Music Festivals - How Wise?

Have you ever wondered if spending hundreds of dollars to stand in a field for multiple days is actually a good life decision? Well...we apparently have.

- music by blanket forts -

Transcript

Is It Wise to Attend Music Festivals?

Speaker 1 0:05

how wise is it to go to a music festival? Because we all have feelings. It's your valhalla extremely wise yeah, and I feel kind of medium on it.

Speaker 3 0:18

How wise is it to go to a music festival?

Speaker 1 0:21

yeah. So by this we mean like I mean I'm gonna say multiple day, or should we say at least one full day? I think at least one full day would count okay, okay but that's just one full day, usually in the summer or warm weather ish you're getting there at noon or you're getting there at five you're getting there at noon or before okay oh, I think you're getting there when it starts okay, because that's a big difference yeah, when does law of was open?

Speaker 3 0:51

I think noon yeah, it's like 11 or noon 11 or noon.

Speaker 2 0:54

Okay so you're there like 12 out or 12, 10 hours 12 hours I don't think it's till midnight.

Speaker 1 1:01

It's not 10 really 10 pm noise curfew in grant park yeah I feel like riot fest goes late middle of the city or at least it used to 10 pm, if you're going past that.

Speaker 2 1:18

I saw wayne corn get booed off stage. It's the flaming lips. They had to burst his bubble yeah I saw flaming lips lalapalooza 2004

Speaker 3 1:27

wow, I saw him at breakfast oh, he was in the bubble and um, there was probably about 40 people on stage.

Speaker 1 1:36

He just had people shooting off oh yes guns, like not real guns, but just like streamers, and, and just what a show and then like there's people dressed up like animals and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, flaming lips, yeah, he's a wacky dude um yeah.

Speaker 3 1:53

Well, who's gonna start with? How wise is it?

Speaker 1 1:56

well, maybe do you want to start josh because you know my style.

Festival Experiences and Personal Stories

Speaker 2 1:59

I like to list the criteria. Yeah, because I I don't like to speak, uh, personally, I don't like to speak from personal experience. Obviously, I think it's wise. I've gone to at least one every summer.

Speaker 1 2:10

And tell everyone about your favorite.

Speaker 2 2:12

Pitchfork music festival canceled. Never again. I used to say that it was. I used to say my religion is pitchfork music festival. It's a joke. Obviously I'm Jewish, but, um, you know, you know it's. There are other music festivals that are just as good, but I think I love chicago. I've said for a long time I want to move to chicago so I can be like, so I can like walk to pitchfork music festival. It was kind of a joke but not like my middle name pitchfork, josh Pitchfork, music Festival Bear.

Speaker 2 2:46

But I think if you're a big music fan, I just think it's so much fun. Yeah, especially if you are a young music fan. If you're young, youthful, well, I think it. No, I think in my youth I valued it even more because I hadn't. I feel like I've gotten to a point now where I've seen so many bands live that sometimes I'll go and I'm seeing a lot of them for the second time or the third time or the fourth time and it's so much fun. But I remember late high school, early college, going to music festivals and hadn't like seen that many concerts in my life and suddenly I was seeing like all these shows and it was like mind, like it felt like a religious experience and it's just so nice to be outside and see music.

Speaker 1 3:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:38

In the wind. Just I just feel like it's such a nice way to enjoy summer For sure. What do you?

Speaker 1 3:42

think, I think it's definitely wise. Okay, to enjoy summer for sure. What do you think?

Speaker 3 3:44

I think it's definitely wise. Okay, is it wise for me? Can I do it at the age that I'm at now? A full day, that would be a stretch yeah, for me too, the d the dehydration, the sun, the standing beers are like sixteen thousand dollars. The smells, yeah the um, the smells. I love the smells. Some of them say that it'll start like $16,000.

Speaker 2 4:05

The smells. Yeah, the um the smells. I love the smells, Some of them.

