Park are probably within the 16-30 age bracket and a lot of these people will not be affected by the 'credit crunch'. It's only really going to affect people with mortgages etc...

Glastonbury has a bigger following of people who are more likely to have a mortgage/other financial committments which the crunch will be affecting, which might explain 08 not selling out, and 09 possibly not selling out (although its selling faster than last year already)

I think titp will still sell out, but the age demographic of those going may be skewed from previous years, with a higher percentage of younger people going. I think...

I think if theres no big price increase it will sell out same day. I'd suspect prices will remain the same as last year. Lots of people felt that it was too highly priced already.

to be honest I cant see this happening. Prices will keep rising until they stop selling out. Early birds sold out very quickly (if i remember correctly) so they can increase the price as much or as little as they want

while i'd be quite surprised if T doesn't sell out next year, the sales of tickets after T this year was far far slower than it had been in the last few years. And of course because half the tickets for this year were sold last summer immediately after the fest, that would have helped hide any slow-down in sales for this year in the way that Glasto suffered.

I actually think Glasto will be OK - it seems to be the case that it's attracted a lot of people for next year who've previously been going to other fests, but after all the very positive comments it got this year have decided to go there next year ... and it's possible that this will impact some on other fests as a result.

IMO, the whole live music scene is starting to see quite a noticeable slow-down; the current economic climate is going to affect everything quite severely for everyone. I guess that those thinking it won't have only ever seen good times.

Don't be silly, of course it will.

Glasto struggled last year, T didn't. So 'even Glasto' doesn't wash anymore, if T failed to sell out then the rest of the major festivals would need to start worrying. T is the fastest selling festival in the UK. T in the Park will sell out, it just might be a bit slower.

T did struggle, Ebay proved that. On T day it didn't struggle (unlike glasto), the only reason for that is that T is an insuler seller ie Scottish/habitual, it sells out every year, but without a doubt this year T will struggle.

Niel is right, every festival including T and Glasto are going to struggle this year. People will rather pay for houses and rent than go for luxuries like festivals. Basicaly the cash cow has run out and every festival will struggle. Even the big ones. I've said it for a couple of years that the bubble was about to burst, T's one of those bubbles. We'll find out come February, but I'm sure I'm right. T will sell out, but not untill far later than usual.

Like bassface said the majority of T goers are far younger than the average Glasto goer. Theres a higher chance that the T goer wont have a mortgages etc so the credit crunch means pretty much fook all to them. I'm a student and my money has hardly gone up from last year, I easily go out as much as I did and do exactly what I did last year. Without big payouts every month its far easier and a lot of people fall into this bracket and its not just students. Most of my mates are joiners/brickys etc and they have 4 times my 'luxuries' budget so them it really won't make a difference. It will just be slower.

T didn't sell out as fast it has previously done last year. Don't believe all that "sold out in one hour" garbage because it didn't. There was still tickets days after.

Glasto is twice the size of T. So technically Glasto sold as much tcikets as T did in the same time. It just never sold T twice over by a 1000 tickets or something.

Fair point, however only about 135,000 tickets go on public sale for Glastonbury. The rest is staff. Not quite twice, more like 1.5 times. I agree it was slower and will be even more slow this year but it will still sell out.

you're ignoring the fact that T sold half of it's tickets for this year immediately after the 2007 fest - before the current financial worries started.

As the ticket sale immediately after this year's fest proved, the interest in T tickets is significantly down on what it has been.

Also i think peoples intrest in t is starting to wane, most of my friends say every year that it will be there last and a few didnt go this year, instead looking for a less comercial experience, i except there will always be staunch t supporters who will go every year but i do think they will struggle to sell out as the early bird offer proved in july, first time in years it has took 10hrs to sell out

there's lots of people who don't think it actually 'sold out' with that sale of tickets. I believe that all ticket types were available at 9.59pm, but that they'd all "sold out" at spot on 10pm - which seems more than a bit of a coincidence.

Neil,

Surely you aren't suggesting Geoff Ellis is a lying, chancing git of some sorts

Wouldnt surprise me and i think it is an indication if true that they will struggle to sell all the tickets, added to that its the most expensive festival in britain.

wont the likes of t in the park and reading sell out because its a younger audience and they spend there student loans on ticks?

I remember back at the start of the 2000's festivals would take forever to sell out sometimes right up until the show and maybe not even sell out, I wish those days were back, they really had to pull out a great line up and provide a great experience for your money, now they all just book the in thing and expect to sell out on day one

I liked it how Download didn't sell out last year, wish all festivals were like this again, but I can't see it happening myself, if they get the big headliner, then all the major festivals will sell out in a day or two again this year like they have done for the past few years, wish you had the freedom to see the line up and chat to your mates and all decide which is the best festival to go to again, its all rush rush rush panic buy now

I'd say that the younger audiences that a few fests attract guarantee a decent attendance, but more because going to these certain fests is sort of like a rite of passage, and gives these fests a fresh number of potential attendees year on year on year.

I think it will sell out but just not as quickly as previous years. Probably because of a combination of things, namely the credit crunch, an already oversaturated market, bad weather, dubious ticket sellers, etc. Although the credit crunch is only going to affect primarily those who are renewing mortgages and/or have families who are affected by the rising cost of fuel/food/petrol.

