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Experience and Community 

Festival experiences are created from bringing together the power of music with the diversity which leads to the formation of a community. It’s a great experience that could be enjoyed with a group of friends. It’s not only about the music, but about the experience that made America’s youth want to converge around this new culture. Above I posted pictures where I felt a sense of community and free to be myself. These pictures perfectly embody why I personally continue to attend festivals, I find myself in my element when surrounded by like minded people.

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Interview, “What’s Your Favorite Part About Attending Music Festivals?”

UCLA student, Lana Garrett.

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Experience and Community 

Many festival goers continue to attend because their experiences at festivals have ties to a sense of community within the people who share the same music taste as them. This video shows us how music plays a major role in regards to bringing everyone together, music is what creates these communities. This is a video I personally took at Nocturnal Wonderland in San Bernardino, California. This is one of my most memorable moments and I am so happy to have captured it on video. 

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Festival Fashion

A driving element of the popularity of music festivals is the fast fashion you see at these events. It’s an opportunity to express yourself in a way you normally wouldn't in your everyday life at school and at work. In the first picture above we see an example of Coachella’s festival fashion, you’ll see a few recurring elements, fringe and cutoffs; gladiator sandals and desert boots; metallic bindi tattoos; Mexican style embroidery and vintage inspired anything when we look at Coachella festival fashion. The second picture is an example of rave fashion at Nocturnal Wonderland, we see neon colored everything and colorful bracelets. The third picture is an example of street style at Camp Flog Gnaw, where festival goers express themselves with a potent mix with street and outsider styles like babushka scarves, golf style pants, bucket hats, converse, and doc Martens. 

Before my first festival I had no idea what to wear! Heck, I still have trouble coming up with costumes! Selecting an outfit can be difficult, but don’t worry, there are many things that can help you when choosing an outfit. First of all, think about who you are and what you like. There are so many directions you can go in but you first should think about your favorite colors, and clothing pieces that interest you the most. Next think about if you’re shooting for a comfortable look, a less comfortable look thats super fashionable or one that’s both fashionable and comfy! For my first festival I thought more about fashion than comfort but the more festivals I attend and the more experienced I become, I tend to lean towards comfortable outfits. Knowing who you are and what kind of theme your excited about helps build that costume and it makes it even more exciting when it comes to life. 

Believe or not, festival outfits can actually create friendships! If you’re wearing something that someone really likes, BOOM! that easily leads to great conversation! When people come up to you and vibe with your outfit, I think thats when the coolest moments happen, and it even becomes an icebreaker which usually leads to friendship. When I attended Hard Summer Music Festival, I complimented a girls bodysuit and that lead to a 30 minute conversation! She ended up being from the town next to mine and we even followed each other on social media. 

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Promotion Videos, THIS VIDEO SAYS IT ALL! 

Modern Festivals try to embody the “you had to be there” vibe that attracts millennials and the eldest of those in generation Z. A large number of music festivals promote the event with the idea of people having a good time in minds. They know that most millennials and the eldest of generation Z will see these promotion videos and think, “the people in this video seem like they are having the time of their lives, maybe if I decide to go, I too can have this much fun.” Many promoters like Insomniac create videos and posts that give euphoric and nostalgic feelings to those who watch. One of the very first quotes you see on the Insomniac web page is, “Behind all the lights and lasers, amidst the big speakers, are moments that will last forever.” Above we see a promotion video created by Insomniac. 

This promotion video perfectly represents why I love festivals. Every ideal promoted in this video is everything I want to be a part of. Watching these promotion videos are seriously one of my favorite things to do. I recommend watching a promo video of the festival you plan to attend to excite you and get you into the festival mood!  Whenever my friends and I come across promotion videos for a festival we plan to attend we send each other the link and we all begin to talk about how excited we are for the event! 

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Apple Music and Spotify, a Technique to Promote Festivals Through Music

With apps like spotify, soundcloud, apple music and youtube, discovering music is just at the tips of your fingers. Now that is has become easier for people in general to have more  access to discovering new artists, it can lead to a higher chance in people wanting to attend a music festival. More people are willing to attend music festivals if they know or have heard of most of the artists on the line-up. Now with apps like Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music, Youtube and others, music has been more so used as a promotion technique for future concerts and festivals because of how accessible music has become. Above we see the Apple Music and Spotify profiles of Insomniac (the promoter of Electric Daisy Carnival and other raves) and Coachella.

Prior to attending my first music festival (Electric Daisy Festival 2019), except for A$AP ROCKY and David Guetta I knew NO ONE on the lineup. I immediately started receiving shared playlists created on Spotify and Apple Music by my friends who knew everyone on the three day line up. These playlist created on these apps allowed me to expand my music taste and introduced me to artist that are now my favorite. On my playlist presented on my Tumblr I have listed a few songs that I’ve heard live that I first listened to on Spotify and Apple Music prior to attending the festivals. Each song has a specific memory attached to it. 

Before attending a festival I definitely recommend you create a playlist and add all the popular songs of the artists who will be performing that weekend and of course any of your favorite songs. When you look up an artist on Apple Music their top songs are listed in order of popularity under their picture. Those top songs are usually the best to add to your playlist because there is a higher possibility that the artist will perform their top songs during their set time at a festival. 

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“Selfies first, artists second.” 

Music festivals have become our new paved public walk, where people can strut and show off the things they like and it gives them the opportunity to reach for the aesthetic they strive for on their instagram. People seem to continue to attend music festivals mostly because Instagram photos and Facebook posts portray them to be euphoric spaces where hundreds of thousands of people seem to be living free. Above we see three different Instagram feeds. We see pictures from people who tagged their location at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), Coachella Music Festival, and Camp Flog Gnaw. Although all three festivals are known for different genres of music and attract different crowds everyone seems to use instagram to post pictures of their fun weekends at these music festivals. A saying that is well known amongst this generation of music festival goers, “pics or didn't happen.” 

Social media allows us to document the incredible memories we create with our friends. If you go through my personal camera roll you’ll find that the majority of my pictures and videos are from all the festivals I’ve attended this year. The reason I take so many pictures and videos is to capture moments that I will forever view as special and to remember them for years to come. I love coming home from festivals and showing my mom and brother all my pictures and videos. I show them pictures and videos from these festivals in hopes that just by seeing my photos and watching my videos they’ll maybe get the same incredible feeling I get while I’m in the crowd.

My advice when taking pictures at festivals is to take your selfies right away! As soon as you walk in you and all your friends should make the time to take selfies and group shots. If you take pictures at the beginning of the festival, those pictures will most likely come out the best because everyone is still put together and looks their best. You’re makeup and hair tends to look better at the beginning of a festival because you haven't been there long enough to get your makeup and hair messed up by other people in the crowds. But don't get me wrong, some of the best festival pictures are taken when you least expect it! (When you’re sweaty and your hair is up in a messy ponytail!)