Like I've said before, I'm a festival junkee. I can't get enough of them and the minute I hear of one, I have to go to it. It's not a want, it's a need. And with more and more festivals being added to that list, that means more and more money to be spent. Let me break it down how much I spend at a festival.
Average prices of:
Ticket - $300
Gas - $40-$65
Food- $30-$75
Merch- $30-$60
camping supplies- $30
Alcohol- $50-$100
Misc. - $150-$150
Hotel- $90
Now these prices are not the same with every event I go to, but most of them are in the higher range. Some festivals are cheaper, but those are the ones I have to get a hotel for. The ones I need a hotel for, don't really need camping supplies for that. But on average, the total comes out to be anywhere from $500-$700. I could literally buy a car if I stopped going to all these fests. No joke, last year I attended 7 different music festivals... 7. Insane amount of money and insane amount of good times.
The number one question I get is, " how do you afford to go to all of this?!" My answer; living at home with mom and dad and having a job. Since I live at home, I don't pay for rent, utilities, or groceries so therefore I have all this money from waiting tables to festival hop. Almost my entire budget goes in to my next festival, many think it's ridiculous. You may think it sucks living at home, but I know that the memories and awesome friends I've made from doing this is so much better than having my own place. I'm taking advantage of this time in my life because I know here in a few months after I graduate, it will all have to come to a halt.
Being an adult but not having to be an adult yet is exciting and I'm not ready for this to end. I really am having the best years of my life right now.
-Blaze
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Festival Do's and Don'ts
With Austin City Limits weekend 1 coming up this weekend and myself attending weekend 2 next weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to write some tips on how to prepare. Luckily, ACL is a festival where you can go back to a hotel room after a full day of walking and dancing for countless hours, so you don't have to be as prepared than if you had to camp.
Do's:
Always eat a BIG breakfast. And when I say big, I mean until you absolutely can't eat another bite. Breakfast may be your only meal of the day and it'll be your biggest source of energy.
Backpacks are important, preferably a camelbak backpack because those hold water bladders.
With that being said, DO STAY HYDRATED. I can't stress this enough. Keep drinking water because even if you're not thirsty, you're most like still dehydrated and that makes for a terrible time.
Do bring in little snacks like granola bars. Most festivals allow you to bring in small snacks.
Toilet paper. Especially for us girls. Never assume that the port-o-potties will have TP because by the end of the night, none of them will.
If you're a drinker on a budget ( like myself), smuggle it in. Best way to do that is drink the clear liquor, fill up a water bottle to the brim. You're allowed to bring in an unsealed water bottle, but the security really just checks to see if it's filled all the way.
Do be weather alert. Prepare for heat, or cold, or rain, or whatever mother nature may throw at you that weekend and make the best of it. This is about to be the best weekend of your life, don't be unprepared and have weather ruin it!
Do expect to make new friends! You'll meet the craziest people but also the nicest people and maybe even some forever friends.
Don'ts:
Don't start the party too early, you'll miss the artists you really want to see at night. Trust me.
Don't wander and lose your friends. Always make a meeting point at a certain time if your group separates or you will never find them.
Don't expect to have cell service. There are 80,000 other festival attendees all trying to use their phone at the same time.
Don't be that Guy. What do I mean by that you ask? I mean don't be that asshole that gets mad if someone wants to get closer than you to the stage, because no matter where you stand, someone will want to get closer. Don't be the guy that doesn't help out someone in need, 9/10 someone will help you when you're in need. Pretty much don't be the Debbie downer.
Don't ever underestimate getting sunburned. Just because it's October doesn't mean you can't burn to a crisp anymore. I learned that the hard way.
Don't walk into the port-o-pots barefoot. I feel like this is common sense, but I've seen it and yes you will get looked at. I am a person that loves to walk barefoot around grassy festivals but I always carry flip flops in my backpack just for that.
First time festival goers may need advice on what to pack. Well have no fear because I can give you the most important things you will need.
Packing List:
- Sunglasses/ back up pair
- Sunscreen
- At least $60 ( you may never know what will happen)
- If you don't like being in the crowd, a sheet to sit or lay on
- Small flashlight to help in the port-o-pots at night
- Hand sanitizer
- Baby wipes
-Water Bottle ( reusable)
- Backpack/camelbak
- Hair ties
- Hats ( helps with shade)
- Raincoat/ rain boots
Austin City Limits is a wonderful weekend filled with amazing people, incredible artists, and will create beautiful memories you will cherish for a lifetime. Do have a fantastic time and happy festing!
-Blaze
Do's:
Always eat a BIG breakfast. And when I say big, I mean until you absolutely can't eat another bite. Breakfast may be your only meal of the day and it'll be your biggest source of energy.
Backpacks are important, preferably a camelbak backpack because those hold water bladders.
