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UK Music Festival Ticketing Update for 2022.

Andy Robertson

With virtually all music festivals cancelled in 2020 and many not returning this year some organisers have pushed ticket holders to rollover their tickets to 2022. This has potentially led to a shortage of tickets for the most popular music festivals next year. What is the current status of the UK music festival ticketing market for festival-goers without a ticket for 2022?


Here is a quick roundup of the major UK music festival's ticket availability for 2022 where festival-goers without a ticket can still obtain something. Tickets released for music festivals are usually phased over a period of time and currently many organisers are releasing their final tranche of tickets so anyone looking will need to act quickly. Any camping and weekend long tickets have probably been snapped up some time ago so only limited access tickets may be available. Most organisers are also giving priority to pre-registered festival-goers who are on a ticket waiting list. Here is the current status as at November 2021:

Sold Out Festivals:

  • Glastonbury
  • Secret Garden Party
  • Creamfields
  • Green Man 

Limited Tickets Still Available:

  • Download
  • Isle of Wight
  • 2000 Trees
  • TRNSMT
  • Y Not Festival
  • Boardmasters
  • Latitude
  • Standon Calling
  • Tramlines
  • Camp Bestival
  • Boomtown
  • Victorious
  • Reading and Leeds 

Good Ticket Availability at New Festivals:

  • In It Together (Wales)
  • Colourboxx (Glasgow)
  • Meadowlands (Nottingham)
  • Wide Skies and Butterflies 

Refunds and Rollover Processes. 
The majority of ticket holders from cancelled events in 2020 and 2021 did rollover their ticket validity to new dates and the processes set up by festival organisers has generally been successful with few complaints. There have been some notable high-profile cases where tickets holders who requested refunds are still waiting but these have been limited to countries out the UK particularly in the United States. 

For anyone on a waiting list it is likely that they will be offered tickets from festivals going ahead in 2022 with limited availability. Anyone on a waiting list for a sold-out festival is probably better looking elsewhere to get their 2022 festival fix. The entire ticketing industry is now tightly controlled either directly by the festival organisers or one of the major specialist ticketing companies. This has virtually eradicated the ticket tout and anyone considering buying a ticket on the black market for a sold-out festival is advised to avoid this. Most tickets are now non-transferable and there are numerous steps in place to ensure the ticket presented is genuine and that the person presenting credentials is the registered ticket buyer. Some festival organisers do have an official 2nd hand ticket market that allows cancelled tickets to be reallocated to new buyers but these will probably only be offered to those already registered on an official waiting list. 

For music festival organisers planning their future events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics including their ticketing. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by Didarul Islam from Pexels

Andy Robertson
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