Manchester is proud to be home to so many incredible festivals and shows, and given the calibre of musicians that choose to come here, we’re sure the feeling is mutual. Now, with Europe’s festival season underway, new research has revealed the best value for money festivals across the continent, and Manchester’s Parklife does not disappoint…
The study by the trusted ticket comparison site SeatPick analysed the cost of the cheapest weekend tickets for the most popular European festivals this year, along with the Spotify listener stats of their top five biggest headliners, to see which festivals were offering the best ‘listeners per £’ value, showing where music fans could see the biggest acts for the least amount of money.
Parklife named second most affordable European festival
Coming in second place is the UK’s Parklife Festival, held in our great city of Manchester. Weekend ticket prices start at £162, with headliners including Calvin Harris, Sammy Virji, and Skepta, with the top five headliners’ monthly listener count coming out to 180,516,586, with a rate of 1,114,300 listeners per £ spent.
Of course, we’re biased, but we are inclined to agree, with some of the biggest names in house, dance and pop music – and a fair few huge rappers and grime artists lately – braving the Heaton Park rain year on year. Consistently an asset to our cultural calendar, Parklife also kicks off the summer in Heaton Park, with plenty of epic open air gigs following the festival.
Other affordable European festivals
Romania’s Untold Festival topped the list, with weekend ticket prices starting at £160. Headliners include Zara Larsson, Lewis Capaldi, and Flo Rida, with the listeners of the top five headliners adding up to a whopping 248,047,304, coming out to 1,550,296 per £ spent.
Germany’s Lollapalooza Berlin comes in third on the list, coming out to 1,056,674 listeners per £ spent. Headliners include Pitbull, Lewis Capaldi, and Lorde, with the top five headliners having 184,917,932 monthly Spotify listeners in total, and weekend tickets starting at £175.
Fourth place goes to Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival. Weekend tickets start at £225, and headliners include YUNGBLUD, Tyler, The Creator, and Major Lazer, with the top five headliners’ Spotify listeners totalling 160,311,406. This comes out to 712,495 listeners per £ spent.
Rounding out the top five is Portugal’s NOS Alive festival, coming out to 565,631 listeners per £ spent. Weekend ticket prices start at £170, with headliners including Foo Fighters, Florence + The Machine, and Twenty One Pilots. The top five headliners’ Spotify listeners add up to 96,157,267 in total.
Top 10 best value for money European festivals
- Untold Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (£160)
- Parklife, Manchester, UK (£162)
- Lollapalooza Berlin, Germany (£175)
- Pukkelpop, Hasselt, Belgium (£225)
- NOS Alive, Lisbon, Portugal (£170)
- Primavera Sound, Barcelona, Spain (£250)
- Open’er Festival, Gdynia, Poland (£195)
- Solidays, Paris, France (£135)
- Sziget, Budapest, Hungary (£340)
- Reading & Leeds, UK (£325)