Going VIP the new, hot festival ticket

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Warren Weitzer is 40 years old, and there’s no way he’s going to share a portable toilet and camp out with thousands of other people just to see the Police perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

“I don’t do that. I won’t,” says Mr. Weitzer, a businessman from Syracuse, N.Y.

Instead, he’ll have access to a real bathroom, enjoy free and discounted food and drinks — and then he’ll be driven to a hotel 30 miles away from the festival site in Tennessee.

“I will go VIP or not go at all,” Mr. Weitzer says.

Bonnaroo draws 80,000 people to a farm in rural Manchester, 65 miles south of Nashville, but not all of them want to sweat through four days of music in sometimes inclement weather, crammed into the crowded tent city.

Summer music festivals attract fans like Mr. Weitzer by offering special VIP packages, promising a hassle-free weekend for an extra price, sometimes two to three times more than the cost of regular tickets.

Music fans will pay extra for two reasons — priority access and reduced annoyances, says Ray Waddell, who covers the touring industry for Billboard magazine.

“For some consumers, there’s no price tag too high for that,” Mr. Waddell says.

At Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park, private cabanas on the shore of Lake Michigan cost more than $32,500 for a party of 30. Air-conditioned viewing stands were available for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (JazzFest), and Bonnaroo artists will perform a private show for VIP guests during tonight’s opening festivities.

“There’s a psychological effect that comes when you know you’re doing as much as they allow anyone to do,” Mr. Weitzer says. “From the moment you get off the plane, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

Mr. Weitzer says he has no spending limits when it comes to the music festivals he attends every year, such as JazzFest, Vegoose in Las Vegas and Gathering of the Vibes, a jam-band festival in Bridgeport, Conn.

If he can buy VIP tickets to those festivals, he will, but Mr. Weitzer says Bonnaroo’s package of amenities is the best for the price he’s paying, at least $1,300, including airfare.

“The hotel is a bonus you can’t get at other festivals,” he says. “It’s all a question of what’s important to you.”

If Mr. Weitzer is the typical VIP festival guest — an older, wealthier and more finicky music buff — 23-year-old college student Laura Beamon is the exception.

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