Luxe treatment or not, getting to see Dua Lipa<\/a>, Harry Styles<\/a>, or Bad Bunny headline a music festival\u2019s main stage is a bucket-list experience. But after standing for hours in the hot sun, fighting through sweaty crowds to get food and drinks, and waiting in long lines for smelly portable toilets to open up, springing for a VIP (aka expensive AF) ticket at Coachella, Lollapalooza, or any other big music festival can start to look so. much. more<\/em> appealing. Of course, not all outdoor concert experiences are created equal \u2014 some VIP music festival tickets come with better views of the performances; others, you\u2019re basically paying for air-conditioned bathrooms. Since VIP perks (and prices) have changed a lot over the years, I decided to investigate some of the most recent events to find out which VIP music festival tickets are actually worth the splurge and which ones are better off as general admission.<\/p>\n Skipping past hundreds of people waiting to see DJ LP Giobbi<\/a> at Coachella\u2019s air-conditioned Yuma Tent this year on Palm Springs<\/a>\u2019 hottest day so far, I couldn\u2019t imagine not having VIP access. My Coachella VIP ticket \u2014 given to me as part of Marriott Bonvoy\u2019s music-centric \u201cRoam Around The World\u201d campaign<\/a> with LP Giobbi, who DJ\u2019d a cover of the B-52\u2019s \u201cRoam\u201d for the initiative \u2014 shielded me from some of the 100-plus-degree desert heat, thanks to shaded areas with sprinklers and well-kept bathrooms with A\/C. But full bars and easy access to refreshments aside, I was surprised that compared to a $549 GA ticket, my VIP ticket, valued at $1,069, didn\u2019t include any discounts on the festival\u2019s grossly overpriced food ($20 for a slice of pizza?!) and drinks, better parking or transportation options, or VIP viewing areas for some of the bigger stages. And Coachella\u2019s far from the only big-ticket experience to not meet attendees\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n Since all red carpet packages couldn\u2019t possibly be hype-worthy, I, along with six other festivalgoers, weighed in on the perks of VIP experiences at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball, as well as which experiences are actually worth the upgrade.<\/p>\n Coachella 2023 GA Ticket Price:<\/strong> $549 for a three-day pass (without fees)<\/p>\n Coachella 2023 VIP Ticket Price:<\/strong> $1,049 for a three-day pass (without fees) <\/p>\n Arguably the mother of all music festivals, Coachella is as much about the fashion<\/a> and the scene as it is about seeing some of the biggest musicians live. More than 150 artists performed this year<\/a>, including Blackpink, Bad Bunny, The Kid Laroi, Charli XCX, and Frank Ocean.<\/p>\n Despite the pricey tickets, Coachella VIP<\/a> doesn\u2019t include free food and beverages. The main differences between Coachella VIP and GA are access and wait times. \u201cThere was a section with free popsicles, but it\u2019s a lot of the same food carts, just in a different area,\u201d Toby Kaplan, 33, tells Elite Daily about his experience in 2022, adding, \u201cYou do have shorter lines for the most part, though.\u201d Many restaurants this year had both VIP and GA stalls, but there were a few that you could only get in the VIP section like The Nice Guy, Camphor, KazuNori, and Prince Street Pizza.<\/p>\n Ordering cocktails, coffee, and non-alcoholic craft drinks was much easier if you paid extra for your ticket. In Coachella\u2019s VIP areas \u2014 the Rose Garden and the 12 Peaks Tents \u2014 this year, you could get beverages from hot spots like Chamberlain Coffee<\/a>, Delilah, and The New Bar non-alcoholic craft cocktail space. I visited the VIP cocktail bars due to the extensive selection and shorter lines. While lemonade and beer were plentiful in GA, the other offerings had pretty limited menus and extremely long lines.<\/p>\n At many sporting events or concerts, the VIP area isn\u2019t necessarily the one that\u2019s closest to the action, and that unfortunately rang true for my Coachella experience. I actually left the VIP area to get a better view of Labrinth, Zendaya<\/a>, and Sia in GA! The main benefits of having VIP access were that I didn\u2019t have to arrive early to get a somewhat decent view of any artist, and that I had plenty of space to move around. \u201cCoachella Weekend One is usually sold out, so unless you\u2019re in the VIP section, you\u2019re crammed into a huge crowd,\u201d Toby says. \u201cYour view is only as good as you\u2019re willing to wait in line,\u201d he adds of GA.<\/p>\n For me, a casual fan of Bad Bunny, it was great seeing the \u201cWhere She Goes\u201d rapper\u2019s set far up on the left side of the Main Stage in the 12 Peaks VIP area, but avid fans of Benito who wanted to be as close to the stage as possible might\u2019ve preferred GA so they could scout out a spot up front. <\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t prepared for the toll three days of Coachella took on my body. Weekend Two\u2019s dustiness, paired with extreme Palm Springs temperatures during the day and night, was a lot to handle. The A\/C and cold water in the VIP bathrooms felt incredible after standing out in the sun for hours, and it was great skipping the long line to the air-conditioned Yuma Tent during the day. While GA also had water stations, sprinklers, and shaded seating areas, they were much more plentiful in VIP.