trendy hype vid or pseudo-intellectual ramblings? or both!
Marian Hill, Foster the People, Logic, Arctic Monkeys, Lil Wayne, The Killers, Eminem, Martin Garrix, alt-J, Kendrick Lamar, ODESZA, and me and so so so many other people.
Most people decide to go to a music festival based on who is performing... and that makes sense. The headliners are the reason why people pay hundreds of dollars and make up bullshit excuses to get out of work for a weekend. The headliners were definitely the reason why I decided to go to Firefly and trek out to the woodlands of Delaware.
And even though the musicians performed beyond my wildest dreams, I'm not so sure they were the true reason I was having such a fantastic time. No, it was all the other thousands of people jamming with me, screaming with me, and being their most delightful, vibrant selves with me. It was the community that this music invited.
There's a kind of magic where everybody just decides to be super joyous and free and everybody seeks to share their joyous freedom with one another. There are smiles and high fives and low fives and square dance sessions and letting your neighbor borrow some of your ice and it is all very, incredibly human. Despite that it looks different from our everyday lives, the whole experience feels so natural.
The music simply encouraged this opening but it is always there. It is always here-- the choice to be accepting of others and open to connection. Random acts of kindness and smiles and sharing and random dance parties do not need to be reserved and restricted to fields and forests in the middle of nowhere. If we can give ourselves permission to be open at festivals, why can't we do the same the other 360 days of the year? Wouldn't it feel much better than the limitations and pressures we currently self-impose?
In the context of the modern Western world, we pride ourselves on our individualism and our self-determination to get things done and make a name for ourselves. While these can definitely be motivating and empowering, it's quite lonely and extremely daunting. These festivals remind us of the power of community and its derivative feeling of unity. You can't help but feel validated, bolstered, and loved to the utmost when you and thousands of other "strangers" are bouncing, singing, and jamming together. All on the same page that this human existence is worthwhile and truly beautiful.
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