Lessons learnt: Music festivals

This year might not be the same in terms of the amount of festivals going ahead, but it’s still much better than last year when the whole industry had to shut down due to covid. As I write this 40,000 people are at Latitude in Suffolk, so I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and share what I’ve learnt and the mistakes I’ve made.

I’ve been to a few festivals now. Rather than going on a girls holiday, I went to T in the Park (TITP) in Scotland instead. We went on the Thursday, and stayed right through until coming back on the Monday. It was amazing. This festival isn’t held anymore, but I’d compare it to Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

Since TITP, I’ve been to Boardmasters in Cornwall, Radio 1’s Big Weekend (R1BW), and Leeds Fest.

Here’s some things I’ve learnt from going to festivals, and tips I’d pass on if you’re going to your first one soon.

Fainting

So you know when you’re in a crowd and there’s always girls getting dragged out at the front because they don’t want to turn back and get out and instead they get security to pull them out at the front? Yeah that wasn’t me. Instead, I was the girl getting dragged out UNCONSCIOUS because I’d passed out in the crowd.

This was at TITP, so I’ve definitely learnt from my mistakes. The problem was, we were doing 12-hour days stood at the front and because of this I didn’t want to drink/eat much because I didn’t want to have to go to the loo and lose my place. Well this was a big error.

In the break between James Bay and The Script (who were one of my favourites at the time) my friend felt me knocking against her from behind. When she looked round my eyes had rolled back, I had fainted and the crowd was holding me up. Well, what followed was me waking up in the health and safety tent, with the sound of The Script coming out on stage.

I was gutted. They were in my top five bands to see that weekend, and I ended up watching them from the back. It wasn’t all bad though. My friends caught me the guitar pick!

Now I always get a big meal late morning, and take water into the crowd. Please don’t be 2015 me.

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