Somewhere in the middle of a packed crowd at Stagecoach, waiting for Cody Johnson to take the stage, I ended up talking to someone I had never met. I mentioned how much I liked her outfit. What started out as a small compliment turned into a conversation about our favorite sets, the best food we’d tried, and how terrible the cell service was. By the time the next song started, we went our separate ways without even exchanging names. This kind of interaction happened over and over again throughout the weekend at Stagecoach. In a matter of minutes, strangers became friends, even if only temporarily.
On the second day of Stagecoach, I made friends with a different girl while standing in line at a taco stand. She couldn’t decide what to get and within minutes we were talking like we had been friends forever. After starting a conversation from something as simple as whether she should get chicken or beef, we began to connect over Stagecoach and our siblings. As soon as our food came out, we went our separate ways, and I assumed I would never see her again.
Later that same day, I got separated from my group as they started announcing an emergency evacuation. I immediately started to panic because my phone wasn’t working, I didn’t know where we were supposed to meet, and I had no idea where to go. I tried calling my friends, but had no luck. Out of all the people in the moving crowd, the same girl I had met just a few hours earlier at the taco stand found me again. She offered to let me stay with her group and use her phone once we got service. When we finally reached the entrance, I was able to call my sister and find my group again.
That small connection I made earlier in the day, something that felt so temporary and insignificant at the time, ended up being exactly what I needed at that moment.
Music festivals create a “bubble” where everyone is part of the same experience, and our social defenses are lower. Daniel Yudkin, a postdoctoral researcher, explains to Yale News that experiences at secular mass gatherings also have the potential to expand the boundaries of moral concern beyond one’s own group. In a packed crowd, people’s barriers come down and we feel more connected. People begin to care about others outside of their usual circles. In everyday life, we tend to prioritize family, friends, and the people closest to us, but in a festival setting, where everyone is sharing the same experience, those boundaries shift, and it becomes easier to connect with strangers.
The people I met are part of what makes music festivals feel so magical. I might never see them again, but for ten minutes, they were exactly the friends I needed. The primary thing separating us from these kinds of connections in everyday life is our environment. The festival space allows us to slow down and show up differently.