Are you going to Coachella? If not, all the Coachella social media buzz has probably made you wish you were. If you are missing out, you may have already sworn you will be there next year. Here’s the thing, though: it is really easy to say that you’ll hit it next year, or the year after that. Maybe you’re waiting for your next friend to get engaged to make a destination bachelorette or bachelor party out of it. But really, a lot can change in that time. Think about it; how many of your older friends with children and other serious commitments do you see posting about a road trip to an upcoming festival, whether Coachella, Osheaga or Lollapalooza? Probably not too many. There is nothing quite like the energy of a music festival that allows you to relax inhibitions, become best friends with strangers and hear some of your favourite artists like you never had before. But your days of getting the most out of music festivals may be on the verge of passing you by if you don’t just commit and do it already.
Here is why you need to hit a music festival while you’re still in your prime…
You can still pull off the outfits
Let’s be honest, one of the best things about music festivals is the dress code… or lack thereof. This means things like bikini tops, daisy dukes and other teeny-tiny jean shorts and bandanas and loose braids in messy, beachy hair for the ladies. For the guys, you’ll likely sport a t-shirt or tank that could even get wet – and nobody wants to see saggy man boobs through your shirt. Though you may look great now, sadly you are not always going to look so hot in typical music festival garb.
You can still act ridiculous and free
You can sing and dance your face off, make out with strangers and not worry about getting grimy and dirty. While that sounds like it will never lose its appeal to us, our older friends (who politely decline invites for road trip destination music festivals) assure us that it will. There is only so long that you can pull off the ‘I don’t give a sh*t, free love attitude’ before it just isn’t cute anymore.
You can still make a road trip out of it
Half of the fun of a destination music festival is the journey to get there, whether you rent an RV with a group of your best friends from university or make it a romantic road trip with your significant other. This, of course, means that you will be able to take time off of work (it isn’t the easiest to work mobile from a moving car, after all) and from life in general. Once things start to get real (as in managerial roles at work, babies and aging parents), this will not be as possible. If you make it to the festival at all, there is a good chance you will frantically just catch a last-minute flight and fly home on the red-eye (hating your life).
It is less of a shock to your system
As much as we try to convince ourselves that we are still in fine, university-style form when it comes to big party nights out – and we very well may be – we all know that, by this point, it takes at least a week to recover from those big girls’ or boys’ trips (think the last destination bachelor party or bachelorette you attended and how you felt on the way home). A music festival is no different. You can easily snap back into the real world quickly at this age; if you wait any longer, it could come as a shock to the system and not be worth the week-long hangover.
You will actually know the music
Remember back in the day when you would belt out songs on the radio while in the car with your parents (who were probably in their late thirties or early forties at the time) and they would have no clue who the artist was (despite their appearance on Saturday Night Live the night before)? Or they would totally butcher their names along with the lyrics? Remember how uncool they seemed? You definitely don’t want to be that person at a music festival who pretends to know the lyrics. It is way better when you know the music.
The social media material
Who are we kidding? One of the best parts of a music festival is the ample social media material it offers, from selfies to shots and videos of the crowd and musicians. Now that your social media profiles are in the height of their activity, why not fill them with cool content offered from a music festival? Not to mention, you will look hot in those pictures now… maybe not so much 10 years down the road.
You don’t want to be the oldest one there
You know the feeling when you are clearly aware (and so is everyone else) that you are the oldest person in a bar filled with young early twenty-somethings? Awkward, right? Now think of how it would feel to look around and feel really, really old in a sea of thousands. That said, those our parents’ age who can still tap into their free-spirited side and let loose at a concert deserve full respect. It is just so much more fun to do so now.
You may not get the chance again
Enough said.
#LYNL | (Live Your Notable Life)
Cover image from: milkstudios.tumblr.com
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