Over spring break I went to Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival. This was the first music festival I have ever been to, and luckily it was all because of my roommate. Ever since I met my roommate, Lena, from freshman year she has always been so passionate about the music she listens to. For me it was just some artist that played music with barely any words and that I could NEVER connect to. I mean what is a song without tons of lyrics? So I always shrugged off the songs that she played. Not only that, she would always dance or move to the songs that I had never saw anyone feel music like she did. (Luckily that never scared me off.) But, ever since going to a music festival I have so much more respect for those artist then I ever did before.
The main thing I loved, above all, was the love everyone had. When I go to concerts over the summer I at least see two fights break lose. At the music festival I saw zero and I was there for three days. Everyone was just there to enjoy life and listen to the music. Not only that but when I go to concerts it is the same artist you hear on the radio, which nothing is wrong with that, but they definitely have an extremely large following. I know where I’m from if you asked “Are you going to the Blake Shelton concert?” nine times out of ten the answer would be yes. But, if I asked “Are you going to the Bassnectar show?” at least where I’m from almost everyone would look at me like I had ten heads. So, to me it was awesome to see Lena, who I consider a best friend, engulfed in people that listened to the same music as she does. And when the artist was performing and she was shouting the lyrics, there was someone right next to her shouting the same lyrics. She was in her element and I’m blessed that I got to share that with her and be brought into her world.
I think everyone should go to a music festival at least once in his or her life. The amount of music that you get introduced to is crazy and it is so much better than one person just telling you “Hey this is a great song go listen to it.” You actually get to listen to everything on your own time and get to experience new artists. One of my favorite performances was a set of two guys that I did not know their name, but I just happen to come across them with Lena as we were heading back to our campsite. I still do not know what that artist name was but it was the experience of being able to listen to them and enjoy the music that everyone else around me was listening to.
There was also a judgment free zone there, or at least that is how I felt. Everyone dressed however he or she wanted, and who was the next person to say anything. I wore whatever I picked up first and that went with the weather and never looked back. This judgment free group of people made me think, I wish this was how the world was everyday. It was three days of absolute peace. And I wish everyday were like that. I am the most uptight person, who rarely ever “goes with the flow,” not once did I try to plan out everything. I just wanted to take everything in. This was almost like a new world to me. There were people from all backgrounds there. There were people that saved up every dime they had to go there and people that money came easy to them. But, not once could I tell the difference and not once did anyone care. People were just humans enjoying the same love for music together.
When you get to see artist perform like Bassnectar, GRiZ, Pretty Lights, etc. there is no way you are going home without downloading at least one song. I know Lena would listen to a song and be like, “I remember the first time I ever listened to this song live.” And I would always just say cool, uninterested. But, now I find myself trying to sneak in a GRiZ song here and there in my friends’ car when I have the aux cord and saying the same exact thing. You can just close your eyes to see and feel what you felt when you were listening to that song live. Every concert that I have ever been to, it has always just been the artist singing and talking in between songs. But, when you listen to an edm artist live it is not only about the music, it is about the production., the show they put on. They play graphics and have lazar shows all while preforming live and having people that have seen them 10+ times still in shock because they play something new every time. And that is something you’ll never get to experience at a normal concert. I get that in their genre of music it allows them to do that, but to be able to listen to someone and get a new and different experience every time is amazing and truly artistic.
Not only was Okeechobee about the music, but it was also about the art. An artist created everything that was set up. All the mini stages were all sculptural aspects to the over all feel of the festival. Being an art major, I was just in heaven looking at everything. I wish my phone had more storage or I would have flooded everyone that had me on social media newsfeed’s. They had a section made up of painted water bottles and I literally didn’t even notice until I took a picture of it up close. They also had a booth of local artwork and there would be an artist scheduled to do whatever their medium was. When Lena and me walked by there was this amazing painter, painting a dolphin coming up from what looked like beams of light. I was just so happy to see all this amazing artwork and to be around people who genuinely cared for it too. I even got to talk to this tapestry distributer and got to talk to them about how they create their tapestries and the process. And it was just amazing for me to talk to someone about weaving who had the same passion as me, that was not just a teacher or someone in my class.
Overall, this experience was like no other. And I really believe that everyone should go once in their lifetime. I just want to give a major thank you to my roommate, my best friend, Lena for bringing me because without her I would not have never gone. It was her that pushed me to go and I hope if you do not have a Lena in your life, that this pushes you to go. I at no point in the three days regretted my decision to go, and now honestly cannot wait for the next one I can save my money for. So word of advice from someone that did not even like edm, please go. The experience and the appreciation that comes out of it, is a life experience all on its own.