Greenbelt Festival celebrates a successful festival as it announces new cheaper youth tickets

Greenbelt Festival celebrates a successful festival as it announces new cheaper tickets for 18-25 year olds from £120, youth tickets from £50, and kids tickets from £25 announced as tickets for 2025 go on sale.

Greenbelt Festival began its second half century with another memorable gathering in the beautiful grounds at Boughton House. Bucking the trends and defying the odds it continued its plucky and distinctive resistance to complacency and conformity with its unique blend of artistry and activism and belief. Greenbelt continued its defiant, eclectic, diverse and inclusive celebration of both the humane and the divine. A true celebration of music, activism, artistry and ideas, it’s a space that has been created as somewhere to believe in.

Where else would you see Grammy Award winner Corinne Bailey Rae; doughnut economist Kate Raworth; a new jazz/soul musical Chisholm for President from rapper Testament; drag legend Flamy Grant; grime hip-hop duo Bob Vylan; up-and-coming future star Nectar Woode; poet, performer and criminal justice activist Lady Unchained; 14-strong Dutty Moonshine Big Band and world famous contemporary circus act Ghandini Juggling; and rapper and criminal justice campaigner Guvna B?

That’s not even including the brilliant family friendly acts such as UK's leading bubbleologist Samsam Bubbleman and international circus entertainer Circus Kaos; or the new artists-in-residence venue with acclaimed artists Bobby Baker and Lucy Wright. Yes, ALL this in ONE weekend. What a weekend!

And, good news! You can get your ticket for next year, NOW! The festival’s radical pay-what-you-can ticketing model is back, meaning the earlier you buy the cheaper they are. New for 2025 is the introduction of cheaper tickets for young people (from £125), as well as reducing the cost of under-18 (from £50) and under-11 tickets (from £25). Just choose the ticket option to suit you. And if you buy in what’s left of August you can spread the cost over the next 12 months completely interest-free. It’s also making the ticket tier deadlines super-simple: by Christmas, by Easter, by Greenbelt.

Greenbelt also confirmed strong attendance with over 10,500 revellers in a year where many festivals have struggled; even closed. This year saw Greenbelt launch its No Fly Zone, a new venue enabling artists and performers to be part of the line-up without the environmental impact of travel. Talks and performances from this venue, as well as other stages and arenas around the festival, were live-streamed resulting in an additional 2,000 festival-goers enjoying Greenbelt from their living rooms.

Greenbelt’s Creative Director, Paul Northup, comments, “Come wind and rain, Greenbelt battled all the weather at Boughton House last weekend to triumph in the phased of adversity and gather 10,500 people of all ages ands backgrounds together to celebrate the magic and meaning that can happen when artistry, activism and belief are intertwined."

GREENBELT FESTIVAL 2024 HIGHLIGHTS

Here’s a few faves in more detail to remember it by…

This artist needs no introduction but Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae stole our hearts when she headlined the main stage performing her utterly astonishing critically-acclaimed album, Black Rainbows in its entirety. What a night!

Corinne Bailey-Rae on the main stage. No photo cred.

Did you see the formidable grime, punk rock, and hip hop duo, Bob Vylan? Full of contradictions; they love a mosh pit but started their gig with yoga. It’s all about the chaos and the peace.

Considered to be one of the world’s greatest contemporary circus acts, the magnificent Gandini Juggling brought their hit show Smashed to Greenbelt! A blur of surrealism, dance, choreography, comedy, flights of poetry and more. Absolutely breathtaking!

This was Duke Ellington meets UK garage. 12-bar blues given the drum-and-bass treatment. The very magnificent Dutty Moonshine Big Band sent the crowds wild infusing jazz with a healthy dose of UK garage and dash of drum-and-bass.

Greenbelt Festival 2024. No photo cred.

Over at the Rebel Rouser stage I, Doris, the world’s leading feminist, post-punk, mummy core-kitchen pop band, trashed out a set that was personal, political, witty, sharp and cutting. Long live Doris, Doris, Doris and Doris (yes, they’re all called Doris!), and long may they continue to take down the patriarchy one gig at a time.

The Table venue in partnership with Refugees at Home at this year’s festival. No photo cred needed.

Bringing it in every way shape and form was drag legend Flamy Grant. A glorious, shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing-songwriting drag queen and Billboard-charting artist from North Carolina. Her show, ‘Apocalypse Wow!’ was a highlight of the weekend! A one-woman cabaret celebrating her journey from golden child to heathen with huge hair! Yass queen!

Rapper, composer and playwright Testament brought his new musical, Chisholm for President, to Greenbelt. Performed on the main stage rather than in the Playhouse, it tells the story of the life and work of civil rights pioneer Shirley Chisholm - the first black woman to be elected to Congress in the US - who went on to make an against-all-odds bid to run for President in 1972. Utterly brilliant!

Huge shout out to justice activist Lady Unchained who challenged perceptions and inspired minds at this year’s Greenbelt, proving there is life after prison.

Lady Unchained at the Rebel Rouser stage. No photo cred.

Did you catch former English teacher turned beat poet, Antony Szmierek dishing up his wry, tender, heartfelt and vulnerable thoughts on life, love, meaning and matter? His poetry is the perfect blend of modern-day pop coupled with age-old wisdom, all glued together with criminally danceable hooks (and occasional rave piano).

Icon of the British arts scene, Bobby Baker was also at this year’s festival exhibiting her work on motherhood, domesticity, feminism and equal rights at the new arts venue, The Residency.

Greenbelt Festival 2024 - no photo cred.

Always a festival fave, House of Gospel Choir did it again. A banging, inspirational set of exhilarating, joyous gospel sounds to the main stage. They totally delivered fusing some of the biggest house, gospel and garage tunes into an empowering, inclusive, uplifting set full of serotonin highs. Just wow!

Rising star Nectar Woode, the up-and-coming soul singer and songwriter extraordinaire. A truly beautiful set, definitely one to watch!

MORE THAN MUSIC - £XXX AND COUNTING…Greenbelt Festival Sunday communion service has raised £50,000 (before gift aid). The money raised will be split 50/50 - 50% to Greenbelt to keep the show on the road, and the other 50% will be donated to Gaza Relief and Development. You can read more about this here.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

That’s pretty much all from Greenbelt 2024, but we’ll see you in the fields next August! Put 21 - 24 August in the diary.

Greenbelt Festival 2024 - no photo cred.