Ah, the Glastonbury ticket-holder. Not since Charlie Bucket raised his
Princess Diana eyes and bleated “I’ve got one” have people had such cause to
wallow in their good fortune. You’d think that Gandhi was going to be making
a special appearance, so significant has the event appeared to become.
Tony Blair scores a partial victory on climate change at the G8 summit – so
what? The Glastonbury lineup (you know, people you’ve never heard of such as
The Who, Arctic Monkeys and Björk) has just been announced. Never mind that
the lineup is about as interesting to read for eight ninths of the
population as a ten-year-old TV listing. Because yes, hard as it is to
believe, there are people who won’t be going – 61 million of them in the UK
alone, in fact.
So, to turn the tables and wrestle back a bit of smugness, we thought it would
be fun to tot up how much a Glastonbury trip will cost an average punter and
see what else you could do for the money. Adding up festival ticket (£130),
petrol (£100) and a broad category we labelled “ingestables” (£220), we
arrived at a princely sum of £450 per person for three days.
Then we looked for entertainment alternatives, preferably somewhere hot,
abroad and with toilet facilities. Remarkably, it wasn’t as hard as we
thought it might be. It seems that the world is falling over itself to put
on top-quality, value-for-money – many are free – events. Handily for us the
Continent busts a gut each year to host free events throughout the summer,
most of which don’t even break even. The reason is the demanding cultural
tourist. Sun, sea and historic monuments are no longer enough to distinguish
one destination from another, we need other reasons to go.
That coupled with enlightened attitudes to arts funding on the part of local
governments, means that there isn’t an Italian square or French city where
you won’t be able to enjoy Lou Reed, Amy Winehouse or Chick Corea – all for
the cost of a flat beer, soggy chips and a chance to stand at the back of a
100,000-strong crowd in some field we won’t even mention.
And, no, we’re not bitter.
Phoebe Greenwood
Traffic Festival, Turin
July 11-14
It may lack the romance of Florence or the shops of Milan, but Turin is home
to two much more important things: chocolate and the biggest free festival
in Italy.
Traffic, now in its 12th year, is four days of mayhem, as rock, art, poetry,
literature and cinema collide with a series of events that have one thing in
common: they have to be free.
Ryanair flights from Stansted on July 10 are £4.99, return flights on July 15
are the same price, so you could break every taboo in the list of surprise
charges (such as, say, luggage), and still have at least £400 left when you
touch down at Turin. Put a tenner aside for an Italian phrase book. Even if
you have your heart set on feasting on Turin chocolate rather than pizza and
pasta, that still leaves enough cash to ditch the tent and get a bed in a
central three-star hotel. Hotel Orchidea will do five nights in a twin room
for £195 and is handy for Parco della Pellerina, where nightly headliners
are Lou Reed, Daft Punk, LCD Sound-system, Arctic Monkeys and the Italian
art-rock legend Franco Battiato (with Antony & the Johnsons). At these
prices, can you afford not to go?
Elsewhere, June 21 is Fête de la Musique in Paris. It’s an allnight solstice
celebration in the streets, so there’s no need for accomo-dation, just
plenty of stamina. Eurostar will get you there with money to spare.
David Hutcheon
Festival de Jazz Django Reinhardt, Samois-sur-Seine, France
June 27-July 1
For true joie de vivre, heroic guitar-playing and gypsy abandon, avoid
the giant rock blowouts and head for the Manouche guitarist’s picturesque
home town. Begun as a Gypsy gathering, the festival now attracts
fleet-fingered swingers from Australia and the US. There are four days of
concerts plus a memorial service for Reinhardt on the Sunday – and “because
God is a jazz lover” it never rains.
The train from London to Fontainebleau-Avon costs about £115; four-day ticket
£50; accommodation (four nights B&B) about £108 – see django.samois.free.fr.
For more contemporary sounds, head farther south to the equally scenic
Marciac, “ ville du jazz” in Gascony. This year's festival
(July 30-August 15) includes Wayne Shorter, Jean Luc Ponty, Chick Corea,
Gary Burton – and that’s just the first two days. A ticket for the entire
epic will cost £270 (www.jazz-inmarciac.com).
