Electric Forest- looking back
2016 Electric Forest was single-handedly one of the best experiences I had had all summer. It gave me the highest expectations for all my other summer adventures.
No, I am not as adventurous as I want to be and no, I don't have many stories to tell. So maybe I'm thinking this festival made my summer great only because, before that, I had nothing to base it off of. However, there are 4 things I've learned that remind me of just how great this festival really is:
1. The nicest people go to The Forest
Everywhere you go people are greeting you, hugging you, or smiling at you. I have never felt so overwhelmed with kindness and love by total strangers. In all of the chaos and noise of Bassnector's set my gal pal, Zo and I had decided it was time to leave and get some R&R. Since we had pushed our way through the crowd and made it to the middle of the mass of people it was a little difficult to fight the crowd to get back out. With trying to walk over top of people and avoiding messing up their dancing, headbanging mojo we had people stop and help us through. They were moving aside, grabbing our hands to help guide us, and even making a path. Once you get past the fact that you're touching other peoples sweaty hands it like having 1,000 best friends.
That weekend we also had people help us put up our hammock (that we totally could not figure out) and a girl complimented my backpack (screams because compliments from other girls are better than any other compliment). All everyone did all weekend was hug and high five you.
A set was playing and after we had made a trip to the very smelly and crowded bathrooms we decided to walk into the mob to find a good spot to listen to the next few bands play. Within these next few moments we were standing next to a group of three guys all headbanging and laughing at their highly intoxicated friend running around. This is by far my favorite night. We all laughed and talked and sat in the grass while waiting for another band to come on. In all of the craziness it was nice to find a group of people that immediately became our best friends throughout the night.
3. It's a chance to be yourself
Doing what you want in the forest is the only thing you have to worry about. If you want to nap on the ground, do it. If you want to smoke and talk to a cop while doing so, do it. If you want to dance like a fool, do it. Like I said, the nicest people are at the forest and there is no one judging what you do. Everyone understands and everyone does their thing. EF is a place to runaway to when you're tired of doing the same thing. It's a place to be free where no one knows you. It took me until the last night to realize this and when I finally learned to let loose it was like an overwhelming feeling of relief. It's like when you're alone in your room with the music blasting and all you can do it dance in the ugly way that you hide from everyone else.4. "The Moment"
THE BEST moment in any concert is when you're standing there and the music is so loud you feel you're own heart beat. You feel like you're in a music video and you know that this moment is one you'll miss. There's no other way to describe it but pure bliss. There was a moment when the music got quiet and the crowd was calm. It was like a movie scene where the good fun part slows down for a second and then it gradually speeds up and becomes the best part of the movie. When you're in that moment, live, and you can't believe it's real life... THAT is the best moment of the whole festival.
This might be a cheesy post and it's probably because its 1:30am and I am exhausted. It's also just fun to remind myself of all of the stories I have from the festival last year, and making this post has reminded me of a lot of them.
I hope all who are at The Forest this weekend and next have the time of their life and live it up!
Thanks for reading :)
xo-Leah
Comments
Post a Comment