<\/p>\n One amenity that would make VIP much more worthwhile: unlimited golf cart access to get around the different stages. (You have to purchase this separately as part of the $11,000 Safari Pass<\/a>, or it comes with Artist passes.) Kate Gianurco, 33, who went to Coachella this year, says adding golf cart access to VIP tickets is a game-changer because of the event\u2019s setup. \u201cWhen you get to the festival entrance, you have to walk 40 minutes along a fence just to swipe your wristband,\u201d she says. \u201cOver a Coachella weekend, you\u2019re walking about 54 miles, and you\u2019re destroyed. You\u2019re limping by the end of each night.\u201d<\/p>\n It was unusually hot at Coachella this year, so having VIP access definitely made the experience more comfortable for me. Thanks to the easy access to cold water, shaded areas, and A\/C, I was able to stay at the festival longer instead of heading back to the hotel in the afternoon. However, if you don\u2019t really care about the earlier performers or more F&B variety, getting a GA ticket and heading to the festival later in the day so you can save your energy and beat the heat would probably be your best option.<\/p>\n Lollapalooza 2023 GA Ticket Price:<\/strong> $125 for one-day pass (without fees); $250 for two-day pass (without fees), $365 for four-day pass (without fees)<\/p>\n Lollapalooza 2023 VIP Ticket Price:<\/strong> $500 for one-day pass (without fees); $1,500 for four-day pass (without fees)<\/p>\n Taking place over four days at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, Lollapalooza<\/a> 2023 will feature more than 170 musicians like Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, and The 1975 from Aug. 3 through Aug. 6. <\/p>\n Lollapalooza\u2019s VIP passes don\u2019t include food and beverages, but they used to. Lindsey Simon, 29, who\u2019s gone to Lollapalooza every year since 2010, says the VIP F&B situation \u2014 which now comprises mainly shorter lines and brand pop-ups \u2014 has seen a major downgrade the last few years. \u201cBefore, they had all-you-can-eat buffets, random snacks, wine tables, and coolers filled to the top with free alcohol,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery year, I get so mad seeing the price of VIP tickets increase by $25 or so with nothing extra.\u201d Last year, four-day Lollapalooza GA tickets cost $350 in 2022 ($15 less than in 2023), but the $1,500 four-Day VIP tickets cost the same this year. The festival also eliminated the three-day ticket bundles it\u2019s had in previous years. <\/p>\n When I went to Lolla with a VIP ticket in 2022, I was struck by how inexpensive the food turned out to be. (My meal cost just over $10.) The only \u201cbetter\u201d option was the Platinum package, which has all-you-can-eat-and-drink… for almost three times the price(!) of a VIP pass. Definitely not the vibe for the everyday person. GA and GA+ are pretty similar when it comes to food and drink \u2014 the only difference is that, for $310 more, GA+ includes access to a lounge with one dedicated bar, in addition to air-conditioned bathrooms and seating areas. <\/p>\n Lollapalooza VIPs previously had access to an elevated platform on the side of the two main stages. Jack Gleason, 33, who attended the event in 2021 and 2022, argues that the elevation of the viewing platform actually gave VIP fans an advantage by separating them from the floods of people at the festival. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the full stage from the elevated stands, which you can\u2019t really do when you\u2019re in a mosh pit on the ground,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can see the actual performance instead of looking at the big screen, and the the sound is better because you\u2019re above the crowd noise.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, VIP has a designated ground section, which might be more attractive to music lovers who want to avoid GA crowds while being closer to the performances. Lindsey says the main issue with the elevated area was that it was a couple hundred yards away from the stage. \u201cThe VIP section was typically further back than most of the GA crowds,\u201d she says. \u201cPlus, the couple hundred people in VIP were smashed together on the small viewing platform.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the festival\u2019s official website, Lollapalooza\u2019s 2023 VIP experience<\/a> includes air-conditioned bathrooms, lounges with beauty and wellness treatments, lawn games, a premium entrance, and golf shuttle transportation around the festival. \u201cThe VIP lounges have massages, braid stations, and even places to get your nails done,\u201d Lindsey adds. \u201cHowever, you\u2019re paying for that on top of your VIP ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/imgix.bustle.com\/uploads\/getty\/2023\/6\/12\/3ecc6995-5533-4193-8425-1ef5d5c966b2-getty-1484326179.jpg?w=760&h=507&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format%2Ccompress)
<\/picture><\/noscript><\/div>Coachella<\/h2>\n
Coachella VIP Food & Drinks<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Coachella VIP Viewing Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Coachella VIP Amenities<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Is It Worth Getting VIP Tickets To Coachella?<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture><\/noscript><\/div>Lollapalooza<\/h2>\n
Lollapalooza VIP Food & Drinks<\/h3>\n
Lollapalooza VIP Viewing Area<\/h3>\n
Lollapalooza VIP Amenities<\/h3>\n
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