By: Elyza Castillo
- Conflicting set times. Trying to catch your favorite DJ at 10:30 but your bestie wants to see a different artist at the same time? Trust me, we’ve all been there. And even if your friend has the same taste in music it can sometimes be difficult to decipher when you should relocate to catch the other set that you’d like to see. *Sighs* Why can’t set times all just perfectly line up?!
- Trying to meet up with out of state friends…with no working cell service. This problem mainly occurs at festivals where there’s mass amounts of people trying to send out messages and calls simultaneously. Although there is nothing you can quite do to prevent this, here’s a pro tip: when texting your friends enter the time stamp at the end of the text message. That way if you’re trying to meet a friend at the “giant art installation by basspod in 10 minutes” you can gauge whether or not the text will still hold true to the current situation after it’s been received 30 minutes later.
- Ticket presales are released…the day before pay day. There’s nothing worse than being completely excited to purchase tickets for a festival but then realizing that if you do, you wont be able to pay for this months rent. #BrokeStudentProblems
- Mother nature can have a mind of her own. I cannot stress this enough–be prepared!! Although we’d like to think all weather is predictable there are sometimes when we really wished we listened to our moms and brought a jacket for when that “just in case” moment actually happened.
- Your ears will ring for DAYS post-festival. Night after night of blaring music can leave your ears with a ringing sensation– a sensation caused due to damage caused to the microscopic endings of nerves in your inner ear. Guaranteed, if you’re a rail chaser then you are way too familiar with this. Protect. Your. Ears. WEAR EARPLUGS.
- Halloween is coming up… Do you dress up for your favorite show? Although it sounds fun at first thought, dressing up for a show can be a huge pain! Nothing says “let’s dance” like getting your $10 angel wings shuffled through a mosh pit of people.
- Waiting for your turn to shower. You’ve been dancing for over 12 hours now and you want nothing more than to remove that sticky layer of other people’s sweat off of your body…however, you aren’t the only one wanting to shower. Waiting for your turn to freshen up is absolutely daunting post-festival.
- Finding water stations. It can often seem as if the water stations are placed in the most difficult and inconvenient places at festivals. And even after finding a station it can seem as if the water line lasts for eternities..do you wait it out? Here’s pro tip: If you wanna skip the line and don’t mind spending a few extra bucks–buy a few waters from a walking vendor and empty it out into your hydration pack.
- Your shoes WILL get destroyed. #1 rave rule: Wear comfortable shoes. HOWEVER, never wear shoes you truly care about to a rave. Ever! After day 1 they might look somewhat okay, but by day 3 your pearly white shoes will look like you’ve taken a walk through Swamp Thing’s home.
- Getting stuck standing behind a very tall person. At last! You’ve found your perfect spot at the show. You’re hanging with your friends having a good time but 10 minutes later an extremely tall person stands right in front of you. There’s not much you can do aside from 1) ask the tall person to move on over or 2) move yourself. Regardless, if you’re a small human you always get the short end of the stick on this one.
