£45 for Feel Good Festival? Why today's ticket price has sparked complaints — and what organisers say

A £45 on-the-day ticket price for the main stage at Rochdale Feel Good Festival has prompted criticism from some residents, with questions being raised about affordability in a borough where many households are already feeling the pressure of the cost of living.

One resident summed up the frustration, saying: "Knew it was going to happen ‘it’s for the people of the town’ the same town thats poverty ridden and they put a £45 price on it I hope it’s a flop and they go back to doing it for the people of the town."

It is an understandable criticism when £45 is viewed in isolation. For a couple buying on the day, the headline ticket cost is £90 before the 7.5 per cent booking fee. For a larger family or group, the cost can quickly become substantial. There are also no concessions for the main stage ticket.

But £45 is not what everybody attending the festival has paid — and the pricing structure is important context.

Rochdale Borough Council says tickets were deliberately released in phases, with the cheapest tickets available to people who booked earliest. Early-bird tickets cost £15 plus a 7.5 per cent booking fee. Once those sold out, phase two was £25, phase three £30 and phase four £35. Tickets bought on the day cost £45 plus the booking fee.

In other words, somebody who secured an early-bird ticket paid one third of today's £45 headline price. The council's ticket page explicitly told customers that the earlier they booked, the more they would save. Early-bird and subsequent lower-priced allocations sold out before the festival.

The £15 starting price was not hidden until the last minute. Rochdale Development Agency announced on 30 January that early-bird tickets would go on sale on 6 February for £15, followed by a second phase at £25. Rochdale Creates repeated the early-bird price in its own February announcement.

WHY DOES THE FESTIVAL CHARGE AT ALL?

The council has also published a detailed explanation for charging for the main stage. It says the decision was announced in February 2020 as an attempt to make the festival less reliant on public funding.

According to the council, it has invested well over £1 million in Feel Good Festival since the event began in 2008, while the festival has lost 25 per cent of its public funding since 2017. The council says cuts to public spending have squeezed budgets at the same time as the costs of staging festivals have continued to rise.

Those costs, it says, include increasing artist fees as well as inflation affecting production, labour and infrastructure. Organisers argue that asking festival-goers to contribute towards entry to the main stage creates a balance between reducing the burden on taxpayers and keeping a major summer music event in Rochdale.

The council describes the ticket price as modest for a full day of entertainment and says Feel Good Festival contributes to the local economy while also generating income from sponsors and traders.

That does not mean residents have to agree with the decision. There is a legitimate debate about whether a council-backed festival in a borough containing communities with significant deprivation should prioritise the lowest possible admission price, particularly when an event has long been promoted as something for Rochdale residents.

But there is an equally important distinction between saying Feel Good Festival costs £45 and saying that everyone was asked to pay £45. They were not. The final on-the-day price is the top of a phased structure that began at £15.

WHAT IS STILL FREE?

The charge applies specifically to the main stage area at Rochdale Town Hall Square, the food and drink village and associated wristband-access areas. Most performances in the festival's indoor venues remain free.

The main-stage ticket also includes a reusable Rochdale Creates drinks cup, which organisers say is intended to reduce single-use plastic. Visitors can take the cup home or return it to marked collection points for reuse.

So is £45 too expensive? For some Rochdale families, undoubtedly it will feel that way — particularly for anybody deciding to attend at the last minute. The criticism deserves to be heard.

But the complete picture is that tickets began at £15, rose in clearly advertised phases as allocations sold out, and the council says charging was introduced because public funding has fallen while the cost of staging the festival has risen.

Whether that represents a fair way to protect one of Rochdale's biggest annual events, or whether the final price has moved too far away from the idea of a festival 'for the people of the town', is ultimately a question for residents themselves.