Speaker 1 4:08

It'll start hailing and Josh will be like it's kind of nice.

Speaker 3 4:11

It's kind of nice.

Speaker 2 4:12

Um smells like hot dogs.

Speaker 3 4:14

But I. So. In Milwaukee they have Summerfest, which Summerfest is.

Speaker 1 4:17

Summerfest is the festival of the so the only one that should exist. It would go for 10 days straight or two weeks at the most. I thought it would be for a bunch of weekends in a row.

Speaker 3 4:36

So they've changed it now, but it used to be like a two-week period or like a 10-day period where it was every day and then it was just bands all day long and then there was like a headliner every night. So fun.

Speaker 3 4:46

So I mean, growing up, like not as a kid, it's not like you would go like as a kid I wouldn go like as a kid I wouldn't go but like as you got older, into your teenage years, you would like go down there and maybe like see a band every now and then, and so like being outdoors in the summer and seeing live music was definitely something I feel like I was exposed to. Um, and then, yeah, moving down to chicago, like you said, like I, there's a lot of exposure to that, whether that's even just blues fest, jazz fest, like all of those things.

VIP Experiences and Celebrity Encounters

Speaker 3 5:15

But I think it's totally wise to really invest in a full weekend and have that experience at least once yeah, like definitely and like go both days if you're willing to do it. Also, maybe do an after show at a bar, if you can get up for it. Oh those are.

Speaker 1 5:31

Those are the best.

Speaker 3 5:33

I think it's wise to try it at least once.

Speaker 1 5:36

Yeah.

Speaker 3 5:37

And I think it's wise also, too, to go and see bands that you don't know.

Speaker 1 5:40

Yeah.

Speaker 3 5:42

Like if you have a headliner that you really want to see, or like a few that you know of, that's great. But also like maybe go to a stage that you don't know the band and just check it out.

Speaker 1 5:50

Yeah, with a band and just check it out, yeah, but yeah, I like that argument that like you gotta do it at least once in your life for sure.

Speaker 3 5:57

Yeah, at least like a two-day. I mean try one full day for sure at the very least but try a weekend festival weekend yeah yeah, because it is different thinking about like when I was younger versus now.

Speaker 1 6:10

Like I went to bonnaroo twice when I was younger. That's four days camping in tennessee. It's hot hot, hot yeah yeah, I remember like thinking like I don't even care if, like john lennon, it's like resurrected. If I got a shower, I'd be fucking out of here, like by the end of it.

Speaker 2 6:28

Yeah, and I realized the outdoor thing is like not for me.

Speaker 1 6:32

The sleeping I'm like not so into, especially in the heat.

Speaker 3 6:36

Yeah, the heat can be a killer. The weather can be make it or break it.

Speaker 1 6:40

Yeah, Because it's like four days of my solace is a tent, no AC. Like I mean there's AC in some places there, but was it like some of the most memorable time? Like yeah, amazing, I wouldn't trade it.

Speaker 2 6:56

Right.

Speaker 1 6:57

But yeah, by the end I was like getting a little grouchy and like Lollapalooza. It's like I've had so much fun at Lollapalooza but also so crowded.

Speaker 3 7:06

It's really crowded.

Speaker 1 7:08

So full of like very drunk underage people and it's kind of bothersome, like something about that feels pretty bothersome. But I think if you go to some of these and if you're lucky enough I've never been, but you're lucky enough to like do vip, I'm sure it's a really nice experience it's probably more adult yeah, my, uh, yeah, my roommate when I it must have been the second year I lived in chicago.

Speaker 3 7:32

He was like a manager, slash owner of a bar and he got like vip, like passes, where you could go under, like a certain section where the bands were like hanging out. You weren't like on stage or anything like that.

