Music festivals.

UGH.

I know I have to do adult things, ya know, now that I’m near twenty and all, but working this whole summer has disabled me from attending all my favorite music festivals back at home.

Spring Awakening. Electric Forest. Lollapalooza.

All wonderfully full of EDM, all wonderfully exhibitive of good vibes. And I’m out across the country working as the poor college boy that I am.

And it sucks, because I think, especially in the summertime, music festivals have a lot to offer. We can see our favorite artists play near us throughout the year, sure, but there’s something missing in one time concerts. There’s a coarseness in them, a hard limitation within the time to be enjoyed, space in which to move within the venue, and well, it’s just one artist. Additionally, the nature of solo concerts is more direct, in that you’re there to rock out to the music of that sole artist, probably with friends, and probably under the influence the entire time.

With music festivals, the purpose of your attendance becomes more about the experience, and it’s here where there is less of a limiting sentiment and the presence of a freer, more expressive environment. You can get to the beginning of a festival at around noon, and begin a three-day journey instead of a three-hour concert. The music becomes a living, breathing entity, because seeing several artists in one day allows for fluctuations in mood, venue, and people. This constant flow of change encourages a corresponding change in purpose— one moment you’re at the festival to see your favorite artist perform, an hour later the goal is dancing with that girl you’re sure has been eying you, and maybe after that it’s floating on the fringes of the festival to meet new people. Your time becomes a tangible instrument for you to command, and how you choose to play it determines exactly how your experience at the festival is.

Couple all the aforementioned brilliance with the positive summertime vibes, and there’s something magically uplifting about festivals. Even if you have a crappy day, you have two others to make up for it, and so a good time is very, very often ensured. It’s in this way that an emotional benefit is achieved, in that music festivals can bring us up in a more through manner if our summers aren’t going the way we wanted them to.

So, like, I miss home because of my family, sure, they’re cool and all, but the festivals are a huge part of it too.

Still, I have one more to go to when I come back home before school starts, so, y’all already know I’m going to be jamming hard to that one.