Music festival season is in full swing. It started with Coachella, which had more than 90,000 people attendees each weekend! College students love the festival culture, and it’s gotten a lot more popular in the last couple years. Music is a huge part of college life and festivals of all sizes are always full of college-aged students listening to music performances that feature everything from indie rock to EDM.
Coachella started in 1999, and drew crowds around 25,000 people to see bands like Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Beck. Now the music and arts festival hosts over 50 bands! Festivals, despite the relaxing vibes, require a lot of planning and endurance. Most areas have hotels nearby, but most college students have already splurged enough for the three-day ticket itself that they result to camping. If people camp with a large group, everyone will have a good time regardless of the campsite size as long as they have a tent or car to sleep in for the night! Alex Christie attended Coachella for her first time this year and had fun despite the campsites being as close as parking spots.
“Campsites were really close together! I got to know these people next to us from England,” she said. “My friend ditched me one of the nights and they stayed with me and they told me about their lives; they were cool people.”
Festivals can become addicting. There are so many chances to meet people from all over the world and share experiences, all while listening to great live music. Camping next to strangers may seem uncomfortable, but if they’re at the same festival it means they enjoy the same music, so you’ll most likely get along well! If the three-day ticket is what you decide to get, a routine starts developing. You are woken up early by the people around you and spend almost all day standing and winding through crowds of people. The nights are spent sitting down, resting your legs and sitting around a campfire!
At the fifth annual California Roots Festival in Monterey this year, it was the largest amount of reggae-lovers the event had seen so far. Damian Marley and Steel Pulse were the biggest acts that performed this past Memorial Day weekend. The festival started on Friday and ended on Sunday. Three-day tickets were expensive, as they are for many festivals, but the amount of music you get to see live and the great people you meet definitely make the price worth while.
Summer has even more festivals than this spring, including Outside Lands in San Francisco, Vans Warped Tour and Night in the Country in Nevada. A lot of college-aged people will be there, providing more options for great festivals to attend!
Are you going to any festivals this summer, collegiettes?