I’ll never forget the best advice my friend, Peter, gave me about 5 years ago before heading back to my 4th Electric Forest. He said that when it comes to festivals, “there is no such thing as a line“. ( At first I took this very literally. Back in the day whenever nature called, I would b-line straight to the closest porta potty (while manifesting that there would be toilet paper in the stall =O<ý>û) and respectfully march up to the line and wait, and wait and wait and wait until what seemed like eternity for my turn to go next and then jump forward the second that little latch to switch from “occupied” to “vacant”. At this point I’ve likely spent an accumulated amount equivalent to a full 4-day fest having to wait in lines, not only at the bathrooms but also at merch booths and food vendors.
While casually spending time showing off my potty dance (said no one ever), I had the chance to people watch. And I realized that most of the time, people were just waiting because that’s the socially expected normie behavioral thing to do. But when you really look around, you’ll see that some people are randomly standing around for whatever reason and are not actually even in line! The other funny thing I noticed is that we’ll tend to single file behind a specific spot when there’s a faster order of operations to scoot over to the next vacant opening, kind of like switching lanes and passing up the slower cars. You snooze, you lose ya know what I mean?
Zooming out to the larger context though, the beauty about music festivals — hence why I love them so much is because they are a one of a kind special unicorn of an alternative universe, an adult playground, where some norms don’t need to exist or quite frankly make much sense when applied to the circumstance. Kind of like outdated dinosaur policies that were created half a century ago.. At the end of the day we attend festivals to let loose a little, have fun with friends, laugh at the silly moments, and ofc let our bodies sway away to the musical vibrations. As long as we treat each other with respect, kindness, and love — who’s to say some “rules” can’t be broken. So now, “there’s no such thing as a line” has become a motto that I’ve adopted into my lifestyle and 100% how I approach my experiences at festivals. It’s the equivalent of carpe diem, seize the opportunity when it arises and trust your intuition to do what serves you the best at the moment… without being an asshole plz. After a half decade of softly bending the rules, I’m happy to report that my bladder rarely gets mad at me anymore these days.
Time is precious and tres limited when you’re skipping (literally =o@ ) between sets. Don’t take those moments for granted and allow yourself to be fully present. Scope out that ideal grass patch for you and your crew to post up at. The key essential festival landmarks to quickly locate are: 1.) right of sound booth, 2.) a super tall totem in the crowd or a stationary structure/art installation, and of course 3.) these familiar signs =» that will guide you to the nearest toilets. If you have a small bladder like me while trying to stay hydrated… it’s a an import thing to consider = .
-Lina Face