Speaker 3 7:45

Yeah and um, the best part about it was the bathroom, because it was just so much nicer than just the urinals like that's the thing I remember the most about it and I remember going in there and peeing at a urinal and right next to me walked in the lead singer of wolf mother I don't know if you guys know, that band, but I don't even think they're around anymore, but um, yeah, that was like when they were really popular and I was like man, this guy's like so tall and skinny and I was like oh crazy. I I think I got a picture that year with my friend Tommy and um, uh, Jim James from my morning jacket.

Speaker 3 8:20

Oh, I like him, yeah, so that was a fun experience to just like see them walking, kind of about that would be and we didn't even have to pay for that. It was just kind of like he had the lanyards or whatever.

Speaker 1 8:33

It was just kind of like he had the lanyards or whatever. That was funny, just slips in there.

Speaker 3 8:36

Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:37

That then I would, I would definitely consider going but, yeah, it's like I don't have great stamina for the outdoors.

Single-Band Festivals and Burning Man

Speaker 3 8:43

Yeah, what about what are? How wise is it to do a festival of the same band multiple days in a row? Like the fish of it all, or the, I mean, I guess, is, is that like fish considers that?

Speaker 2 8:58

fish festival. I I've seen fish play multiple nights of bonnaroo are you talking about?

Speaker 3 9:03

they even have their own, like when they when they drive out somewhere in the middle of somewhere and then like people like make a sculpture, like the whole weekend. And it's like because I feel like I had a roommate in college, a really good friend of mine, who went, drove out somewhere and it was like the whole weekend. It was like a week but maybe they don't consider that a festival, it's just kind of, but I probably but they play like three nights in a row yeah, fish does that I went to it's kind of a local band that my friend's like former cousin who, like now, is divorced from her cousin, my friend mia, called blottopia.

Speaker 1 9:36

This band called mr blotto. Have you guys heard of mr blotto? No, totally uf yeah they're great, so they would do they've been around for a long time yes, they would do a three-day festival and we went to it and they would do a whole album of another band yeah they did fish when we were there but people were trying to guess what they were going to do. I remember we were like it's gonna be beach boys, is it gonna be? And his brother was like it's gonna be jock jams jock jams awesome.

Speaker 3 10:05

Love jock jams when I was a kid so great.

Speaker 1 10:07

But yeah, like I would consider that a festival, because I was there for three days, I camped.

Speaker 3 10:10

Yeah, now that I'm saying it, yes, because I remember one of them was called, I think of it. There was a, my roommate had dvd of it. It was like called the it festival yeah, it was just multiple nights of them. It's some random place yeah where it's like two lane highway and the cars are backed up yes, for miles yeah, because they have it in some random place that they get helicoptered in. But everybody else has to suffer and like drive you know what they're having now.

Speaker 1 10:36

This is like a such a non-sequitur, and it's not part of the fire festival oh god did you guys watch the documentary on?

Speaker 2 10:44

I watched the hulu one I didn't watch the netflix one did you guys watch. I haven't seen the doc.

Speaker 3 10:49

No I haven't seen the doc, but I remember having people be obsessed with it and the whole like thing.

Speaker 1 10:55

It was crazy. It was like a ruse. It was almost like a bernie madoff type thing, wasn't jaw rule. A part of that, or jaw rule was like heavily, oh that's great yeah, crazy, that doc jaw rule uh, um, but you know what they were saying about these days grateful dead concerts. Have like this is so sad. Have like private jet traffic getting to them because there's so many like aging dead fans who are like billionaires at this point that it's like.

Speaker 1 11:24

It's really like the fan base is sort of like morphed in this way that I don't know how much the band I guess the band maybe is on board with it. But it's like an interesting some of the burnouts made careers. Yeah, they yeah, it's like they probably have private jets I'm sure all the members of the band. But yeah, so funny like that that's become yeah, issue that's so funny, because think how many rich people are like I'm gonna go to ayahuasca, I'm gonna you know, go to burning man yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 11:51

I guess it depends on the festival too, because now that you bring up burning man, it's like we would never go to that. I would never go to burning man either never, but that's on another level.