With that being said, DO STAY HYDRATED. I can't stress this enough. Keep drinking water because even if you're not thirsty, you're most like still dehydrated and that makes for a terrible time.
Do bring in little snacks like granola bars. Most festivals allow you to bring in small snacks.
Toilet paper. Especially for us girls. Never assume that the port-o-potties will have TP because by the end of the night, none of them will.
If you're a drinker on a budget ( like myself), smuggle it in. Best way to do that is drink the clear liquor, fill up a water bottle to the brim. You're allowed to bring in an unsealed water bottle, but the security really just checks to see if it's filled all the way.
Do be weather alert. Prepare for heat, or cold, or rain, or whatever mother nature may throw at you that weekend and make the best of it. This is about to be the best weekend of your life, don't be unprepared and have weather ruin it!
Do expect to make new friends! You'll meet the craziest people but also the nicest people and maybe even some forever friends.
Don'ts:
Don't start the party too early, you'll miss the artists you really want to see at night. Trust me.
Don't wander and lose your friends. Always make a meeting point at a certain time if your group separates or you will never find them.
Don't expect to have cell service. There are 80,000 other festival attendees all trying to use their phone at the same time.
Don't be that Guy. What do I mean by that you ask? I mean don't be that asshole that gets mad if someone wants to get closer than you to the stage, because no matter where you stand, someone will want to get closer. Don't be the guy that doesn't help out someone in need, 9/10 someone will help you when you're in need. Pretty much don't be the Debbie downer.
Don't ever underestimate getting sunburned. Just because it's October doesn't mean you can't burn to a crisp anymore. I learned that the hard way.
Don't walk into the port-o-pots barefoot. I feel like this is common sense, but I've seen it and yes you will get looked at. I am a person that loves to walk barefoot around grassy festivals but I always carry flip flops in my backpack just for that.
First time festival goers may need advice on what to pack. Well have no fear because I can give you the most important things you will need.
Packing List:
- Sunglasses/ back up pair
- Sunscreen
- At least $60 ( you may never know what will happen)
- If you don't like being in the crowd, a sheet to sit or lay on
- Small flashlight to help in the port-o-pots at night
- Hand sanitizer
- Baby wipes
-Water Bottle ( reusable)
- Backpack/camelbak
- Hair ties
- Hats ( helps with shade)
- Raincoat/ rain boots
Austin City Limits is a wonderful weekend filled with amazing people, incredible artists, and will create beautiful memories you will cherish for a lifetime. Do have a fantastic time and happy festing!
-Blaze
Monday, September 28, 2015
Trouble at TomorrowWorld
This was the one festival I was looking forward to attending. Unfortunately, due to financial problems over the summer, I was unable to go. Never in my life have I ever been so grateful to not make it to a festival. TomorrowWorld was a nightmare this year and from it sounds like, it's nobody's fault except the people running the fest.
The festival got an expected couple inches of rain within the first two days of the festival. Because of the rain and the amount of people walking around, it quickly turned to one big mud pit. After the last show of the night, the campers went back to their tents, but the off site festival attendees were not as lucky. Uber cars and shuttle buses were getting stuck in the mud, making the festival call off any types of transportation. This left thousands of people stranded and livid. Not only that, but the staff wouldn't let people leaving refill their water bottles before leaving, which left many people dehydrated as well.
There was no communication to the event staff or the security, so this led to people sleeping on cardboard or plastic bags in the cold and the mud, people walking 8 miles to get to the nearest transportation, and even people sleeping on the side of unlit backroads. Uber even took this chance to screw over the customers and there were reports of people having to pay $200 for their 10 mile drive to their hotels. Apparently there were two girls raped on the unlit roads, as well as people having to be hospitalized due to dehydration. There were even complaints of the staff being high on drugs and not doing what they were supposed to be. TomorrowWorld then decided to close the fest to everyone but the 40,000 attendees who were camping. They did offer refunds to the people unable to attend Sunday, but that understandably didn't make any of them happy.
Running a festival has HUGE responsibilities, one includes insuring the safety of the festival goers. Leaving them stranded and not communicating on how to get them safely back is a big problem. If there is rain in the forecast, you have to have a back up plan or 2 with any problem that could occur, and cars getting stuck is a major one. I've attended many fests where rain causes problems and every time the situation has been dealt with the best possible way. TomorrowWorld had no care in the world to help their attendees. This is the most insane thing I've read about weather problems and the outcome of it and I'm so glad I escaped from that nightmare. Just from hearing news like this, I don't think I'm ever interested in going now.
