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I am not religious, but I love Christmas and celebrating throughout the holiday season. It’s the one time of year that people treat each other the way we should…with kindness and love, especially towards those who are in need. Unfortunately, the holiday season is just that…a season. It comes and goes and before we know it, the world returns to its default state and we all go back to the daily grind and all of the stress and self-absorption that living in the world sometimes requires. It’s a struggle, and it can make us feel very disconnected and even worse, depressed.
So when we attended our first music festival in 2006, we did not expect to find a pocket of holiday-like bliss in the middle of June. But we did…and we were immediately hooked. Imagine having the power to conjure that feeling whenever you wanted…it felt powerful and it completely changed our lives. Since then we have been to festivals in the East, the West, the Deep South, the North, rural England, Europe, all over the world…and the one constant is the feeling of kindness and camaraderie among the festies, and the sense that nothing is more important than loving your neighbor. Did you forget your sun lotion? Someone will see your skin turning pink and will help you out. Did you forget to bring a tampon? Someone will see you digging through your bag, frustrated, and offer one. You won’t even have to ask. Do you need water because you have been waiting 5 hours in the heat to see your favorite artist? Someone will give you theirs.
Yes there is VIP, yes there are those that have extra privileges and those that don’t. That said, no matter what ticket level you purchase, when you are at a music festival, you know that everyone is in it together! We have a common goal… to have the time of our lives. There is nothing more sacred than the present, and music festivals are a time when WE get to be present. Heck, half of the time phones, and electronic distractions won’t even work at festivals. Before you can Twitter rant, you have spent 6 hours eating cool food, drinking, talking to people you just met, and dancing to awesome tunes before you realize your shitty ass mobile company has only one bar and you can’t even post your cute fest ‘fit on the ‘Gram.
We are a social organism, the pleasure that excites our hypothalamus is not altered by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or technological advancements. Listening to music with others is a base pleasure within our genes. Not everyone loves looking at paintings, listening to poetry, or reading a masterpiece of literature. Everyone does love listening to music. Everyone does have memories set to a song that moves them. Unfortunately, not everyone continues to seek those memories. Music Festivals are an opportunity to allow music to move you and connect you to others in a way that simply is not possible in the “Real World”.
