Bazooka Rocks, Circuit Fest, Summer Slam, Wanderland, Summer Solstice… The Music Festival trend is certainly here to stay and it can be expected that they’ll only get bigger and better. Despite music festivals being a staple worldwide, it’s a relatively new concept in the local concert world and many first-time revelers are at risk of showing up unprepared.

Today we present to you the Music Festival Survival Kit: a list of essentials to help you enjoy those marathon music festivals without a hitch.

1. Comfy clothes

Something to remember about dressing for concerts in general is that comfort is key. Leave the sparkly party dress at home, we guarantee you’ll regret wearing it with every fiber of your being when you’re being jostled about the crowd and all you can think about is the state your outfit will be in at the end of the show.

2. Flats/sneakers

Music festivals are no place for fancy shoes. If you can barely make it through a night out clubbing in those killer heels, imagine surviving up to twelve hours of jumping around with the odds of having a squashy chair to crash on being slim to none. While heels may be a handy extra boost especially to the vertically challenged, they are also a threat to everyone in the wearer’s vicinity. No one wants their foot to be impaled by your stilettos or clobbered with your heavy wedges. The solution is simple: flats. You’ll be comfortable, you won’t be at risk of skewering a fellow fan’s foot, and you won’t be subjected to judging stares from those more familiar with concert culture.

 

3. Water

We can’t stress this enough. You need to stay hydrated. While the lines at the food & beverage booths may be absurdly long and the prices even more absurdly marked up, you absolutely need to drink up between sets. Marathon concerts can take a serious toll on your body, and dehydration is no laughing matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Tissue/baby wipes

There will be beer, there will be soda, there will be ooey gooey food and syrup-laden concoctions. There will also be sweat (not necessarily yours) and lots of it. Less than halfway through the festival, you can declare your baby freshness DOA. Luckily your local drugstore has a quick fix for this, and it is in the form of something specifically made to restore baby freshness: baby wipes. Just do it. You can thank us later.

 

5. Hair elastics

“Long hair, don’t care” is not a good philosophy to have at music festivals. Sooner or later, all that head-banging, jumping around, and waving your hair in the wind (presuming you’re outdoors) is going to leave you in tangles that will make you remeniscent of Cousin It. Keep a hair elastic around your wrist and knot up when you get tired of having to peer through your locks to see the band.

 

 

 

6. Mat/blanket

Chairs are a rare commodity at music festivals. If you’d rather not spend the day on your feet, or if you’re still a little squeamish about sitting on the grass, blankets are great concert buddies. Plus they save your spot on the ground too!

 

 

7. At least P500

Yes, you’ve bitten the bullet and bought your ticket, but that doesn’t mean the spending ends there. Aside from the fact that you’ll be at the venue for about two meals, you never know when you’ll need a little extra cash. The concessionaires might charge more than you anticipated, you might want to indulge in a little extra snackage, you might get distracted by the merch table, the possibilities are endless. This necessity applies most to younger concert-goers who have yet to be graced by the wonders of an ATM card, but noone should ever assume there will be an ATM or that it will be fully stocked for the duration of the festival. The last thing you want is to be broke in a venue you’re not allowed to leave.

 

 

8. Portable power bank

It is highly unlikely your cellphone will survive a music festival especially if you’re a chronic tweeter, Instagrammer, or concert-recorder (which we highly discourage, by the way. Enjoy the show making memories, not taking up memory on your phone with blurry videos!) If you’ve got one of these handy little doo-dads, you won’t have to worry about speed-texting the parentals after the show that sorry, can’t answer calls, my battery is about to d—

 

 

 

 

9. Sunglasses

Speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

10. Candy, painkillers, and antacids

These three should be staples in your survival kit. Keep candy with you in case you get hit with a dizzy spell, the sugar will perk you up long enough to get some help and a good meal to make the room stop spinning. If you’re feeling faint (characterized also by floaters/patchy vision and an inability to concentrate) notify someone from security immediately!  A rough-and-tough music festival is the last place you want to start feeling sick. Have a couple of painkillers and antacids in your pocket, they’ll be your saving grace in case of head, muscle, or stomach pains! Better safe than curled up on the ground in excruciating pain.

Well there you have it, a few essentials for your music festival adventure! Got more suggestions? Let us know in the comments section below!

Written by Carla Barretto