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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Esther Addley

Split payments and second jobs: how music festival fans afford soaring costs

A crowd of people at a festival
Festival organisers and fans have been buffeted by a post-pandemic, post-Brexit surge in costs. Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock

From Monday to Friday, Jessica Heath works as a civil servant in central London – but when the weekend comes, it’s not time to relax. For the past two years, the 28-year-old has also worked evening shifts most Saturdays and Sundays at a nearby wine bar, with one clear aim – to save up for her summers.

Heath has been a huge music festival fan since she first went to Leeds as a teenager and each year, including day events, she takes in at least seven, some as a volunteer. Without that and her second job, she’d never be able to afford it, she says.

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