Surviving a rainy music festival

Music festivals in Texas are unpredictable. Hot, cold, rainy, dry, you name it! This weekend I'm preparing for a messy hot and rainy FPSF. After a few rainy ACL experiences and of course a ruined pair of boots from SXSW this year I am ready to take on Free Press rain or hot as hell!

ACL as the rain started...

Once everyone covered up

The day after all the rain was a mess

Put anything you want to keep dry in plastic bags in your backpack. I kept my cell phone in it and only took out to text or take pictures. The sandals I packed had buckles on the back to attach to my backpack for when the rain turned into mud but it is better to use rain boots than go barefoot...esp in the bayou of Houston.

How to survive a rainy music festival:

Poncho and umbrella if they allow umbrellas

Rain boots or sandals that you don't mind getting nasty

Sunscreen 

Sunglasses

Refillable water bottle

Plastic bags to keep your cell and electronics dry

Backpack 

Baby wipes

Extra towels to clean off before getting into car

Coachella Tips

I went to Coachella for the first time last year and have to say it was one of the best experiences! They could take a few notes from ACL though but all around beautiful place amazing music and a good time! Here are a few of my suggestions for tackling a weekend in the desert. 

1. Know before you go

Know your shuttle, know your meeting points, know where you're staying. I was lucky to have a California native as my guide or I would have been SOL! Turns out the bus pass I had us get was super far from our condo. We had to pay to switch our bus passes to a closer stop that dropped a block from where we were staying. But on the plus side the first bus we got on was a full on party bus! Also download the Coachella app and check twitter for surprise bands...you never know when tupac will be resurrected! 

2. Sunscreen, hydrate, and sunbathe in am

We spent most of our mornings by the pool relaxing and taking in the view. I thought I could handle the heat being from Texas but I got burned just from an hour or two of not being under an umbrella. Remember sunscreen is your friend and bring a refillable water bottle...just don't try and fill up right before you leave or you will have a hell of a line to wait in for water and to get on a bus!

3. Designated drinking areas are dumb

In Texas we don't have these designated drinking areas we have entire fields dedicated to it all! At coachella if you want a beer you have to show ID go through a hearding rope and into a baracaded area where you can buy drinks and food. Crazy right? Well that's how they do it at coachella. The plus side is you can catch some shows on the side of some of the stations.

At ACL we drank where we pleased!

At Free Press Summer Fest you get a bottle of wine like a queen!

At SXSW they just hand it to you as you enter the building 

4. Get a 2nd charge

Do you have an extra phone battery? A Mophie maybe? No? Get one! Luckily I only sepperated from the guy I was with for 1 show. We planned a meeting spot and I waited in the redic line for merch and all I got was a damn tshirt! Ok it was really cute! But in reality reception blows and you want to save battery for pictures/video/I'm alive texts home!

Meeting at the Ferris wheel is vague...looking for your friend with a flower crown is vague! Get yo phone charged!

5. More is more

Go big or go home! Is your costume crazy enough to become noteworthy? Is it badass enough? I don't know! Do more of what makes you happy is what my doctor told me and the coachella crowd knows all about doing more! Eat all the bad foods! Have vodka redbulls in the EDM tent and fig out how awesome your dance skills really are...or aren't who cares no one can see you anyway! Post up for the band you love or have dreamed of seeing but never have cough cough Postal Service! 

6. Have these on hand

Sunscreen

Chapstick

Hand sanitizer

Refillable water bottle

Cash

Scarf or bandana the wind/dust is the worst and you will sound like you smoke 10 packs a day!

Sandles that can be tied to your bag

Did I mention a bag?

Also take advantage of record store day...they will hold your records while you jam how awesome is that?

The smartest thing I ever wore was during ACL in 2008? 2009? It rained and was super hot took off my sandels and wet barefoot but my sandles had clasps which was amazing!

7. Don't forget the Dino pit stop!

Leaving coachella and you're not ready to face the real world just take a pit stop at the Dino's fill up on gas get your road snacks and relax!