-Blaze
There was no communication to the event staff or the security, so this led to people sleeping on cardboard or plastic bags in the cold and the mud, people walking 8 miles to get to the nearest transportation, and even people sleeping on the side of unlit backroads. Uber even took this chance to screw over the customers and there were reports of people having to pay $200 for their 10 mile drive to their hotels. Apparently there were two girls raped on the unlit roads, as well as people having to be hospitalized due to dehydration. There were even complaints of the staff being high on drugs and not doing what they were supposed to be. TomorrowWorld then decided to close the fest to everyone but the 40,000 attendees who were camping. They did offer refunds to the people unable to attend Sunday, but that understandably didn't make any of them happy.
Running a festival has HUGE responsibilities, one includes insuring the safety of the festival goers. Leaving them stranded and not communicating on how to get them safely back is a big problem. If there is rain in the forecast, you have to have a back up plan or 2 with any problem that could occur, and cars getting stuck is a major one. I've attended many fests where rain causes problems and every time the situation has been dealt with the best possible way. TomorrowWorld had no care in the world to help their attendees. This is the most insane thing I've read about weather problems and the outcome of it and I'm so glad I escaped from that nightmare. Just from hearing news like this, I don't think I'm ever interested in going now.
-Blaze
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Decadence Releases Stacked Lineup
This exciting New Year's Eve festival in Denver, Colorado spent the last two days announcing a new artist to the lineup every 30 minutes for 5 hours of the afternoon. Let me tell you, it made for a stressful two days to see each name slowly get released.
They started with a big room house DJ Hardwell. I'm not too excited about this only because of my music preference. When I go to see a DJ, I want to see a lot of original material and not someone who samples other people's music while screaming " 3 2 1 JUMP!" every 15 minutes. Big room house is just not my cup of tea.
Then some smaller name acts got added that I was a little excited for like The Floozies and JackLNDN.
It was when they started announcing the harder hitting names when I was jumping out of my seat with excitement. Names like Figure, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Excision, and Odesza. The headlining act of the first night is one of my favorites as well as hundreds of thousands of more, Bassnectar. And honestly, you can't celebrate the New Year in Colorado without expecting Bassnectar to make an appearance.
Next day, the stress was real because this day was the deciding day on if my friends and I would for sure be spending our New Year's in the city of Denver. They announced Gramatik, who I am always down to see, What So Not, Galantis, and a few other names I was unfamiliar with. At this point, my entire friend group was torn. Decadence was good but not stacked like we were promised and there were other festival opportunities with a better lineup.
Shortly after they announced ticket prices and when they would be going on sale, along with two more BIG announcements to make this lineup better than the rest. My friends and I were throwing names out like Pretty Lights, Above & Beyond, all of our hopeful favorite headliners. I was hoping it was Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 considering it's been years since I've seen Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 is one of my all time favorites.
The first announcement was the Skrillex and Diplo duo, Jack U. No one was thrilled about this. Skrillex is a great producer and a talented artist and him alone or with his other duo, Dogblood with Boys Noize, is fantastic. Unfortunately Diplo is not that great. To me, he's tainted the eletronic music industry and is not that great of a DJ. When it comes to producing his own music, he's great; but, he's cocky and a misogynist and you can see it all over his social media and his performances. So I will be Skipping out on Jack U solely because of Diplo.
Finally the last name was released. I couldn't handle it, I screamed, immediately sent it to all my friends, and then screamed some more because my hopeful guess became true. The last name they released, the producer who will be bringing in the new year is... Deadmau5! Excitement is now in the air in my group of friends and the decision was unanimous that we were not missing out on this festival. Planning has already started and we are only in the month of September.
We have yet to see any other New Year's Eve festival lineup drop to compare to Decadence, but as of now there is now comparing and our minds are set.
I can't wait to be in Denver once again to ring in the new year!
-Blaze
They started with a big room house DJ Hardwell. I'm not too excited about this only because of my music preference. When I go to see a DJ, I want to see a lot of original material and not someone who samples other people's music while screaming " 3 2 1 JUMP!" every 15 minutes. Big room house is just not my cup of tea. Then some smaller name acts got added that I was a little excited for like The Floozies and JackLNDN.
It was when they started announcing the harder hitting names when I was jumping out of my seat with excitement. Names like Figure, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Excision, and Odesza. The headlining act of the first night is one of my favorites as well as hundreds of thousands of more, Bassnectar. And honestly, you can't celebrate the New Year in Colorado without expecting Bassnectar to make an appearance. Next day, the stress was real because this day was the deciding day on if my friends and I would for sure be spending our New Year's in the city of Denver. They announced Gramatik, who I am always down to see, What So Not, Galantis, and a few other names I was unfamiliar with. At this point, my entire friend group was torn. Decadence was good but not stacked like we were promised and there were other festival opportunities with a better lineup.
Shortly after they announced ticket prices and when they would be going on sale, along with two more BIG announcements to make this lineup better than the rest. My friends and I were throwing names out like Pretty Lights, Above & Beyond, all of our hopeful favorite headliners. I was hoping it was Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 considering it's been years since I've seen Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 is one of my all time favorites.
