This was my second year at Firefly Music Festival, my first time camping all four days and my fourth music festival overall. The line-up was exciting and the opportunity for a new experience was even more exciting. I had an open mind when it came to camping, and I was ready to brave the elements and all the drama that came with camping with my friends. I also entered the festival with the mind of a writer. I was looking for something to write about. The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, the music, like maybe some personal reviews. Then there's the food, but there's no way I had enough money to review more than chicken tenders. So I decided to let the festival take control.
I'll never forget the feeling of the bass in your chest as you stand in the field of a music festival. Ever since my first festival in 2016, that is the feeling I crave when thinking about live music. At Firefly, I was looking for more to write about and I did. Throughout the four days, almost every artist I saw professed their love for Firefly and claimed they had never been anywhere like it. Lil' Wayne talked about how he'd never had a sign language translator at one of his concerts, something neither of us knew existed. Foster the People gave a long speech about music uniting us between all races, genders, religions, and sexual identities. Everyone in the crowd cheered, really just driving home that fact.
Firefly has more than what meets the eye. There are hundreds of performers, but there are thousands of attendees. One group of attendees walked around with signs with sayings like, "Nah means Nah" or "Our music, My body." The happy guys were excited to pose for their picture for me and walked around with their signs, making no fuss and simply enjoying music and sending their message.
Then there are the food vendors. If you wanted a drink at firefly you were going to have to go without a straw unless you specifically requested one. A lot of the cocktail vendors and different food vendors would sell their drinks without straws, to promote using less plastic. As an avid straw protestor (if that's a thing) this was really effing exciting to me! Go Firefly! F*** straws!!!!!
But wait, there's more! Before every set Firefly would have different signs flash up on their big screens around the stage. Some of these signs were trivia about the festival, and others were promoting their Recycling Rewards. You could take your trash to a specific tent in the music festival and earn rewards that would be good at the festival! Again, GO FIREFLY!!! There were also signs promoting donations for St. Jude patients by buying something in the festival. To be completely honest I don't remember what, the note on my phone just says St. Jude. It's not every day you see something so huge caring about the planet and its people, usually its the opposite.
Firefly went above and beyond my expectations with all the little things they did for their attendees and the planet. Free water refills, tents with free drinks and ice cream, and making every single person feel like their at home, even the artists. Their efforts for recycling sent such a good message about the festival and definitely made me want to go drop another couple hundred dollars their next year. When you can enjoy something and support what they promote, there's no reason not to indulge yourself. For anybody who judges a music festival as a hippie-dippy place where people only go to do drugs and fake listen to music, you're wrong. Firefly specifically brings people together, fights for the planet, and creates a happy environment to enjoy your weekend and listen to amazing artists. As San Holo was performing he held up a plant and said, "Make some noise for this plant." Where else can you find a group of people who will aggressively cheer for a plant when they're told to do so?
