Our Top 10 Tips to Survive Your Next Music Festival
Ever since Woodstock music fans have harnessed their inner nomad, packed up the essentials and headed out into the big unknown that is the music festival. Rain, shine, wind. Desert, forest, open field. No matter the weather or the venue, festival fans flock to far flung places to pay homage to their favourite bands, DJs and genres of music. While they are great fun, music festivals are also hard work, and the best way to enjoy them is to be prepared.
Tentickle Stretch Tents have set up tents at many a festival, and so over the years we have come to recognise what to do and what not do to survive and have fun.
Here are some of our top tips:
1) Beware the firey sun!
Baz Lurman wrote a song about it, your mother nagged you about it. Sunscreen is an absolute essential at a music festival. Festivals are usually scheduled for spring or summer, when the weather is supposed to be at its best, and the sun shines on revellers. As glorious as that sunshine is, beware! It is also lethal. Nothing kills the fun of a festival like sunburn, or worse still sunstroke. Make sure you apply plenty of sunscreen – high factor and often. It is also a good idea to take a parasol, hat or scarf that you can use to protect yourself from the sun. At most festivals, there is lots of walking from stage to stage and to and from your campsite, and it is on these journeys that you don’t realise just how much sun you are actually getting. Appoint one person in your crew as the sun cream boss; someone who’ll carry it and remind the team to reapply.
2) The long walk to the main stage
You’ve heard the expression about walking a mile in someone’s shoes? Well, at a music festival you will walk many miles in your own shoes. Make sure you have comfortable shoes. This can’t be stressed enough! Not only do you want to have comfortable shoes, you need to have practical shoes. Ladies, leave the stilettos at home. It is a good idea to cater for any eventuality at a music festival when it comes to your foot wear. Wellington boots are a very popular choice, and understandably so. They keep your feet dry, clean and are easy to hose off at the end of the event too. They also get very hot. A pair of slip slops is a good idea if it is very hot and dry. It’s also a good idea to have an extra pair of shoes. You’d be surprised how many shoes end up in lost property at the end of festival.
3) Feed your body, feed your soul
Food and drink are essential. Most festivals have wonderful food stalls set up, so make sure you take a little bit of extra cash. You can also take your own food, but make sure that it is easy snacky food that doesn’t need cooking or complicated preparation. It is also a good idea to stay away from stuff that needs refrigerating. Cooler boxes get hot very quickly and the one thing you don’t want is food poisoning.
Also make sure you hydrate. The beer always flows freely, but all too often festival goers forget about water and soft drinks. When you are walking miles in the heat you need to make sure you drink plenty of water.
4) Know who’s playing when
A festival is fun! It’s where grownups go to be kids again, to let loose and forget about the humdrum of daily life, to listen to great music, so no one wants to be restricted by a schedule or timetable. But, this being said, there are usually amazing acts in the line up, and you have come all this way so it would be pity to miss out on headline act because you don’t know who’s playing when. Familiarise yourself with the line up so that you can have a vague plan about who you want to see and when they are playing.
5) Rest your weary head
You haven’t come all this way, packed up all your gear and set up camp in the middle of nowhere to think about sleeping, but sleep is essential if you are going to survive. Know when your favourite acts are playing and plan your sleep around them.
6) Light up the night
Festival survival 101, always pack a torch. Night time gets very dark at festivals when you move away from the band stages or dance floors. Make sure you aren’t floundering around in the dark, carry a flashlight. Another really good way to light your way is with a head torch. It allows you to have your hands free, and when you aren’t using it you can just pull it down round your neck.
7) Four seasons in one weekend
Be prepared for any weather. Sun, rain, hot, cold, even the odd sand storm if you have ventured out into the desert. A waterproof is an essential.
8) Keep clean
At bigger festivals there are usually showers and ablution facilities. Make the most of these. Pick a time when there aren’t huge queues, but make sure you keep clean. Pack wet wipes, hand sanitizer and a clean change of clothes. These little things go a long way to keeping you fresh and having fun!
9) Lost Souls
Make sure that you have something that makes your camp easy to find – a brightly coloured umbrella, a flag, anything that acts as a landmark. In a sea of tents and people, it is often a very welcome sight to spot the beacon that means you are nearly home. Wandering round through other people’s tents looking for your own is no fun at all.
And on that note, losing your team goes a long way to ruining festival fun. Make sure you pick a spot that everyone in the group knows about so that if anyone gets lost they can go there safe in the knowledge that they will be found.
10) Shade and Cover
Tentickle Stretch Tents have involved with many music festivals over the years, so we know how imported cover is. Shade from the beating sun and protection from the rain can be what makes or breaks a music festival. It is absolutely vital that partygoers have protection from the elements, and with our vast wealth of experience we know how to set up in such a way that maximises shade, and provides cover if it rains.
So, if you are hitting the festival scene this summer make sure you take our advice and adhere to these tips and you are bound to have the time of your life! Involved with the organising of a music festival? Connect with our experts today!
