The lure? Buy now, sock it to the man, and avoid higher ticket taxes.
Lowlands Festival organizers put tickets on sale months ahead of schedule to protest a government plan to increase taxes on live performances from 6 percent to 19 percent on Jan. 1.
The result: fans snapped up all 45,000 tickets in hours, even though the festival won't take place until Aug. 19-21, 2011. The purchasers, most of them young, saved about euro20 ($26) on each ticket, which were priced at euro165 ($218) apiece.