It's music festival season, with the Big Day Out, Laneway Festival, Splore and Camp a Low Hum all coming up. Regular festival-goers Shalin Graves, Michael McClelland and Music 101's Sam Wicks share their tips to get the most out of your music festival experience.
The Checks rock Big Day Out 2008. Photo: Jacinda Boyd
Plan your day
Unless you’re going solely to see the headliner, you might as well head along early. “If you give a damn about music, you want to get there from the start,” says Sam Wicks of Music 101. “It’s a smorgasbord and you want to eat from it all day.”
And take a chance on unknown bands. You might discover your new favourite band that day – or, a couple of years down the track, when you’ll kick yourself for missing them. “It’s the best chance to dip in and out of all these different artists,” says Wicks.
But it’s OK to not be a “smorgasbord kind of person”, he says.
“I think if Blur was actually going, and you were specifically going for Blur, you could turn up before they go on. When Neil Young headlined the Big Day Out in 2009, you got all these boomers turning up at the end of the day.”
Though festival organisers do their best to minimise overlap between artists, Wicks has fond memories of co-ordinating a timetable back in the day: “That was always one of the fun parts of Big Day Out when artists did overlap – you’d really mathematically map out your day and run from stage to stage.”
Some festivals have their own apps now, but Wicks dismisses them as being “too gimmicky”: “You know you’re going to run out of juice, and cellphones seem to stop working at Mount Smart.”
Be practical and be prepared
Shahlin Graves, of the online magazine Coup De Main, says a backpack filled with festival-going essentials “will be your best friend”. “A lot of the stuff will seem unnecessary, but you’ll be glad you have it with you if you need it.”
Graves recommends packing a $2 shop rain poncho in case of a sudden downpour; a hoodie or cardigan for later in the evening; and an empty or sealed water bottle and snacks (she recommends gummy lollies, “because chocolate melts and you need energy during the day”).
Sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses – not one or two of the three – are a must. She uses SPF 75+: “It sounds funny, but I went to Big Day Out in Sydney last year and it was like 42 degrees. When you stepped out into the sun, you could feel it burning your skin.”
Even in the summer months, the weather can be unpredictable, and hot days can take a rapid turn for the chilly when the sun goes down. If you’re catching public transport to and from the venue, you could be in for a long wait, so it pays to be prepared for all conditions.
“I remember driving back from Mt Smart Stadium after the Big Day Out 2011, when it rained that whole night, and passing this petrol station – there were no cars there, just crowds of people huddling from the rain,” says Graves.
And you’d think it goes without saying, but wear comfortable shoes. “I have seen people wearing high heels at the Big Day Out, and I’ve just been like, ‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’”
Maximise your staying power
I have never been drunk at a festival in my life, and anyone who does is a schmuck.
“I have never been drunk at a festival in my life, and anyone who does is a schmuck,” says Wicks, who – let it be known – is no schmuck. “Why are you drinking at a festival? To get drunk? You’re at a festival! What are you there for?
Matthew McAuley, a writer for music website The Corner, says “it’s very cool to be #drugfree, but if you have to get #turnt, please pace yourself. Drinking 15 beers at 11 AM is a very efficient way to ensure that you forget to put on sunblock and eventually wake up with heatstroke and a hangover, only remembering half a Shihad set”.
Eating also helps. “I don’t care what you eat, as long as it’s a hotdog. Eat hotdogs at any and all times. Nothing like an open air hotdog,” McAuley says.
Being surrounded by humans is generally exhausting, but drinking tends to only push you further towards fatigue by the end of the day – kind of like the workplace,” says Michael McClelland, another writer for the The Corner. “It would seem reasonable to advise heading in late to avoid early fatigue, but the best part of festivals is usually the opening band – and in the past, by the time the headliner’s played, I’ve already gone home. Given the multitude of festival-goers at these events, my usual technique is to avoid them outright unless I’m asked to review them for free.”
Size up the tribes
Wicks says a lot of festivals are “a chance to hang for the day and see the tribes come out in unison”. “I went [to Big Day Out] from 1994, and youth culture then was all tribal tattoos and Doc Martens and flannel shirts,” he says. “You can see the rise and fall of pop cultures as a result. It’s kind of cool that it gathers the tribes in Auckland".
At Splore, he says, “the music is secondary to the day-glo hippies doing dances and stuff.” Words fail him when it comes to Parachute.
Asked what to do when you find wedged between two 14-year-olds mid-PDA, or altogether too close to an aggressive patron, Wicks shrugs. “You move away, or you give them a firm nudge and tell them to quit it.”
Your own posse
Don’t be afraid to go on your own if you really want to catch everything.
Arrange a meeting place and time with your friends before you part ways, because, as Wicks says, your phones will inevitably run out of battery or reception. If you’re at a festival like Splore or Camp A Low Hum, your phone shouldn’t be even on your person.
But friends can hold you back from experiencing all that the festival has to offer. “Some people really want to stick together: ‘I’ll meet you at this spot’,” says Wicks. “If anything I like to split off from the group and be anonymous.If you want to be up the front for a particular act, be prepared to put in the hours to secure your spot. Rope in a couple of friends to take it in turns saving your spot.
“Don’t be afraid to go on your own if you really want to catch everything.”
Holding on to those memories
You've been holding out to see that band for two years, so you want something to keep for posterity, right?
McAuley recommends buying merch, whenever the mood takes you. "I’ve bought some truly absurd shit at festivals, and although it’s always been very stupid, I’ve never regretted a single thing."
If you’re wondering, what his top three purchases are:
1. Spank Rock t-shirt: Remember Spank Rock? I do! Mainly because I spent probably like $50 on their shirt, even though they played the Boiler Room at like 11:30 AM and their main MC (Spank himself) didn’t even get let into the country. I can’t be sure, but I hope I was just trying to be contrary to popular merch trends that year, because this shirt was VERY ugly.
2. Witch Hats t-shirt: This t-shirt was much cheaper, and is probably the best band t-shirt I’ve owned. Why is it on this list? It’s at least 1.5 sizes too small. Witch Hats are a very cool band, and I guess I was trying to impress them, and I’m very sure that it didn’t work at all.
3. Black Lips t-shirt: A kind of OK t-shirt, for a band that I kind of like, that I spent half a c-note on AGAIN. Also, this one has a busty lady being attacked by a werewolf, and I didn't really consider the fact that wearing a shirt with that image is a very good way to project the idea that you're the absolute worst guy.
Have fun out there.