Granola, Grime & Grooves
I love hot showers and clean beds as much as the next music lover, but combining the complete lack of responsibility required for camping at a festival with the convenience of having a number of stages within stumbling distance creates an experience that just cannot be matched by city festivals or day-pass only events. There’s something about packing everything you’ll need and completely disconnecting from the rest of the world that brings me immeasurable joy—dare I say, even peace.
Camping festivals are easy and low maintenance. There’s no logistics like parking, public transportation, or hotel arrangements to worry about. You arrive, you pitch a tent, you party. Everyone in your group can come and go as they please without having to coordinate ride—need to run back to the tent for a sweatshirt or a power-nap? No problem!
There’s just something about sleeping in a tent that makes it seem more appropriate to have beer for breakfast. Living on beef jerky, trail mix and PB&Js at the tent paired with late night burritos or French fries from Shakedown Street? Eating like crap never tasted so good!
But the best part of camping at music festivals? There’s no better way to make friends than when you’re “living” just a few feet from thousands of like-minded strangers. The camaraderie is impossible to avoid. Need a lighter or an extra tent stake? Ask loud enough and your new best friend will come to your rescue. Poor planning lead you to run out of beer on the last night? Chances are, someone nearby has extras they don’t want to pack up and lug home.
Part of the festival experience is that late-late-night, post-concert experience of sitting around with your new friends, sharing festival stories and tales of the journey to get there while reliving and anticipating your favorite shows. Anyone who’s been there knows what I’m talking about—and in the morning, you’re laughing about what happened the night before like you’ve been friends for years. Whether the friendship ends after the last set or continues (thanks to Facebook and Twitter) through festivals for years to come, there’s something authentic and unique about the relationships built when you spend such an other-worldly experience with someone.
City-wide festivals win with their real and sometimes even clean toilets and the opportunity to get to know a new town, as The Tuned Inn just did in Asheville, but there’s nothing like getting down-and-dirty with thousands of happy freaks in a temporary tent city at a music festival.
By Kelly Bocich
Some Like It Clean
Festival camping is a romantic concept. There’s something special about driving out to a field (which takes much longer than it should because you’re obviously without GPS or cell phone service) and living outside without showers or electricity for three days. Getting dirty! Braving the elements! Living like a caveperson!
There’s a reason why people built houses: because living outside sucks. The elements suck. Sleeping in wet clothes sucks. Clothing get mildew-y really sucks. Showers are great, and hygienic! The privacy and soundproofing provided by physical walls cannot be overestimated.
Being at a music festival with thousands of other people is an amazing experience. Looking out at a crowd of like-minded individuals having a great time can be a transcendent experience. The fact is, though, people need their sleep, and whether that’s being kept from you because of the nitrous dealers next door or the blistering heat, a weekend of 100-plus temperatures and three hours of sleep will take its physical toll.
Looking for a relaxing vacation? Don’t camp at a festival. It’s lovely to meet so many different people, but it’s also a pretty gross experience. You’re completely at the will of the weather and your neighbors, and horror stories abound. A tornado at this past Camp Bisco? Check. A whole tent at Wakarusa getting drugged in their sleep? Check. Coming back to my tent one night to find a festival bum already asleep in it? Yeah, that happened.
Some of my favorite festival experiences have happened off festival grounds. At Hangout, we rented a condo with an amazing porch and beach view; at Moogfest this year, we rented a cabin in the woods where we had an actual black bear sighting. The best was when, for Solid Sound, we made the last-minute decision to get a hotel, so we weren’t camping when the town essentially flooded.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:118:]]In a tent, you can’t avoid a heat wave, or a smelly neighbor, or the garbage that inevitably collects over a weekend. There’s no boundary between your loud-sex-loving neighbors, the festy mutt, and you. While music festivals are an awesome environment, there’s no saying they can’t be enjoyed from a lovely, temperature-controlled hotel nearby.
By Shayna Hodkin
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