LONDON – Tired of inflated ticket prices, recording artist Yungblud is launching his own affordable music festival.
Bludfest takes place on Aug. 11 in the iconic Milton Keynes Bowl, which in the past has hosted the likes of David Bowie and Green Day in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of London.
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Yungblud, whose real name is Dom Harrison, thinks that currently festivals are “unrepresentative of people” — so he’s fixing the price point of Bludfest at 49.50 pounds (around $63).
“It’s like massive ticket charges, massive prices that most of the time aren’t really going to the artist anyway,” he said of typical festival prices in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He adds that music festivals are becoming inaccessible when really they should be about “having fun and making memories.”
Joining him on the bill are Lil Yachty, duo Soft Play, Nessa Barrett, Lola Young and Jazmin Bean. The Damned are also playing in an “icons” slot. Tickets for the event go on sale March 22.
Yungblud says he aims to make a “physical world” for him and his fanbase, and then “anyone else who wants to come along.”
The British star is also offering a “Make a Friend” option for fans attending alone. You can either chat before on a Discord channel, or go to the designated tent and meet people in person.
And he hopes to expand it out of the U.K. if it goes according to plan, taking the concept to different regions across the globe.
As well as Bludfest, Yungblud is also working on a new record, his fourth. In the past he’s written about darkness and depression, but says this one has a more positive tone.
“I’ve sung about the things that really hurt me in the beginning. And this new album flips over and it’s about the light. It’s about wanting to be alive and wanting to be with my friends and thinking I can get through it because these people have given me some hope,” he said.
And it’s not just his friends who give him hope — it’s also his fans.
“I really do have a strong faith in humanity in me because I see people every day and I see what they do for each other at my gigs,” he said.