Arriving in Style at the Music Festival.

For any mega music festival with upwards of 50,000 festival-goers the queuing and overcrowding can be an off-putting experience. As the largest music festivals often take place in remote locations getting in an out will usually be painful experience but for those with enough money there are alternatives to the usual traffic jams simply booking a helicopter ride in to the festival site.

Even since the early days of the large music festival helicopters have been used for easy access in and out of festival sites and were first used at Woodstock in 1969. For mega festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella helicopter usage is still very common. However, with environmental sustainability concerns becoming more topical is there still a place for such extravagant arrivals.

VIP Packages. 
Music festivals always offer VIP packages and are an integral part of most music festival offerings with ultimate packages including chartered helicopter rides into and out of the festival site. However, it is possible to book just the flights from about £4k per person (London to Glastonbury for example) but they usually form part of complete VIP package deal that includes luxury glamping, secret bars and backstage access. Expect to pay closer to £16k for such a weekend package.

Performance Artists. 
It can be common for headline artists to arrive by helicopter and although perhaps not the choice for all performance artists those on a tight performing schedule arriving by helicopter can sometimes be the only way to get the artist to the event in a timely manner. Many headline acts will usually spend the summer months on the music festival circuit sometimes appearing at more than 2 festivals in a day so travel options can be limited.

Medical Evacuation. 
Despite the obvious extravagance of helicopter usage during a music festival they do actually serve a more practical use. For any urgent medical attention required that cannot be handled by an on-site medical centre evacuation to a fully equipped nearby hospital may be a lifesaving action. Even the helicopters flying in and out of Woodstock in 1969 were used to carry artists in and sick festivals-goers out.

Whilst helicopter usage may be frowned upon by many, they still serve a useful purpose which the mega festivals could not do without. Financial excess is becoming topical and combined with environmental concerns about pollution some organisers may shift their attitude towards the frivolous use of helicopter rides in and out of a festival site. It would not be surprising to see organisers limiting helicopter usage in the future to essential use only reserved for performance artists who otherwise would not be able to attend and for medical evacuations for example.

For organisers planning their festivals using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics including the management of artist’s travel arrangements. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering. 

Photo by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels

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