Music festivals bring together thousands of people for weekends of music, food, booze and entertainment. Whether it's discovering new artists, seeing old favourites or simply soaking up the atmosphere with friends, festivals are the perfect opportunity to let loose and have some fun.
But which festivals are the best? The experts at Get Licensed have taken a look at the data to find out, looking at the number of artists on each festival’s lineup, the ticket price for 2023, the price difference over the last five years, festival capacity, how critically acclaimed and publicised each festival is, and the weather in each location during the month it’s held.
However, festivals require a lot of careful planning to make sure music fans have the best weekends of their lives. From sound and lighting to booking the artists and hiring SIA licensed security to keep everyone safe, well-organised festivals make sure everyone can have the best time.
@officialrandl
In first place is the Reading Festival, scoring 7.55 out of 10. The festival which started way back in 1961 is one of the most popular on social media, placing in the top three for both Instagram posts and TikTok views, it's also one of the most publicised festivals too, taking second place for the number of articles. The festival just edges out the behemoth that is Glastonbury due to its much kinder pricing, although it still isn’t cheap to visit.
Festival score:
@glastofest
Glastonbury comes in second, which comes as no surprise considering it's the largest (it takes first place for both capacity and number of artists) and one of the longest-running, entertaining music fans for over 50 years.
The festival takes first place thanks to its popularity on social media and in the press, taking the top spot for Instagram posts and the number of articles. It ranks third for TikTok views too. Despite having the highest ticket price, Glasto has the cheapest cost per artist, giving it an overall score of 7.28 out of 10.
Festival score:
@victoriousfestival
Taking third place is Victorious Festival, in Portsmouth, with a score of 7.21 out of 10. The festival benefits from the beautiful South Coast weather, with an average temperature of 18.1 degrees. It also welcomed a huge 221 artists over the weekend in 2022.
Thousands of music lovers visit the festival, which features a diverse lineup of artists from various genres, ranging from rock and pop to electronic and indie music. This year fans can catch the likes of Jamiroquai, Kasabian and Mumford & Sons.
Festival score:
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@womadfestival
As you’re going to be spending most of the time outdoors, you don't want to be freezing to death waiting for your favourite artist to take the stage, so the weather is a huge consideration. Malmesbury’s WOMAD Festival is the UK’s hottest festival, with temperatures averaging 18.3ºC throughout July when it takes place.
Average UK temperature ºC:
@isleofwightfest
When you’re camping at a festival you’ll want to experience everything it has to offer, rather than just staying in your tent till the headliners start their set, so more sunshine is essential. The Isle of Wight festival is the UK’s sunniest with an average of 256.4 sunshine hours over June.
Average UK sunshine hours:
@c2cfestival
There’s nothing that spoils the fun at a festival more than a heavy downpour, so if you’re looking to stay dry, London’s C2C: Country to Country is the best choice as the city only experiences an average of 40.7 mm of rainfall during the month it’s held. However, this is slightly misleading as the festival is held inside the O2 Arena.
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@fielddayfestivals
Festivals are notorious for their extortionate food and drink prices, and cheaper tickets mean more money to spend on the essentials you might have forgotten to pack. Field Day has the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to ticket prices, with a single adult weekend ticket costing only £70.
2023 Adult weekend ticket:
@glastofest
When it comes to value for money, The UK’s biggest takes the top spot. With 1082 artists in 2022 and a ticket price of £240, each set for the five day festival held in Somerset costs just £0.31.
Ticket price per artist:
@lindisfarnefest
Thanks to the COVID pandemic putting festival plans on hold for two years, organisers have had to hike ticket prices up to cover their losses with some ticket prices more than trebling over the last five years. Lindisfarne festival had the smallest increase in price over the last five years, with prices rising by only 2.86%.
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@wirelessfest
Festivals can be a once in a lifetime experience for fans, with so many big name artists in one place over a weekend creating memories to last a lifetime, and what better way to record these memories than sharing with friends on social media? London’s Wireless Festival takes the top spot when it comes to TikTok views raking in 1 billion.
TikTok views:
@glastofest
It's no surprise Glastonbury takes the top spot as the most photographed festival with 1 million posts on Instagram. Being the epicentre of the UK festival season, Glasto gives music fans plenty of opportunities to snap the perfect photo, from photos of the hottest headliners to selfies with friends.
