Mobiles are an essential part of festival life, for staying in touch with friends that you’ll definitely get separated from. Keeping the thing charged all weekend is essential. Some options for doing this include taking a spare battery, turning it off at night or get a portable charger, like this one here from the Gadget Shop. Most festivals these days have a charging tent, an essential place to chill out for a few hours when your (and your mobile’s) batteries are low.
Another good idea is to use Mobyko to backup your numbers online before you go. You can then easily transfer them to an old phone and use this at the festival. You can relax knowing your shiny phone is safe at home and all your contacts are accessible 24/7 from your Mobyko account.
Finally, if you are feeling very green and have some money to burn, you could look at a Wind Charger - a great feature for your festival tent!
What are you going to need when you are at a festival? Spare toilet roll, condoms, wet wipes, warm clothes, sun tan lotion, plastic bags, gaffa tape, aspirin and bottled water are all very useful things to take. Don’t take anything that you would miss if you lost it. Although you might get a better picture with your 12 megapixel camera, you will get a decent shot with a disposable one and you won’t be as upset if you lose it. If you have a really expensive tent, it would be best to buy a cheaper one and take that. There is no guarantee your tent will come back in the state it left in.
Looking good is not a priority at a festival. No matter what the weather suggests, you should be prepared for the worst. Take at least one item that will keep you warm if that occurs, ideally nothing woollen. Flat shoes are definitely better than anything with a heel. There is a very good chance that any item of clothing you take with you will be unrecognisable by the time you leave.
Who do you absolutely have to see? You might find that two of your favourite acts are on at the same time, and you have to prioritise. Also, remember that everyone will want to see the headline act. So if you want a good position in the crowd, you might have to stand through the preceding acts to get in close.
You do not want your tent on a slope, by a hedgerow, by a pathway, or at the bottom of a hill. It might seem like a good idea to pitch your tent near the toilets for easy access. Being near festival toilets is not a good idea, at best they absolutely stink, at worst they get set on fire. Make sure that your tent is easily recognisable from other tents, and you know how to get back to it. To get the best pick of camping spots you will have to arrive in the early afternoon, the day before the festival starts.
It is better to travel light when you are going on to the actual festival site. It might seem a good idea to take your bag with you, but you will have to carry it all day and it is unlikely to be any safer among a crowd of sweaty bodies than it would be unguarded in your tent. On a related note, don’t padlock your tent - it draws attention to the fact that you have something worthwhile inside, and tents are not hard to get into.
Remember that you are unlikely to get much sleep for the duration of the festival, so if you get the chance to rest up before you go, that is definitely advisable. Also, you will want to make sure that you keep toilet visits to a minimum while you are at the festival. If you are going on the Friday, try to avoid seafood curries on the Thursday night. Make sure your phone battery is fully charged before you leave.
It is highly unlikely that you will stick with the same bunch of people for the entirety of the festival, and you might want to meet up later on. It is easy enough to text your friends, but you might be on site for three days, and someone is bound to let their battery run out. Although many festivals now have phone charging stations, you always have to queue for them. If you know where you are going to meet up if you are separated then you have a backup plan. Sign your group up for Zygo’s group messaging service so that you’re never more than one text message away from your mates.
It might seem like a really good idea to take your own food with you when you head to the campsite. Remember that many festival campsites are a long walk from the parking or drop off points. Food will be plentiful inside the festival, and while it is expensive, it is less likely to give you food poisoning, and you don’t have to carry it around. You also want to try and eat/drink things that minimise going to the toilet very often. 8 cans of beer sound like a good idea if you want to get drunk, but you will need the toilet constantly for the next few hours. Spirits will limit your toilet visits.
If you take a little bit of time to find out about the area you will be staying then you can find helpful hints. Are there any amenities in the area which you could make use of? A local supermarket can provide you with food and drinks, and in some cases toilets. Missing a few bands so you can wash your face and go to the toilet in peace is a worthwhile sacrifice. Local churches often open their doors to festival goers.
While it is nice to meet new people, and mix with people from all over the world, meeting the neighbours also has practical value. Neighbours can keep an eye on your tent when you are not there, and share food/alcohol/clothes/stories when you are.
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The Stone Roses played their last ever gig at Reading Festival in 1996. The final song from their set was “Breaking Into Heaven”.