A fair few festivals have fallen to the way side but that still hasn't stopped others popping up all over the UK. Then there is the overseas festivals which can prove just as cheap if not cheaper to attend than a UK festie.
I think a lot of people will be holding out to see who is headling their festival of choice before they purchase tickets. Or if they haven't chosen will wait until after the main headliners for the majority of festivals have been announced and then way up their situation.

Smaller established festivals and those who have found a niche will be fine but those who cater for the middle of the road indie rockers will struggle. Especially since there is a high chance that they will turn up at more than one of the main festivals.

Don't forget previous shitey line-ups.

don't see how that will have anything to do with it.

I'm just hopeful that people will show their distaste for the shitey line-ups by not going but I guess that's a longshot as people seem to have a shite taste or no taste in music these days anyway.

I think the overpriced tickets, credit crunch, and banking collapse could have a substantial impact on festivals next year.

I've already bought tickets for next year, but a lot of people probably won't be able to afford them.

I don't accept the argument some people have made that the current crisis won't affect young people - they still have to find the cash at the best part of £200 per person. That means people need jobs to get the cash, and young people that have their own place need to pay rent or mortgages.

What is going to hit hard is the loss of jobs in the next six months. A lot of banking jobs will go (RBS, HBOS, Northern Rock, B & B, Lloyds, Scottish Widows), as will jobs based on Financial Products and the Property Market and there will be a knock-on with suppliers to these firms finding that their work dries up.

Speaking as someone who lives in Edinburgh, I think it is going to get hit hard with RBS and HBOS having the bulk of their operations up here, but I think lots of branches will close.

I think Connect might suffer more than T, though as it is targeting the audience who will probably be most affected by the credit crunch.

people might start being more picky about what festivals they go to and want better value for money, so the smaller festivals might do better next year.

Yeah, think I'll go to a smaller festival next year. The smaller fest tends to have the exclusive bands these days, i.e. a band that isn't at a another fest and not touring. OK the band might not be a big new name but they were usually a big name in their day and have a good back catalogue.

The big fests aren't what they used to be - 15 years ago bands got their income from CD sales so very few needed to tour and they only way you could see a good number of bands for a good price was to go to a big fest.

Nowadays with CD sales slipping due to illegal downloads all bands not only have to do the fests but they need to have their own tour. So if you want to see the big bands you're almost best to wait till they do their own tour. That way you can spread the cost over the year rather than having to spend it all on one big fest.

T was great this year but it's going to be my last (unless Talking Heads headline ).

yes

Of course it will.

word from my mate Chris Franz is that it'll never ever happen.

Next best thing comes around next Easter, Eno and Byrne - details here.

Saw David Byrne at the barrowlands about 6 years ago, and it was the next best thing to a Talking Heads gig, played a lot of TH tunes and there was no difference.,

so David Byrne in the King Tuts would do for me.

Eno and Byrne? Now that sounds good!

I think it will sell out. Ive only been once 07 and dont think ill be going again. its a long trek for me and in my opinion it id definitly overpriced.

its never sold out, its just a marketing ploy. ... everytime its supposed to have been sold out, people can always still get tickets from official sources.

sold out,........another 10,000 tickets miraculously appear, they sell out and another 20,000 months later, how often are mugs fooled into believing there was that many double bookings?

i heard they were to sell some more at the end of this month! maybe the ones that were 'sold out' earlybird but never really

last few times I went, it was 25% about the music and 75% having fun. few years older now. it still sells out but less older people are going...apart from the neds in the 30's.

Love the way you can find random bits of information in amongst the posts such as this.

Only have stop making sense by Talking Heads, which I still play regularly (spelling?), but had no idea that the songs were still being performed live by band members. Added to bookmarks for possible Spring booking. Thanks Neil.

Tom Tom Club (which is Chris Franz's and Tina Weymouth's side project from their TH days, which is still going - they played only their second UK show in about 20 years at Massive Attack's Meltdown this summer) only ever play 'Take Me To The River' from the Talking Heads catalogue, but that's not actually a TH-written song. I believe that the 'issues' between the former band members is to do with Byrne claiming ownership of the songs.

David Byrne has been playing a good selection of TH songs in his live shows for around ten years (there was a time when he wouldn't play them), and often he does something with them to do them in a different style - he was doing raved-up version of 'I Zimbra' on one of his tours which was superb!

Santa Claus doesnt exist?????????

I had the Tom Tom Club debut album too but either never made the connection or the memory has gone from my drink addled mind. Definetely need to do some catch up now.

Is this thread still going?

Your mates might have a bigger budget than you just now, fair enough. But how long will they have jobs? I'm in the building trade and it's a major struggle right now. 90,000 building workers have been put on the dole in the last month. As for the younger festival goers at uni or college, I know a few of them. There parents pay for their tickets as an end of term treat, rather than take them on holiday. Not his year thou, their parents are more worried about the mortgage so they're not going. They usualy buy them early bird tickets to save themselves some money. T couldn't shift the early birds either.

People are deluding themselves if they think T is as popular now as it was say, 2 or 3 years ago. The touts couldn't give tickets away last year and wont touch T with a barge pole now. There's more festivals out there now, and many of them better organized and far better value than T.

As this credit crunch isn't shifting in the near future I'm predicting T wont sell out at all. That's unless there's some major acts playing. If we don't hear a scottish date from AC/DC before the end of January they could do it, that'd shift tickets and keep the neds away all in one.