Yungblud hopes his new festival can “challenge” the way gigs are priced.
The 26-year-old singer is staging Bludfest at Milton Keynes Bowl on 11 August – at which he will be joined on the bill by the likes of Lil Yachty, The Damned, Soft Play and Nessa Barrett – and his decision to sell tickets at just £49.50 was non-negotiable during planning because he thinks high prices are hugely unfair to fans.
He told Big Issue magazine: “We live in a society where like, if this is the way things should be, well, then we’ll just leave it as it is.
“I wanted to do something that would challenge ticket pricing, that would challenge the way things have been done before.
“When you go to a festival, you’ve got to get gasoline. It’s a train ticket, it’s food, it’s everything.
“People end up spending 400 quid on a festival and that is just mental.”
Yungblud has been an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and encouraged him and other Conservative MPs to attend the festival in order to learn about what will appeal to young people.
He said: “I think they should come and they should learn.
“Obviously I can sit here and say, ‘I think they’re all full of s***.’ But what I would love to happen is I would love them to come and listen.”
The ’11 Minutes’ singer was advised by record company bosses not to “talk politics” in his songs when he was starting his career but he’s glad he didn’t listen.
He said: “Music can genuinely change the world.
“It allows a message to go inside your gut instead of inside your brain.
“When you feel it, I think you’re more inclined to act.”
