The sun is setting on Croix-de-Coeur, a mountaintop restaurant nestled 7,000 feet above sea level in the Alps of Verbier, Switzerland. On the patio are two internationally-renowned DJs, Derek Barbolla and Philippe Tuchmann, mixing Fred Again and Peggy Gou for a crowd of no more than 30. Inside, a recently retired German CEO reveals his professional status, declaring, Aperol Spritz in hand, that he and his model girlfriend are currently “focused on enjoying life.” He looks no older than 35.
We’re all attendees of Cercle, a live music concept that pairs world-class entertainers with the wonders of the world (or nearabouts) for both a live and online audience. Over the past six years, they’ve hosted Sébastien Léger at the pyramids of Giza, Bedouin at Al-Khazneh in Jordan, Disclosure at Croatia’s Plitvice Lakes National Park, and Nina Kraviz on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris…to name a few. Last month, French artist Folamour delivered a disco-infused house set at Cathédrale Saint-Pierre in Geneva. But only after Cercle attendees—who find out about the trips through the organization’s mailing list or social media—had been mountain biking and massaged into a blissful stupor via the event’s hospitality partner, luxury hotel W Verbier.
The goal of these events, and their attendees, is to create a once in a lifetime immersive experience. For Folamour fans, specifically those with significant disposable income, €3,500 for a four-day extravaganza in the Swiss Alps (not including the flight) may seem like a steal. But many of the weekend’s attendees admitted they weren’t necessarily devotees of Folamour. Instead, they were signing up for Cercle—taking a summer-after-summer getaway that includes a party package unlike any other: W hotel suites, incomparable vistas, and DJ sets that friends or followers would give their left kidney to see live.
“The future of luxury music travel is poised for distinctive growth,” says W Hotels senior director of global brand marketing, Carly Van Sickle. “In a post-pandemic world, prospective travelers are looking to embark to destinations that transcend the ordinary itinerary.”
In the wake of Coachella 2023, ticket-holder cost breakdown videos trended across social media, revealing thousands of dollars spent to attend the festival. Pre-pandemic, tickets started at $429, since creeping to $549 in just three short years. Then there are the VIP offerings: luxury tents and cabanas ranging from $9000–$12,000 per two people, or the Coachella resort package—complete with a car service and luxury spa treatments—for which the price is not listed though reportedly cost around $25,0000 for two back in 2017.
“Some of the biggest music festivals, like Coachella, started from more authentic musical subcultures but now are more about the biggest headliners on stage and the biggest celebrities in the audience,” says Bill Werde, director of the Bandier Program for Music and Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University and former editorial director of Billboard magazine. “I think there’s a lot of FOMO involved in the marketing of events like this.”
LA Times deputy entertainment and arts editor Nate Jackson remembers when festivals were a cost-saving solution for music fans who couldn’t afford to travel to see the dozens of bands that passed through their city every other weekend. Now, he’s seeing the demographic shift to largely upper-class professionals. “Fans who will be willing to drop the price of a European vacation on a [concert or festival excursion] either already have so much money they wouldn’t miss it or are willing to invest time to make money that will be spent on something that has a place in history, and by extension, it puts them in that historical moment,” Jackson says.
“These concerts are seen, and widely marketed, as era-defining,” says Dr. Brett Lashua, lecturer in the Sociology of Media and Education department at the University College London. “There is nothing that carries more cultural cachet than being able to claim that you were there for this or that elite performance.”
Few can deny summer 2023 has been the “era” of historical performances. Even with increased economic uncertainty, music tourism seems at an all-time high, with the fiscal impact of A-list acts coining a new term: tourflation. Michael Grahn, chief economist for Danske Bank in Sweden, attributed the 0.2% added to the country’s inflation in May to Beyoncé’s heavily hyped Renaissance tour stop in Stockholm. A study by the California Center for Jobs & the Economy claimed Taylor Swift’s six sold-out nights in the 70,000-capacity SoFi Stadium in Inglewood generated a $320 million increase to Los Angeles County’s GDP.
Beatrice Hazlehurst
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