How to enjoy a festival? Just ask toddlers and boomers

As a seasoned music festival attendee, I’ve realised this whole time I’ve been doing them wrong, writes Victoria Hannaford. The key to having the best time lies with how our elders approach them.

What could possess a seemingly sane person to stumble around in a field while covered in a fine layer of filth, pausing only to pay exorbitant prices for sustenance, and then spend an eternity queuing for iffy portaloo access?

The answer, of course, is music.

Or more specifically, music festivals.

It’s hard not to dispassionately observe this sort of caper and deduce it’s anything other than a kind of madness. And yet, like thousands of others, I keep coming back for more, despite it seeming harder to summon the stamina for a carefree frolic when you’re (ahem) a tad past your festival prime.

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As a callow youth who spent many hours of their working life at music festivals, there was no better way to while away a weekend — or even a week. I had boundless energy for them, and have been lucky enough to attend some of the world’s best: Glastonbury, Roskilde, Benicassim, Reading, Bestival, Big Day Out, Maleny Music Festival and Womad. I’ve seen amazing musicians on stages large and small. Through a strange twist of fate, I’ve even once found myself onstage during The Marley Brothers’ 2007 Glastonbury set. That was something else.

For any music fan, there’s always an incomparable feeling when walking through festival gates. Picture: Supplied

Regardless of age, there’s an initial glorious, incomparable feeling of freedom when walking through festival gates, but it certainly helps if you’re young enough to not care much about the associated discomforts to come; the poor hygiene of fellow festival goers, the exhausting frantic dashes to catch music sets at opposite ends of the grounds, Coldplay being booked as the headliner.

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Yes, festivals have been the topic of hot debate across the country after fatalities associated with drug deaths, and these are tragedies that demand significant, preventive measures to be put in place. But the majority of music festivals go off without a hitch. In Australia, and many other countries around the world, they’re a rite of passage, and rightly so.

What’s more, in my recent observance, people seem to be having a great time. Or at least, the young folk and Baby Boomers are.

Young folks have a lot to learn about festivals from the old folks. Picture: iStock

For those of us in the middle — carting around small kids and full bladders while trying to catch some live music — it’s a more confusing experience, which goes something like this:

Why am I not having as much fun as when I was in my 20s? Is this whole caper actually worth it? Why are our children crying? Why are we crying? How can we avoid awkward small talk when we bump into Barry from accounts in his weird “festival shirt”?

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Strangely, it seems children and Baby Boomers have the answer.

I’ve seen more than a few in both demographic at gigs dance with gay abandon, and then fall to the ground for a kip when the mood struck. I’ve decided to follow their example because it seems they’ve hit upon a genius regimen of music-nap-music that can compensate for a litany of ills, including acting as a form of passive resistance when you want to avoid stilted chit chat with colleagues — just sleep your way out of it. The added bonus is extended festival endurance.

Of course, the music should be a highlight. But next time I hit a festival, I’ll be there for the naps too.

Victoria Hannaford is a writer and producer for RendezView.

@vhannaford