Blaring speakers and blazing lights, crowds with vibrating energy, and sound radiating through your bloodstream—festivals are a great source of community for music lovers. Coachella, Governor’s Ball, and Lollapalooza are renowned music festivals that receive hundreds of thousands of attendees yearly.
In the past 50 years, audiences have seen legendary festivals that redefined the concept of live music. With its rise in popularity, festivals have had to rapidly adapt to its changing crowd sizes—leading to some extremely forward changes in the way festivals conduct themselves.
In the 21st century, we are seeing festivals that not only take the initiative to bring in a variety of music genres but also care about wellness and health. In 2019, the Womad Music Festival hosted workshops that included a 90-minute morning yoga session, massages, reiki, reflexology and inversion therapy. According to BBC writer Martin Vennard, who attended the festival, The festival staff included two shamans who offered to give music therapy to any concertgoers who wanted to remove “ancestral traumas from the vibrational field of your DNA.”
In 2024, the Okeechobee Festival in South Flordia focused on wellness with the inclusion of acro yoga, energy flow yoga, stillness meditation and improv dancing. The festival offers Thai massages, guided sound meditation and other restorative practices to help attendees heal. Festivals have used this new wave of wellness and mental health to branch out in ways that clean up the image of some of the more unruly festivals of the past. They took the step to improve the experience of attendees and provide traffic to local businesses.
Festivals often bring customers to the hotels and businesses in their host community; many partner with local food vendors to bring attention to the local food culture and cuisine to give attendees an authentic experience. Many festivals create a unique and diverse community by bringing people from across the world together to enjoy their common love for music. Even creating major platforms for local and smaller talent to introduce themselves to an international audience.
This year at the 25th Oya Music Festival in Oslo, Norway, there was a focus on showcasing local talent in five homegrown artists became the highlights of the festival. Music festivals provide a unique viewing, cultural, and societal experience that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
While there are many reasons to go to a music festival, there are still reasons to be wary.
In 2016, Travis Scott became the face of festival safety after a stampede that killed eight concertgoers from ages 9 to 27. Mosh pits at festivals have been known to injure their fair share of people. Mosh pits have killed concertgoers and created circles of death.
Festivals are known for their culture of debaucherous behavior that has led to drug overdoses; Bonnaroo gained negative attention in 2019 when it was revealed that they would not allow fentanyl testing despite allowing harm-reduction drugs like Narcan on festival grounds. This happened after the fatal overdose a of 26-year-old male concertgoer during a concert at the festival.
On top of this, over 40% of female festivalgoers have reported some form of sexual harassment while attending concerts. In 2021, dozens of women in the UK music industry signed a letter co-authored by UN Women UK and the music festival Strawberries and Cream to show their solidarity with sexual violence prevention at music festivals.
Music festivals provide a unique experience that can hardly be replicated—it also creates an environment that many have not mastered structuring. Creating safe and diverse communities for music lovers to enjoy has become the priority for many festivals. However, it should be kept in mind that there is still a long way to go. Stampedes, mosh pits, recreational drug and alcohol use and sexual violence are not a slowing concern with festivals but that should not deter you from experiencing one.
Stay mindful, enjoy the music, and make memories responsibly!
