How To Not Burn Out At A 3-5 Day Music Festival

Have you ever gotten back from a music festival only to lay frozen in bed with your serotonin depleted and Postmates on the way, as you question your existence and stare at the ceiling above your head?

Well, now you may not have to!

If you follow these critical tips, hopefully you will feel in tip-top shape mentally and physically post-fest.

Camping music festivals are entirely their own beast. It can be so tempting to stay up until 5AM each night, dancing the night away during late sets. But you may want to prioritize and save up your energy for the days ahead (and post-fest). These tips below will help you get the most out of your camping experience without feeling like death after the fest has ended.

1. Stay Hydrated

It can be tempting to throw some granola bars and hard seltzers in your car and use them as your sole forms of fuel to live out your starving artist dreams, but that will lead to extreme energy depletion.

Try instead to pack a cooler (I love this one from Yeti— it’s not too big and not too small).

Bring Gatorade or Liquid IV packets to stay hydrated… there’s nothing worse than a festival dehydration “hangover!” Here are a few more ways to stay quenched.

*Many camping fests don’t let you bring the glass in—they may make you dump some filled reusable water bottles out and pour your glass bottles into the plastic water bottles to save their life!

Try to also tote around as many fresh fruits and veg as you can. Bananas and peanut butter are such easy foods to bring, and the healthy fats mixed with carbs will keep you fuller for longer.

To stay as hydrated as possible, bring a hydration pack! Typically meant for hiking, ravers have taken this smart necessity and ran with it. For ideas of what to bring in your pack besides the obvious (water), click here!

2. Prepare Your Sleep Environment

Unless you’re glamping in an RV, the sun typically rises and wakes you up with it, beaming down on you aggressively.

Take an extra hour of prep before a music festival to ensure you’re getting adequate sleep while you’re at the fest. Nothing is worse than bringing the bare minimum and wishing you weren’t sleeping on a rock-hard trunk surface in your SUV.

Bring multiple sheets or tapestries to hang up to shade your sleeping environment and ensure you have a moderately comfortable bed setup.

You can even bring one of those party tents like this to shade your actual tent from sunlight, permitting you to get an extra hour or two of shut-eye before you wake up hot from the sun. It’s no secret many fests occur during the summertime. This is a crucial step to ensure you get as good of sleep as you can so you’re not drained when you get home!

1. Watch What You Eat

Tacos laden with seed oils, greasy chicken tenders with a side of French fries, and corn dogs may sound enticing, but they’re typically between $20-$30 annnnd aren’t necessarily healthy.
By watching what you eat, you will be less inclined to feel like garbage after a weekend of debauchery.

Try drinking smoothies or having a classic, fueling breakfast of eggs, bacon, and whole grain toast. Don’t let a camping fest drag you down– you can easily bring a portable grill and DIY your feast– whether it’s burgers and dogs, an all American breakfast, or oats on the stove.

Feel free to bring a little extra food and invite your campsite neighbors.

If you’re at a hotel, find a healthy brunch spot and fuel up!

2. Watch What You Wear

There is nothing worse than wearing incorrect shoes while standing and dancing on concrete for hours at a time.

If you want to play it on the safe side and know it may be going to rain, look no further than these picks.

Some of my favorites are low-top Vans and high-top Converse. If you don’t care about looking too fancy, hiking boots are the way to go!

Speaking of attire, if it starts pouring down rain mid-fest, and it gets cold, you will not nearly have as much fun if you’re too busy shivering to pay attention to the artist or DJ playing. Please highly consider bringing a rain jacket or poncho alongside an umbrella. Your future self will be so thankful!

3. Take Breaks

If you are the type to keep trucking along, raving front row set after set, you’re bound to crash after a fest. Try to take breaks every 2-3 hours, even if it’s just to sit and eat. You can even bring energy bars and other easy snacks to nosh on while taking five.

You can even sit in the back of a set so you’re not missing anything. Bring a tapestry and curate a whole vibe, so sitting down doesn’t feel boring. You can even make a mini-picnic out of it with you and some friends or festival randoms if you’re down with that!

A portable hammock like this one secured to some trees may just be the perfect way to relax and vibe to your favorite artists from a great angle!

4. Relax At Night

It can be so tempting to want to attend every after-party under the sun and party ‘til dawn. But that is not feasible, especially for longer festivals, and will do nothing but give you the post-festival flu.

Try to drink some lemon water or other vitamin-C heavy drinks, like OJ or grape juice.

Vitamin C is crucial for the growth and repair of many different tissues in the body, therefore strengthening our immune system.

You can pair lemon water with some chamomile tea and local honey, which will relax and revive you from the dead.

All in all, taking small but important steps to make sure you are comfortable during and after your festival experience is the ultimate game-changer for post-fest health!