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EMAS’ Guide to Surviving Festival Season

by Rebecca Yeow

With summer fast approaching, there is a huge line up of music festivals heading Perth’s way! Keep an eye out for Wonderland, Castaway, Southbound and a whole lot more, with a mix of local and international world-class acts to take festival stages by storm. For those wondering on how to prepare for the lit times ahead, EMAS have you covered with the ultimate festival survival guide to ensure you make it through this festival season. And don’t forget to check out what’s coming up at the bottom of this post!

Tip #1 Before you leave home, make sure you have your essentials for the day. This includes your tickets, ID, and cash. You don’t want to waste precious festival time lining up for an ATM- those lines are horrendous. So make wise choices and do not forget any of these things!

Tip #2 Check the weather! You don’t want to be coming home sunburnt or saturated from rain, so pack a poncho if necessary and slip, slop, slap! 

Tip #3 Dress appropriately, even though you may want to dress to impress, dress for the weather and wear comfy shoes as you’re more than likely to be moshing hard all day into the night. But of course what better time to get the glitter out than at a festival. 

Tip #4 Create your ultimate festival playlist for the road-trip on the way there or to set the vibe at pres. Make it full of your favourite tracks and bangers to get you and your friends keen for an awesome day.

Here’s a few top tunes EMAS highly recommend to get you started:

·      The Buzz (feat. Mataya and Young Tapz) – Hermitude

·      Working For It – ZHU

·      Heavy as a Heartbreak – Just A Gent

·      Enigma (feat. GRRL PAL) – Slumberjack

·      Fool For You – Kilter 

·      Home (feat. Ben Alessi) – Kuren

·      Keeping Score – LDRU

Tip #5 Print off a copy of all the set times (or alternatively save them in your phone!) so you are prepared for the killer line up and prioritise who you want to check out throughout the day! It’s all about that set planning to make the most of your festival experience.

Tip #6 Make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day! It can get pretty steamy in the mosh at a festival, and that combined with alcohol can lead to dehydration, so avoid this nightmare with the endless supply of free water available!

Tip #7 Bring a pack of tissues/wetwipes! Those portaloos can get pretty icky, and can occasionally be a traumatic experience for some. Gross. Do not underestimate this tip. 

Tip #8 Pick a meeting place! For anyone who has been to a festival or concert before, it is often inevitable you will lose your friends at some stage during the day. So organise a location to regroup with your mates. 

Tip #9 Don’t freak out. Go with the flow because shit happens. It’s easier to stay out of trouble, but if things don’t go as you expected, don’t stress! Take things as they come and embrace the vibe of a music festival. Also chances are, you’ve spent quite a bit of money so don’t go overboard with the drinking as it’d be great to remember your experience. This is all about knowing your limits. 

Tip #10 Be safe and have fun! Look out for your mates and make the most of a wicked festival!

Quick Festival Guide for Summer 16/17:

Hard Australia (01/12/2016)– some of the best of dance, electronic and techno, Hard features the likes of Zeds Dead, GTA, Destructo, Chris Lorenzo & more.

Wonderland (3/12/2016)- best known as one of our favourite boutique music festivals, headlining this year’s festival is Hayden James, Asta, The Jungle Giants, Dune Rats & Japanese Wallpaper. EMAS will also be providing the best party tunes all day in the silent disco!

Sets on the Beach (11/12/2016)- offering two stages and a silent disco, Sets is best for your beach party needs, with this year’s lineup featuring the likes of Motez, Breakbot, Indian Summer, Tigerilla, The Aston Shuffle, Yahtzel & many more!

Castaway (11/12/2016)- If Sets doesn’t satisfy you, Castaway is also on if you’re keen to head over to Rottnest Island to catch Jarryd James, Gang of Youths, Bag Raiders, Morgan Bain & Palace tear it up for this Summer’s first instalment.

Breakfest (26/12/2016)- well regarded as the ‘best day ever,’ Breakfest is back this year with a killer lineup that satisfies the best of bass to make the most out of your Boxing Day. This year’s lineup includes Aphrodite, DJ Sliink, Cesqueaux, Ekali, Oski & AC Slater to name a few.

Southbound (27-29/12/2016)- after cancelling the last festival due to unfortunate circumstances, Southbound are back with an absolute stellar lineup covering all grounds from Hermitude to SAFIA to Sticky Fingers! The EMAS crew are also rumoured to make an appearance in the silent disco.

Origin (31-12/2016)- what better way to bring in the New Year than a festival covering the biggest names in bass, urban and underground music. Headlining this year’s 10th Origin festival are A$AP Rocky, Chance the Rapper & Pendulum.

Falls Downtown (07-08/01/2017)- Falls with it’s multi-genre live music lineup, features the likes of Childish Gambino, London Grammar, The Avalanches, Violent Soho, Matt Corby & Ta-ku, plus others!

Laneway Festival (05/02/2017)-another boutique music festival held in the thick of Fremantle, St Jerome’s Laneway music festival is back with a line-up that is again extremely vast featuring Aurora, Jess Kent, Koi Child, Mr Carmack, Tash Sultana & many more!

What a summer jam-packed with wicked festivals! Save up, pack your bags and schedule in the dates of the music festivals you don’t want to miss out on! You can count on the EMAS crew to be hitting up more than a couple of these!

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