Less purist is the giant North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam (July 13-15). As
well as jazzbos – Wynton Marsalis, EST, Dave Holland – you can take in Amy
Winehouse, Sly and the Family Stone and Steely Dan. A ticket for every show
is £215. www.northsea-jazz.nl.
John Bungey
iTunes Festival, London
July 1-31, free
Apple are a funny bunch. When the iTunes festival was first mooted I was
invited to their headquarters, a temple to gadgetry where you swish through
electronic gates, tap in your name on a computer and the coffee machine
never works. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reveal the line-up, venue or allow
any interviews with iTunes staff. But they could say something was
happening. Great.
Well, the secret’s out now and thankfully, as one of the few people profiting
from a shaky music industry, the digital download market leaders have put
their money where their mouth is in organising a month-long free festival at
the ICA (Carlton House Terrace, London SW1 (020-7930 0493).
Not only is the ICA a lovely venue, but you just can’t beat that thrill of
knowing that you are being vaguely reckless, throwing shapes right in the
lap of Her Majesty. Headliners announced so far include the ubiquitous Amy
Winehouse, Crowded House and Mika. It’s free with tickets available to win
through various artists’ websites, the ICA and www.itunesfestival.com.
With more than 60 events, you’re bound to get lucky.
So, after you’ve forked out £8 return for the Tube, why not have dinner at the
nearby Wolsely (£150 a head) and stay at Claridges (from £285 for a deluxe
double room).
Phoebe Greenwood
The Del Sonno Music Festival in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany
Following in the footsteps of Byron and Puccini is Jonathan Ross’s producer
and festival impresario, Andy Davies. Headliners include Jack Savoretti. All
events are free, runs July and August (www.ristorantedel-sonno.it
)
Phoebe Greenwood
Lucerne Summer Festival
Aug 10-Sep 16
If you’re on a true backpacking budget, forget Switzerland and head, well,
nearly anywhere else. But with £450 the five-star Lucerne Festival (www.lucernefestival.ch)
is ready and waiting to give you a weekend of roast veal, potato rosti and,
of course, the world’s greatest orchestras in a concert hall that has to be
considered one of the very best in Europe – and that’s not including the
astounding “floating” view from the Konzertsaal terrace out on to the
crystal waters of the lake.
Taking two nights to hear Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, or James
Levine with the Boston Symphony, is possible, provided you nab the remaining
return flights for £85 from British Airways still available during much of
August. Connection is via Zurich (train fares steepish at £20 return, but
that’s transport organised at only just over £100). The excellent Hotel
Rebstock will put you up for £80 a night, and although concert tickets start
at £12.50, why not treat yourself as you still have £185 left in the budget?
Just don't buy any watches.
Neil Fisher
Tuscan Sun Festival
Aug 4-16
How many people visit Tuscany but don’t make it to Cortona? They’re missing
out. This exquisite hilltop town is picture-perfect, blissfully free of
umbrella-led tour groups, and boasts its own Renaissance master, Signorelli,
whose works are displayed pretty much everywhere. But the best thing about
the place is that once every year an absolutely stellar lineup of classical
artists arrives for the Tuscan Sun festival (the weather is pretty much a
safe bet, hence the name). Will the maths make it work for £450? Just about.
Working on a three-night trip – August 11-13 give you a fabulous conductor
(Emmanuelle Haïm), ensemble (the Takács Quartet) and diva (Anna Netrebko) –
a £150 return is possible via Ryanair to Perugia, allocating £20 for a bus
connection.
Tickets for most events start at £30, and the B&B at Le Gelosie is
offering accommodation for just over £60 a night. Admittedly if you stay for
only two nights you would have more room for manoeuvre with food: this
budget presupposes making some rather nasty sacrifices concerning the
excellent Monte-pulciano wine. www.festivaldelsole.com.
Neil Fisher
