Francesca Smith

Seniors Kathryn Scott and Francesca Smith pose for a photo at the 2016 Lollapalooza festival. Scott said the festival was expensive but she made revenue by selling extra tickets.

For just $335, lollapalooza, annual popular music festival in Chicago, offers the chance to see 170 performances on eight stages over the course of four days. A $2,200 VIP ticket is offered as well for those looking for a deluxe experience, excluding the costs for lodging, transportation, food, outfits and additional merch, making this musical festival a pricey endeavor.

In approximately two months, some CHS students will pay these high prices to experience Lollapalooza for themselves. 

“Lollapalooza gets so expensive,” said Kathryn Scott, Lollapalooza attendee and senior. “The tickets are the least of people’s concerns, especially with hotel rooms and food prices.”

According to the Lollapalooza website, hotel packages are offered for commuters. These hotels are selected based on proximity and accessibility to the festival.

However, prices range from $1,169 per person to around $3,500, raising concerns over the price tag for the ultimate Lollapalooza experience.

In order to cut down on lodging costs, senior Max Goldman plans on staying with relatives who live in the Chicago area.

“I am going on Thursday and Sunday, the first and last days, but I am staying with my grandparents so finding and paying for a hotel in between the days is not really a problem for me,” said Goldman.

Goldman said he is paying for two daily general admission tickets, which totals to around $240. He said he bought tickets for all of his friends and himself at the same time to make sure all of his friends would have tickets.

According to Scott, last year she attended the festival for one day and was able to see a wide variety of audiences. However, this year due to financial and logistical problems she is unsure if she will still attend.

“Tickets sell out very, very fast. This year, I accidentally bought a ticket for Sunday when I meant to buy a ticket for Saturday. So I don’t even know if I can go this year because all of the tickets are sold and now on resale all of the tickets will be jacked up, said Scott. “Is it worth it to buy a resale ticket or should I just sell both of my tickets for a profit and use that money for other things in the summer?”

Purchasing resold tickets is common for Lollapalooza attendees, especially because tickets sold out in seven minutes. According to Scott, last year she resold tickets to cover the costs for her own ticket.

“Last year instead of buying two tickets, I bought four tickets and then I resold two of the tickets to cover the cost of my ticket to get in basically free. That was a really good move to make it a lot less expensive,” said Scott.

According to Scott, it was difficult to keep track of how much money she was spending because she was paying with Lolla Cashless, which allows festival goers to enter the festival and pay for merchandise and foo
d through their wristbands. So, Scott tried to cut down on costs by spending less money on new clothing for the concert. 

Goldman believes that once he gets to the festival he will be more focused on the music rather than the pricetag.

“I think it’s worth the money because you can go to obviously more than once concert it a day,” said Goldman.

Scott agrees and believes Lollapalooza offers the experience and value that justifies the cost.

“My favorite part of the festival was getting to see so many of my favorite artists and listening to my favorite music,” said Scott. “For me, that was pretty much priceless.”