I have successfully survived my first music festival! Saying Rolling Loud was a movie is a COMPLETE understatement. I’ve never been in such a large venue with so many people collectively turning up. I’m really big on people watching so I felt like a kid in a candy store. The older I get I find that I’m not always too fond of the concert scene. With the crowds and long waits it all can be very overwhelming and my social meter ends up depleted. But Rolling Loud was different, being in the midst of that crowd even when I almost died in the mosh pit all just felt so damn exhilarating. It was so easy to lose yourself in all the chaos and simply live in the moment.
Here’s a few takeaways from my first music festival experience:
Mosh pits can be a lot of fun and absolutely HORRIFYING at the same time
So somehow my best friend and I found ourselves accidentally right in the middle of a mosh pit. I literally said let’s stand back here because I don’t want to get caught in the middle. One second we were standing in the back and it seemed like in a matter of minutes we were completely closed in. Looking behind me I couldn’t see any easy way out. Instead of panicking I figured everything was cool, why not just continue enjoying the show. Little did I know this was the calm before the storm. As soon as Sheck Wes hit the stage the crowd literally went nuts. We were being thrown around like rag dolls LOL. We lasted a good 20 minutes before finally making it to the front where we were able to hop the railing and finally be FREE of the huge mass of people. Craziest part of the experience was there was this guy who really did not want to let us out, you better believe I gave him a few choice words after hopping the fence.
If you care at all about your feet you BETTER NOT wear sandals
I made the silly mistake of wearing sandals on the second day of the festival and boyyyyy did I regret it. According to my fitbit I had a little over 16,000 steps that day so by the end of that night my feet were killing me. I honestly don’t even know how I was still standing. Not to mention getting stuck in the mosh pit wearing sandals was definitely not how I saw my day going LOL Needless to say I escaped with no damage to my precious toes. I was a happy camper day 3 of the festival in my tennis shoes!
STAY hydrated
From the mosh pit to just walking around I saw so many people dropping like flies. Due to the fact that it was soooo HOT and not to mention I’m sure the majority of us had been drinking most of the day. Staying hydrated is probably the most important festival tip you should follow. No one wants to pass out at a festival and although your friends love you I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have to babysit you. So drink lots of WATER.
Plan your transportation ahead of time
We learned our lesson the hard way about planning out our transportation. Of course we automatically assumed we would just uber and lyft everywhere. However we didn’t take into account the surge prices. Friday the prices were so high we didn’t even go LOL It was already a little past 6 anyway so we figured we’d save our coins and hit the strip instead. We ran into this issue yet again the last day of the festival, instead of opting out however we just waited the surge out. Within 30 minutes the prices were dramatically lower. I also suggest not to personally drive yourself. Realistically, you won’t be sober and secondly you won’t want to drive through traffic.
Check the weather and dress APPROPRIATELY
The weather forecast changed so much before our trip I felt like I had to pack a little bit of everything to be on the safe side. Despite the rain forecast it was pretty much sunny the entire time we were at the festival. Even with the little we had on we still felt like we were having mini heat strokes. So don’t forget your suntan lotion! Packing a poncho just in case of rain is also always the smart move! There were even people trying to sell them as we were walking into the stadium among other things LOL
And finally, although the let out can be fun, if you ever want to get home you might want to leave at least an hour before the last set ends.
