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Your Guide to Summer Music Festivals

The sun is shining, the bees are buzzing and the bands are rocking! Here are five things to remember when you’re gallivanting around your hometown taking in some music festivals.

1. Do your research.
Unless you are a really big music fan and the festival you’re attending is really small, the chances that you are going to have heard of every single band and artist on the bill are pretty much a zero. This isn’t a bad thing! In fact, festivals offer you the chance to lap up loads of new and unfamiliar music in one weekend. However, it is a good idea to get a feel for the kind of music each band is going to play, especially if the festival has two stages. This way, you are able to plan accordingly so as to not miss out on anything you might enjoy hearing.

2. Bring food and water. Lots of water.
In sports, a loss of up to 10 per cent in your performance can be attributed to poor hydration. The same applies to one’s ability to rock out at a concert! At the Virgin Music Festival last June, there was no re-entry into Fort Calgary. Once you were in, you were in for good, and if you didn’t have water with you, you had to either buy 591ml of it for $3.50, or hope the security guards would splash some water your way while you stood in the crowds in front of the stage. If you’re dehydrated and cannot afford to pay that much for water, you’re hardly in good shape to rock, and that’s not good. Be sure that you stay fed and hydrated so you can enjoy the music to its fullest.

3. Be nice.
I don’t mean stay at the back of the crowd because you are worried people will get ticked off if you push past them. However, elbowing your way through the crowd, or elbowing those who are elbowing their way through the crowd isn’t cool. If you want to get closer to the stage, it’s up to you to do so. You can do it without inflicting elbow-induced pain on your neighbour though. Don’t hate the other guy just because he’s not afraid to go after what he wants. At festivals, people are generally friendly in the crowds. We’re all here for the same reason, to enjoy the music – that provides a sense of community. Make friends with Janie, who lost her best friend during the last song, and give a boost to Ben, whose only dream is to crowd surf for longer than ten seconds. If someone bumps you, don’t get angry – jostling around is an unavoidable aspect of being in a huge crowd. (On a personal note: If someone decides to pee on you, however, then you can get angry. Oh, the good times and bad times at Virgin Fest ’08… That was a bad time.)

4. Mosh with caution.
If you’re at the Folk Fest, then don’t worry too much about moshing, since it probably won’t happen. If you plan on attending Warped Tour, however, then keep some things in mind. First of all, if you don’t want to get pushed around, stay away from the mosh pit. That’s what it’s for, remember? If you’re not worried about leaving the festival a bit bruised, throw yourself in there and have a good time. If someone falls, however, STOP moshing and help them up! When there are dozens of bodies colliding in close quarters, everyone’s got to look out for each other.

5. Enjoy the experience.
Well, duh. When you’re surrounded by hundreds of people with the same intentions as you, that is, to hear the music being performed, it’s hard not to feel the energy. So live in the moment! Maybe you have to work at 9 am the next day, or you know that your parents are probably going to ground you when you get home for not cleaning your bathroom. However for the five, six or seven hours you’ll be at the festival, leave your dirty bathtub and stress at home. If you allow it to, live music has the power to make you forget about absolutely everything else in your life.

My favourite lyrics come from Sam Roberts’ song, Uprising Down Under. He says “Whoever says, ‘you can’t be saved by a song’? Whoever said that is stringin’ you along…” I happen to wholeheartedly agree. If you surrender yourself to the energy, excitement and excellent music you’ll find at a music festival this summer, you will too.