Our rules for music festivals
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Steven, question. What was the last music festival you went to?
I was trying to remember. It was either ACL in Austin or the All Things Go Festival. I think I've been at All Things Go more recently. Excellent, excellent festival with lots of shade, which is key.
Okay. Oh, shade from the heat.
Shade in a good way. Shade in the way of not dying of sun poisoning.
Okay, gotcha. Yes, yes, yes. That is very important. Very key.
I will throw no shade at All Things Go.
It's summer, it's peak music festival time, which means many of us are going to be braving the huge crowds, the sweltering heat, overpriced concessions. They're so overpriced, they're so expensive. Just so we can catch a bunch of the artists we love all in one place. And look, if you've been to a big fest recently, like I have, you may have noticed that some people don't know how to be outside.
What festival memory kicks off this conversation about etiquette?
But we're each here to share our perspective on festival etiquette that we feel very passionately about. I'm Aisha Harris, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is my fellow co-host, Stephen Thompson. Hey, Stephen. Hey, buddy. And also with us is NPR music producer Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Hey, Isabella. Hi, Aisha. Thanks for having me. Great to have you. So let's get into it. Stephen, what is one of your things that you've noticed at festivals that you wish people would just be a little bit better about?
Well, I already mentioned the whole every festival should have ample shade. But what I wanted to go with is actually what kind of inspired this conversation, which is this recent dialogue that has been happening out in the world specifically about People soiling themselves in the front row of concerts because they don't want to lose their primo spot in front of the stage. Olivia Rodrigo has talked about this. Noah Khan has talked about this. I'm not talking about medical conditions. I'm talking about people where it's like, if I... leave my spot to go to the bathroom, I won't get to see my favorite artist, and it is worth literally soiling myself so that I can be close. Now, I could be talking about, like, my rule of concert etiquette is don't soil yourself so as not to lose your prime spot.
But I feel like that's sort of implied. But I do want to talk about the front row. Specifically, the spots where you have an unobstructed view, my take is that that spot is overrated. that the front row is not actually the best place to see a concert. You are being mashed up against barricades. You are resented by many people around you. There are sometimes better spots, specifically around the soundboard, where you have sometimes unobstructed views. If you're able to situate yourself behind the soundboard, you sometimes have almost as good a view, but not around so many people and their awful breath. Um, so to me, the first thing that jumped out to my mind is that the front row is like often seen as this like destination where everybody needs to wait 12 hours in order to stand there.
But I feel there are actually better places to see a show within a festival crowd. And if you need to use the toilet, you can get back to it without much difficulty. Yeah.
I agree. I think the most fun festival experiences I have had have been when you're closer to the back or in an open field situation. You have lots of room to dance with your friends. You can see like you're far enough back that people probably aren't obstructing you. The music probably sounds a little bit better and you're not getting crushed. I'm a big dancer at festivals and I think you just have more fun when you're in a part of the crowd where you have a little bit more space to hang out with your people and
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:21
2
What festival memory kicks off this conversation about etiquette?
1:21–10:30
3
Why do the hosts say front-row festival behavior is overrated?
10:30–11:58
4
How can viewing position and soundboard placement improve your festival experience?
11:58–16:23
5
Why do the hosts argue phones should be limited at music festivals?
16:23–20:17