FAQs

What does my ticket give me?

Your One Day or Two-Day ticket is exchanged at our HQ for a festival wristband, which gives you access to all shows in all venues for the day or days you choose. Access is subject to each venue's capacity.

Where do I collect my wristband?

At our Festival Hub, The Workshop, 32-40 Tontine Street, in the heart of Folkestone's Creative Quarter, right in the middle of our participating venues!

Open Fri 27 Nov and Sat 28 Nov (we will publicise hours closer to the festival!).

What happens if a venue is full?

If a venue is full, it's one in, one out. We recommend exploring another venue — all are only a few minutes walk apart, and bands will be alternating sets so there will always be something for you to go and watch!

What ticket types are available?

We have very limited Super Early Bird (on sale from 24th July exclusively to people signed up to our mailing list, until they run out!), limited Early Bird until 1st September 2026, Regular, and Festival Support/Pay It Forward if you can afford it, which allows us to release more concessions.

We also have discounted Concessions for: Students/U25s + People on No/Very Low Income.

For the first time in 2026, we’re also introducing ‘Bring A Mate’ tickets, which allow two people to come at a discounted price compared to two single Regular tickets.

Are there age restrictions?

14+, with U18s needing to be with an 18+ adult. A couple of our small venues will only allow U18s to stay until 9pm to comply with their license. We'd love to have younger audiences still, but it adds an extra layer we cannot sustain at our grassroots level.

Students and U25s can access discounted concessions tickets.

Why is everything ticketed?

Compass Festival’s initial 2024 free afternoon with donations unfortunately didn't cover costs, as we only receive very minimal local project funding.

To uphold our values, ie. pay all performing artists fairly, as well as crew, have good sound with professional P.A and sound engineers, and keep tickets affordable for all to be able to enjoy, all shows need to be ticketed, although our pricing is very competitive. Tickets still average less than £1 per band, with concessions available.

Will tickets be available on the door?

Possibly — but only if not sold out. Buying early is genuinely needed to help us survive as an independent not-for-profit festival, so please do so if you are able! To give you perspective, 30% of tickets sold last year were on the final week, and the festival was losing money until the day of the event… We eventually just broke even! 

Our experience and those of similar organisations such as the Association of Independent Promoters which we are a part of, shows that nearly half of ticket buyers wait until 48hr before a show to buy a ticket, which leads sadly to a lot of cancellations of events, as it makes planning impossible and the financial risk too high to carry for grassroots orgs!

How else can I support Compass?

Buy your ticket early if you intend to come, consider a Festival Support/Pay It Forward ticket if you can afford it, or share info about Compass with friends and family, and on social media!

Word of mouth and personal recommendations are still by far the very best marketing channel for events! And we'd rather give money to bands than to M*ta, quite frankly.

I want to play / volunteer, should I buy a ticket?

While festival tickets aren't refundable, if you buy one and go on to play the festival or volunteer with us, you'll be able to pass your ticket on to a friend of your choosing. So don't wait around — grab an early bird ticket now and lock in the best price while you wait to hear back.