I don’t know about you, but growing up, I was invested in watching my favorite lifestyle Youtubers of 2013-2019 prepare to attend Coachella. This festival was practically a requirement for the rich and famous, or maybe a rite of passage for anyone wanting to make it as an influencer.
Regardless of the reason, tween me looked at Coachella with stars in my eyes. I told myself, as I’m sure many of us did, that I’d go to Coachella one day when I was older (but not too old). I wanted so badly to be able to pick out my outfits, hairstyles, and makeup looks, go to the desert with my friends, and listen to some really good music, just like I had seen all of my role models do.
However, now that I’m an adult and realize that my hard-earned grocery money would be going into those outfits, tickets, and hotel stays, the chances of me being able to attend felt out of reach. This feeling may be common for many other people who wish to attend. This year, just to get into the entire weekend of Coachella at the base price, it’d cost around $499 plus fees.
Let’s look at another music festival that might satisfy the same concertgoer’s desire: Lollapalooza. Although the price for this year’s tickets has not been released yet, it would’ve run you about $503 if you were looking into experiencing all four days of the festival last year. If you do the math, Lollapalooza is technically more cost-efficient, but at what point are we willing to draw the line at excess?
Maybe there’s still hope for a music festival a little more niche. The first example of one that comes to mind is Shaky Knees in Atlanta, which tends to gear more toward the alternative crowd. Admission for the three days is over $100 per day, with a grand total of roughly $365.
The reality is, in today’s age of social media and with its sheer impact on all of us, music festivals serve a different purpose than they did before the days of Instagram and TikTok. In the ’90s and early 2000s, these concerts were anticipated because they were a place for camaraderie. They were a place where people with similar likes could enjoy music with one another and experience what they came there for. Now, these festivals seem to serve quite the opposite function, where simply attending means an opportunity to produce content.
Social media is inherently competitive. Take an event that’s treated as a destination or backdrop for posts and combine that with all of the brands and sponsorships expecting some sort of promotions, and you’re going to get a lot of tripods and extravagant outfits. Each attendee’s posts needs to be better than the one before, and if you dare miss out on the event, then you’re essentially deemed irrelevant as an influencer.
I hope that the rest of us aren’t limited to just living vicariously through our screens for the rest of our lives. Maybe music festivals will fall off as a trend just as fast as they became one. Hopefully, someday, nature will heal itself and people will start once again attending music festivals for the music.
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