Speaker 1 12:00

That's almost too like. My friend jesse went and she's like it's more like an art festival because it's like there's tons of music but it's like tons of art exhibits, like it's kind of.

Speaker 3 12:10

I know the fashion's a big deal there.

Speaker 1 12:11

Right, like people like dress up and yeah stuff it's, and it's kind of like a cult burning and it's like dangerous because you're like, yes, it's like super hot, right, right.

Speaker 3 12:20

And it's like dangerous because you're like in the desert, it's like super hot right right and there's like wind stuff.

Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Speaker 1 12:25

Yeah, it sounds really unappealing to me, it just sounds terrible that sounds unwise, but I think it is wise to at least once go and yeah it's like if you have more outdoor stamina and you're like josh and you, just music is your religion, definitely go. It's such bang for your buck to see so many apps, I think, doing that I think doing a festival that's housed within a city yeah is a great place to start.

Speaker 3 12:48

Yeah, because when you're doing the camping thing, you might not know what you're really getting into or what you're yeah, it's really diving in but at least with, I feel like chicago, you can do it all day and still have the respite of coming to your apartment or you know, and then get the shower, get the you know and like have the bed Go back the next day, whenever you want, or have the hotel or you know, because you're still in a huge city, so you're.

Speaker 1 13:13

Yeah, you're right, I think city is great. Yeah, because Bonnaroo was like I would never go unless I had like a trailer or like a hotel.

Speaker 3 13:20

Nice RV. Yeah, rent a nice.

Speaker 1 13:23

RV. That would be fun.

Speaker 3 13:25

That would be fun. Should we do it?

Speaker 2 13:28

Sure, we're doing it, I'm down.

Speaker 3 13:30

And then we're going to broadcast from Burning man.

Speaker 1 13:33

Or maybe our podcast will get big enough that we'll like have a live episode there.

Speaker 3 13:38

At Bonnaroo.

Speaker 1 13:39

If they invited us, where would?

Speaker 3 13:41

we go.

Speaker 2 13:41

No, I'm kidding we'll send Shane and Wes. Are you kidding? We get invited.

Speaker 3 13:49

If we get invited anywhere, we get invited to this laundromat next door to your place.

Speaker 2 13:52

We're going to go and do a live broadcast.

Speaker 3 13:55

Of course we are crafty beaver oh, that would be great, absolutely people are coming in and they're like who are these people?

Speaker 1 14:01

what are they talking about?

Speaker 2 14:02

and they're like who are?

Speaker 3 14:03

these people? What are they talking?

Speaker 1 14:04

about and they're talking about emotional well-being. This is absurd. Yeah, come on in, let's do it. Let's do it.

Speaker 3 14:08

Okay.

Speaker 1 14:09

Very wise.

Speaker 2 14:10

Go to your local music festival If you have a local one.

Speaker 1 14:15

yeah, your nearest local palooza, your local palooza, whatever your palooza is okay. Thanks everyone, if you want to um if you want to find me, you can go to my website at kkpsychotherapycom and inquire me on the contact page yes, uh, buttsbuttzjonathan at gmailcom josh, you can.

Speaker 2 14:36

You can find me at the pitchfork music festival grounds protesting the fact that it won't be happening this summer. I'll be there for the rest of the summer, sleeping every night.

Speaker 3 14:45

With a Pitchfork.

Speaker 2 14:46

With a Pitchfork at Pitchfork P-I-T-C-H-F-O-R-K dot com. Joshbearfilmscom. I'm joshbearfilmscom.

Speaker 1 15:03

J-O-S-H-b-a-y-e-r films. Like the filmscom, it's my website. Thank you for the music yes, blanket, forts. Thank you, take care everybody yeah, we'll see you next time. Bye. The wise mind happy hour podcast is for entertainment purposes only, not to be treated as medical advice. If If you are struggling with your mental health, please seek medical attention or counseling.