Truck Festival named 2024’s best-value festival

New analysis ranked each festival on a series of financial, health and safety, and environmental ‘values’, including weekend ticket cost, number of acts, number of days, weather, sustainability management, danger to festival-goers, and suspected deaths.

Truck Festival took the crown, offering the cheapest ticket price for the full event (£185), as well as 150 acts, excellent weather and strong environmental standards.

Victorious Festival grabbed second spot, thanks to being one of the cheapest camping festivals (£225), offering a massive 365 acts, and the safe onsite environment it created for festival-goers. There were just two mentions of people feeling unsafe at the festival on social media across the entire weekend.

Coming in just behind the top two was Kendal Calling, which raced to third spot thanks to its great value per act (£1.40) and its dedication to sustainable living. Only Glastonbury boasts more progressive green credentials than Kendal Calling Festival.

According to the research, collated by RRC International, Glastonbury and Boomtown took a joint fourth spot, with Glastonbury offering both the best value per act (£0.34) and strongest environmental considerations, including a strong mission statement, clear net-zero targets and year-on-year sustainable growth. Meanwhile, Boomtown also ranked well due to its fantastic weather and incredible 308 acts.

Managing Director of RRC International, Richard Stockley, comments: “It goes without saying, that as a nation, we love music festivals. The excitement when Glastonbury tickets go on sale is palpable. However, we also love to know our money is being well spent! This not only means seeing lots of top tier acts, but also knowing that we are going to be safe on site, and that the festivals’ ethics, health and safety, training and commitment to being ‘green’ matches our own values.

Festival-goers can now party knowing which festivals offer them best value for money, and which festivals are going to give them the best and safest experience possible.”

The research, designed to highlight how Brits can best spend their money next festival season and the amount of work and training needed to allow safe, sustainable music festivals to take place, also looked at the UK’s top non-camping festivals. This saw a change to the rankings, with Godiva Festival taking second place. Offering unbeatable value at just £49.50 for the full event, a cost per act of just £0.31, and the safest at-festival environment with no social media mentions of feeling unsafe or deaths, it topped the pile. It was closely followed by Radio 1’s Big Weekend, which boasts strong environmental credentials and an almost unrivalled cost per act (£0.89).

Stockley continues: “There isn’t much better than a music festival, especially when the sun is out, but it is still really important that people feel safe from the moment they go through the gates. Of course, people having a good time is a high priority for the organisers, but it is also their job to worry about the health and safety and environmental implications so that festival-goers don’t have to. They need to consider overcrowding, heatstroke, dehydration, injury, and more, but with the right training, planning and strategies in place, these festivals can put on the best show possible, and do so safely.”