To kick off some research, i decided to think about and list a couple problems, that have occurred to me and my friends at most music festivals. Having attended just over a dozen across the UK, I’ve encountered a fair few problems consistently but so far, haven’t let them get me down.
1. Phone runs out of battery before you get there.
This issue is one that unfortunately, unless you have cash to burn and fancy waiting in a queue for hours, you’re just going to have to accept that you may not be able to use the funky festival app that you downloaded 4 months before the festival. All that excitement for nothing… Then it hits you. How are you going to contact someone if you get lost?! how are you going to take photos?! WHERE DO I TWEET?! many people would purchase a ‘festival phone’ , normally a Nokia 3310 or a similar indestructible block phone, that you might see your builder using. These are great and the battery lasts until the end of the following years festival.. Ideal. Although this is a solution to the issue of not contacting friends, it doesn’t give you the option to take photos or use apps. Some creative decided that cycling is a great way to stay in shape.. and charge your phone! Problem solved… if it’s free and doesn’t require a queue.. if not, ‘fuck that!’
2. No where to quickly urinate. (mostly girls)
Lets face it, for boys, it has never been too much hassle to find somewhere to piss when you’re surrounded by fields and tree’s. But i have witnessed some demoralising situations for girls who end up squatting in a circle of their friends, to only fall over in their own piss moments later.. it’s brutal. There has been one solution in particular that many festivals are taking on board and are now selling, within the festival. The ‘She-Wee’. I think it’s amazing. You may have to use your imagination slightly.
3. Keeping all your friends in one place
As amazing as it is, having 40 of your closest friends, all attending the same festival together and all camping together, it’s slightly inconvenient having to wait for Matt to order some food, while five girls decide to go toilet together and the rest decide to find somewhere comfortable to wait with a few others who decide to roll a rollie. This small glitch could result in not seeing anyone for the remainder of the night. This issue could be solved with a meeting point but after a few beers no one can be arsed to even check the time. This issue is the only one listed, that i feel could harshly effect someones festival experience. I plan to research into potential solutions of using digital platforms to help solve this issue.
KONSTANTINO KONTORRAVDIS 