Music festivals are the perfect portal for artistic expression, the celebration of love and enlightening experience. People from all walks of life can gather and join as a single entity of human declaration. Different festivals host various genres of music and different breeds of fans, each with its own message. As festival season is right around the corner with the impending summer months ahead, it's important to think back on what the music festival stands for and how its purpose has evolved, or deteriorated, over time.
Think back on the first major music festival that set the tone and revolutionized the conception for all future festivals. The Woodstock Festival of 1969 is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, drawing 500,000 inspired attendees who all conjoined for a single purpose. The festival created a sense of social harmony during an era stricken with fear and anger surrounding the Vietnam War. It was perceived as a victory for peace and love.
Max Yasgur, the owner of the Woodstock site, spoke of how such a volume of people managed to spend the entire three days with music and peace on their minds despite the possibility of disaster.
Now think about music festivals in the 21st century and how they reflect those values. They condone the same message of union to celebrate love and expression, but have become muddled by commercial sponsors, high costs and drug binges. The prospect of heavy drug indulgence feeds the anticipation. Drugs are associated with the experience. Certain drugs have even become specific to the genres of music attached to the festival.
Major festivals like Bonnaroo are driven by commercial sponsors that battle for ad space. Basic tickets for Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Fla. sell for $229, and that's retail cost. During the weeks leading up to the event, tickets are sold on secondary vendors like Stubhub.com for more than $1,000. It's important for the event to generate revenue to keep the venues clean, safe and diverse, but what toll has it taken on the cost-free social harmony established in past festivals?
It's not to say that early festivals never charged entry or provided attendees with goods and services, but it wasn't nearly as emphasized as it is today. It's also not to say that drugs weren't abused and abundant, but they weren't as stressed and necessary as various concertgoers deem them to be.
Love, freedom and life are still at the heart of the festival, but it's beat has murmured. The warm feeling has been partially numbed due to the shifting values shared by attendees and the events' organizers.
The music festival is not dead. It's far from it. It's simply shifted in a direction streamlined by modern influences. The solemn opportunity to escape and express oneself freely without judgment is no longer feasible, The festival's entity has become a part of normal society. It rides with the current, not against it.
The summer is upon us, and while you travel to festivals across the world, which you should, keep in mind why you're really there and reflect on what makes the festival so magnificent.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
