Trend watch: Aging festival-goers

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Counter-cultural rock festivals or family fun day? After traipsing around music festivals this summer, it seems to be the latter.

Many of the music festivals in the UK this year have been populated by an older crowd -- 40-somethings who have high speed broadband to snaffle up the tickets quickly and enough cash and credit cards not to feel the pinch of tickets that are often over $200.

The result? Teen edginess has been replaced by people old enough to be their parents seeking out the organic smoothie bar, drinking good quality wine and staying well clear of the mosh pit. Even worse they bring their kids -- screaming infants, grizzly seven year-olds and vaguely embarrassed early teens.

The trend has unsettled social norms that dictate a child must rebel against their parents. Will the next generation of children be arch-conservatives?

Kidulthood: The new age

Seeing family groups at rock festivals is part of the "kidulthood trend" where 30 and 40-somethings like to think that even if they've now got children of their own they can still act like kids.

Comedian Richard Herring wrote about being a "kidult" in UK newspaper The Times, describing them as "scary, wrinkled, gray-haired teenagers, with some kind of terrifying premature ageing disease, but teenagers nonetheless."

Writing in The New York Times Magazine, Adam Sternbergh called them "Grups."

"He owns eleven pairs of sneakers, hasn't worn anything but jeans in a year, and won't shut up about the latest Death Cab for Cutie CD. But he is no kid. He is among the ascendant breed of grown-up who has redefined adulthood as we once knew it and killed off the generation gap."

But festivals are a lot of fun, and just because you're getting older doesn't mean you aren't entitled to have fun. Plus, the 30-somethings that now having children grew up during the rave scene in the late 80s and 90s that popularized mass gatherings in fields. They had so much fun then they think, "why give it up?"

The backlash

This year's "middle-aged, middle-class" invasion at giant music festival Glastonbury prompted organizer Michael Eavis to overhaul the event's ticketing system, which he believes is deterring young music fans.

Forty percent of the tickets for next year's event will now be reserved for telephone sales so teenagers can call from their mobile phone.

"It's quite a frantic situation to think the whole thing might be changing its nature after 37 years," Eavis told UK newspaper The Guardian.

"We've got to do something about it. Those late teens are the kids who make it work."

NME, the UK music bible said: "If Glastonbury wants to keep its unique position organizers really need to look seriously at getting its younger fans in. If not, then in a few years it will be about as musically relevant as the Diana concert."

Perhaps a line-up at Glastonbury that included oldies such as Shirley Bassey (70), Iggy Pop (60) and The Who was to blame.

The kids are doing it for themselves

The high cost of attending a music festival and the advanced age of patrons is a bit of a turn-off to the kids. Smart teenage entrepreneurs are seeing a gap in the market.

Fifteen-year-old Londoner Sam Killcoyne set up a festival for the under-19s with an entrance fee of £20. Parents will be kept where they belong -- away from sight in a "creche." E-mail to a friend

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