The first announcement was the Skrillex and Diplo duo, Jack U. No one was thrilled about this. Skrillex is a great producer and a talented artist and him alone or with his other duo, Dogblood with Boys Noize, is fantastic. Unfortunately Diplo is not that great. To me, he's tainted the eletronic music industry and is not that great of a DJ. When it comes to producing his own music, he's great; but, he's cocky and a misogynist and you can see it all over his social media and his performances. So I will be Skipping out on Jack U solely because of Diplo.Finally the last name was released. I couldn't handle it, I screamed, immediately sent it to all my friends, and then screamed some more because my hopeful guess became true. The last name they released, the producer who will be bringing in the new year is... Deadmau5! Excitement is now in the air in my group of friends and the decision was unanimous that we were not missing out on this festival. Planning has already started and we are only in the month of September.
I can't wait to be in Denver once again to ring in the new year!
-Blaze
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The Brains Behind Bonnaroo Announce New Florida Festival
Music festival junkees will be thrilled to hear that a new Bonnaroo and Coachella like festival is coming to South Florida.
Details were released on Thursday that Okeechobee, Florida will host a new, bigger festival on March 4-6, 2016. This will be the biggest camping festival as it is located on 848 acres of land called Sunshine Grove. To give you an idea on how large that is, Bonnaroo is on 700 acres and holds up to 90,000 attendees. Now image what opportunities an extra 148 acres can offer.... exciting right?
The new festival will release the lineup later next month and will include 80 different acts including bands, producers, and DJ's from around the world.
This event will include a white-sand lakeside-swimming beach and bar, wooded VIP camping areas, various art installations. Just like Bonnaroo, the festival will be very environmentally conscious and provide recycling bins, serve food on compost plates, and reduce the waste.
I'm hoping to be able to make it to the first year of this festival. Not only is my birthday March 2nd ( hint hint) but its in a new location with new festival attractions I'd love to experience. I can't wait to see what it's first year will look like and see how successful it'll be.
Now a days, the industry of festivals is so heavy saturated that it's hard to start a new one. But with the brains behind Bonnaroo putting this together, I have faith.
Now to wait for the lineup!
- Blaze
Details were released on Thursday that Okeechobee, Florida will host a new, bigger festival on March 4-6, 2016. This will be the biggest camping festival as it is located on 848 acres of land called Sunshine Grove. To give you an idea on how large that is, Bonnaroo is on 700 acres and holds up to 90,000 attendees. Now image what opportunities an extra 148 acres can offer.... exciting right?
The new festival will release the lineup later next month and will include 80 different acts including bands, producers, and DJ's from around the world.
This event will include a white-sand lakeside-swimming beach and bar, wooded VIP camping areas, various art installations. Just like Bonnaroo, the festival will be very environmentally conscious and provide recycling bins, serve food on compost plates, and reduce the waste.
I'm hoping to be able to make it to the first year of this festival. Not only is my birthday March 2nd ( hint hint) but its in a new location with new festival attractions I'd love to experience. I can't wait to see what it's first year will look like and see how successful it'll be.
Now a days, the industry of festivals is so heavy saturated that it's hard to start a new one. But with the brains behind Bonnaroo putting this together, I have faith.
Now to wait for the lineup!
- Blaze
It Really is a Time to be Alive
This came unexpected considering Drake is releasing a new album later this year and Future released his new album July 6th.
Apple's Beats 1 Radio premiered the album on Sunday with Drake explaining how the mixtape came together and basically told listeners that the mixtape was an accident.
He said how he went to visit Atlanta a couple of weeks ago for six days in hopes of collaborating with Future.
Drake also mentioned how he chose the title for his new, spontaneous album. When he realized his trip to Atlanta would produce a collaborative effort with Future, Drake told writer and friend Ernest Baker about the project. Baker replied, "What a time to be alive," and that's how Drake named it.
The mixtape has 11 tracks and is pretty much a mixtape of Future featuring Drake. The chemistry works as expected and is blowing up on the Itunes charts and making a trend on twitter as #WATTBA.
You can listen to the full album on the Apple Music, but isn't available on popular music streaming sites yet.
So with this new collaboration and having both artists on the lineup for the upcoming fest, Austin City Limits, does this mean we will see the duo perform this mixtape together on stage? I know I can't wait to see.
What a time to be alive indeed.
-Blaze
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Queen Bey is Blessing Us Again
Naughty Boy music yesterday tweeted a time countdown and some great news for Beyonce fans. She will be featured on a new track of theirs called " Runnin ( Lose it All)" along side Arrow Benjamin. With the tweet, they shared a snippet of the new song. The track had already been leaked last month, but only featured Arrow Benjamin.
This is new material from Beyonce since her self-titled album back in 2013. The Naughty Boy album will also include collaborations with Bastille, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. Their new song will be debuted September 18th.
-Blaze
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