Tuesday 29 March 2016

Travel Tuesday - 10 Must Haves for Multi-Day Music Festivals

One of the reasons we went on our European trip when we did was so we could attend the Download Festival in Derby. It's a 3-day rock-metal music festival but you can start camping 2 days before the festival actually starts. There are some definite must-haves that you need when you're staying on site.


  • Tent. You need somewhere to sleep after all. We bought ourselves a cheap little two person tent that fit AJ and I along with a few bits and bobs. Make sure you have something inside it to keep you warm like a sleeping bag or a duvet. AJ and I tried to share one but I kept stealing it (poor AJ).

Me outside our tiny tent
  • Drink Bottle. You need to keep your fluids up if you're going to have energy to last the whole festival. There's plenty of taps on hand to fill it up. Just make sure it's empty before you actually enter the music area. They don't like you taking liquid in. You can fill it up inside though.

  • Toilet Paper. Take as much as you would normally use for 5 days - maybe even more. The porta-loos tend to run out of toilet paper very quickly. I remember yells from a few cubicles of people who hadn't realised this and had been caught short.

  • Hand Sanitizer. The state of the toilets aren't the best - especially the further into the festival you get. You aren't generally able to wash your hands either. So hand sanitizer is a God-send when you can't be arsed trying to find a tap.

  • Face Wipes. Or wet wipes. Basically something to help you stay clean. There are no showering facilities. We used some wipes that we got for free on our flight over (thank you Air New Zealand). But they're easy enough to get from the supermarket or pharmacy.

  • Camera. To take photos of the awesomeness that is the festival! You also don't use up all of the precious charge on your phone. Just a point and shoot though - a DSLR would be way to big and bulky. Mine is Lumix DMC-FT3 that is shock-proof and waterproof. Perfect for any sort of abuse it might get.

  • Decent shoes. You want a decent pair of shoes that will hold up to the tests of the Mosh Pit. You don't want your tootsies all covered in bruises after all. I wore my Doc Martens and they lasted amazingly. They were really comfortable too.

  • Sunhat. Before we went to the UK - everyone was telling us that we wouldn't need sun protection when we went over there as 'the weather is always crap'. The fact was - the weather was beautiful. I got sunburnt and actually bought a hat from a stand at the Festival. I do love this hat of mine though. It was only £5!

  • Sunscreen. You should really wear sunscreen all day every day (I don't, but I really should - especially with my pale skin!). Keep it in a bag that's close at hand so you can reapply every few hours.

  • Rain Protection. In the form of a poncho or something. You don't want anything too heavy as it's usually summer when there's a Music Festival. But something to keep your torso from getting wet at the very least. Especially in the UK when the weather (supposedly) is usually wet.

So those are my must haves for a Music Festival. I could have added things like good company and stuff but those go without saying. I really hope this helps if you're planning on going to a Festival and that you have an amazing time! We loved Download Festival and only wish that there was something similar here in New Zealand. 

Here's some pics from Download 2014

Within Temptation

The view from the top of the hill

They took this down after the first day as it was getting a bit munched

Linkin Park - by far our favourite



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