Tips For Your First Music Festival

So, you want to go to your first music festival? You want to see all your favorite artists perform over one crazy weekend, right?  Well festivals can be a blast, but only if you do them right.  Here are some tips to make your festival experience as pleasurable as possible:

Buy Your Tickets Early

Buying your tickets early is essential. Festivals are great, but they are not cheap in any way, because of this you want to get your tickets as cheap as possible.  Most festivals offer a discount rate if you get a multiple day pass.  However if you get the tickets as soon as they go on sale, you usually qualify for a early bird discount. These discounts can sometimes be as much as 35%-40%,so you can save hundreds by buying your tickets early.

Book Your Travel

This may not apply to everyone, but is very important nonetheless. Now you got your tickets if you are going across the country, booking the travel is even more critical. Booking your flight and hotel must be done swiftly before either the seats fill up or they run out of rooms.  Also crucial in this step is coordinating with whoever you are going with. Making sure you can all get on the same flight on stay in the same hotel will make your experience a lot more enjoyable.

Register Your Wristband Beforehand

This one is simple, but just register your wristband before the day of the festival. You don’t want to have to go to the registration tent when you get there and wait in line. Just register it beforehand, so you can just get there, scan it, and enjoy the show.

Another part of this is registering your wristband as a form of payment.  This is a newer thing at some festivals where your wristband can pay for things at the festival, like a credit card.  This is a great feature I highly recommend activating.  It lets you keep your wallet or purse at home and just use your wristband for everything.

Check Festival Policies

This is something most people don’t do but can give you some great insight about what to expect from the festival.  Simple things like, is the festival a rain or shine event, are important to know. Also look at what you can and cannot bring into the festival. Can you bring in a water bottle? Cigarettes? An umbrella? A lighter? Portable charger?

Check these things so that you can get through security more quickly and you are not disappointed when you get something taken away from you.

Plan Out Your Schedule

Music festivals are about about seeing your favorite artists, so plan ahead to make sure you get to see as many of them as possible.  This is going to be different for every person, but just check the schedule and think about who you want to see and what stage their performance is at.  Sometimes you also need to weigh into the equation how close you want to be to the stage.  If you are jumping for stage to stage all day, you aren’t going t have the best viewing angles most of the time, especially if they are a big artist.  So if you want to be near the front for someone like Beyonce you may have to camp out that stage all day.  Just talk it over with your friends, so you don’t have to stress about it at the festival, and just enjoy the performances.

Charge Your Phone (& Keep It Charged)

Charge you phone the night before, and try to preserve your battery life as much as possible. Your phone is an important tool and you want to make sure it isn’t dead by 2 o’clock. Say you get separated from your friends during a set, and they are your ride home.  Well if your phone is dead you are going have to search the whole festival for your friends instead of just texting them.

Some festivals will let you bring in a portable charger, but others have charging lockers, places where you can lock up your phone and let it charge.  Both are good options for keeping your phone charged up.

Dress Accordingly

Now I know you want to look your cutest when heading out to a festival, but just check the weather before you plan your outfit.  This past year at Made in America, it rained the first day heavily, and it was quite cold.  Made in America also takes places on a lot of dirt which quickly turned into mud. Well the girls who were wearing tank tops, shorts, and heels weren’t really having a great day.  Me on the other hand, I was fine in my dri-fit hoodie, jeans, and beaten up sneakers. Just check the weather beforehand, and think about what kind of clothes you want to be in all day.

Stay Hydrated (& Don’t Forget to Eat)

 

This is something you usually don’t think about, but can be dangerous.  Jumping from set to set you may not stop and think, “When is the last time I had some water.” Try to drink as much water as you can.  Many festivals will give you a free water bottle as you walk in because they don’t want you to pass out on them.  Find out where you can get water and fill up that water bottle constantly.

Same goes for eating. Don’t go all day without getting something in you. Try to eat before you leave so you aren’t starving.  If you are just drinking all day without eating at all, bad things are bound to happen.

Luckily the medical teams at these festivals usually do a great job treating people with dehydration or heat stroke, but just drink some water throughout the day so you don’t end up in the medical tent.

Think About How You Are Getting Home

This is super important and a lot of people overlook it. These festival are huge and getting from the festival to where you are staying can be an issue.  What are you going to call an Uber? So are ten thousand other people. It will cost you an arm and leg, and you may have to wait for a long period of time.  Try to think of the most efficient and realistic way to get back possible.  People have gone missing when leaving festivals, so please be safe and plan how you are going to get back home.

Do You Have Any Festival Tips?

Is there anything you have learned from your time going to festivals? Let me know!