Instagram posts:
@glastofest
Being the highlight of the summer for many music fans, It comes as no surprise that the UK’s most recognised and celebrated festival is the most publicised. It takes the top spot for this factor with more than 17,700 articles written about Glastonbury over the past year.
Number of articles 2022:
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@glastofest
Being surrounded by other people with the same passion for music is one of the key appeals of music festivals and the best festivals try their hardest to comfortably accommodate as many music fans as possible so everyone can join in the fun. Glastonbury draws the biggest crowds, with 210,000 people attending in 2022.
Capacity in 2022:
@glastofest
With enough entertainment to fill 12 fields, Glastonbury takes the top spot as the festival with the biggest variety of artists, hosting 1,082 artists over four days in 2022. Glastonbury isn’t just limited to music, it has comedy, theatre and other arts too, to keep you entertained between headline sets from the world’s biggest artists.
Number of artists 2022:
@beat_herder
Going to festivals with a high number of awards means you’re guaranteed to have a good time. Two festivals share the top spot as the most critically acclaimed festival, Isle of Wight and Beat Herder both have 25 award wins and nominations.
Awards and nominations:
Working at a festival is one of the easiest ways to see some of your favourite artists perform live, all at the cost of a few shifts over a long weekend. But festivals can also be a lot more valuable when you’re working security there, especially when it comes to providing practical experience and gaining a wider knowledge of the events industry.
With this in mind, we’ve put together this list of the top perks working festival security can offer.
With tickets to some of the biggest festivals regularly costing over £200, free entry as part of the deal is one of the best perks of working security at a festival and often includes free meals and top-notch camping too. This means you can do your shift and still have plenty of time to catch your favourite bands and artists performing, without having to shell out for a ticket.
Working security at a festival means you can be at the centre of the action when it comes to live performances. Even when managing the crowd during a set, you’ll be right at the front, something you couldn’t get with a standard wristband. You might even get to work backstage and have a chance to meet some of your favourite artists too.
Working at a festival is a great way to show future employers that you can use your SIA licence to work hard and be a team player. You can also use festival work to show off your disciplined attitude to the role and demonstrate your ability to work under pressure too.
A key benefit of security work at festivals is the experience you can get honing your skills in crowd management. This highly transferable skill can also be put to use in any live music venue. You’ll also gain experience in the events industry as a whole and have plenty of opportunities to gain some useful contacts for future work.
The fact that you get to see so many live performances and you meet so many new people. I actually got invited on stage twice at the New Day festival so I would also say meeting the artist performing. The free food and drink definitely was a bonus too.
Yes, a great way to learn many different skills needed for the security job. Also just a really fun time, you also get to experience a festival and get paid for it.
Beginning with a list of UK music festivals taken from Music Festival Wizard, we analysed each one on the following factors. We then gave each music festival a normalised score out of ten for each of the factors, before taking an average across each of these scores to reach our final overall score out of ten.
Number of artists:
The total number of music artists who performed at each music festival in 2022 according to Music Festival Wizard and Efestivals.
Ticket price:
The price of an adult ticket for a full weekend in 2023 according to each festival website and Efestivals.
Ticket price increase:
The price of an adult ticket for a full weekend in 2023 according to each festival website compared to the ticket price in 2018 according to the Wayback Machine and Efestivals.
Capacity:
The total number of attendees for each festival taken from Wikipedia and news articles.
Number of awards and nominations:
The total number of awards and nominations won by each festival according to each festival's website and Wikipedia.
TikTok views:
The total number of views for posts hashtagged [location/festival name]festival on TikTok
Instagram posts:
The total number of posts hashtagged [location/festival name]festival on Instagram
Number of articles:
The total number of articles written about each festival in 2022 according to BuzzSumo
Average temperature:
The average temperature in each location, calculated by averaging the minimum and maximum temperature in each location during the month each festival is held according to The Met Office
Sunshine:
The total number of sunshine hours in each location during the month each festival is held according to The Met Office
Average rainfall:
The average amount of rainfall in each location during the month each festival is held according to The Met Office
