Unless you have a few bags of spare cash lying around the house, here’s one problem that we can all share. We love live music, we love other people who love live music, and we can’t think of a better time than spending some time road tripping through the U.S. to surround ourselves with both of those things.
However, a problem arises; festivals are expensive.
With so many killer lineups to catch around the country (and the world, for that matter), one must make some hard decisions on which festivals to hit and which to regrettably miss, forgoing some serious good times in order to not break the bank.
With tickets routinely surpassing $175 for larger festivals (Wakarusa, All Good, Counterpoint, Electric Forest, Summer Camp, Bonnarroo, etc.), many of us simply can’t afford to hit as many festivals as we’d like.
In a perfect world (back to the cash bags scenario), it’d be no problem.
We could travel the country, crisscrossing haphazardly from state to state to get our live music fix, the proverbial ‘endless summer’ that we all yearn for deep down. But alas, many of us don’t have that luxury. We must work our 9 to 5’s, part-times, and whatever else to scrape up enough mula to get out there and hit an event or two. It’s totally worth it, but isn’t there a better way? The short answer is yes: volunteering.
Volunteering is, in this writer’s opinion, the greatest way to get out there and see as many different show, events, and festivals as you can while still being as frugal as possible. So how does it work?
The Volunteer Process:
1. Apply to volunteer via the festival’s website
Usually there is a short list of questions to fill out. Things such as: what is your past experience with music festivals, have you volunteered them before (if so, on what team), and which teams you would prefer to work. Pretty easy stuff.
2. Wait for volunteer acceptance
They will send you an email to confirm your acceptance to the volunteer program.
3. Pay your deposit
Deposits are there to ensure that volunteers show up and work as they have promised. Essentially, you must purchase your ticket at full price, but after your volunteer hours are completed your deposit will be refunded in full, usually the Monday after the festival.
4. Receive your schedule via email
5. Show up and check in with the volunteer coordinator(s)
6. Work your assigned hours
Really, work sounds like a harsh word for this part of the journey. Although you do have to put in time and effort, it hardly qualifies as work. From past experience on multiple different volunteer teams (Production, Parking, Security, etc.), each team has a job to do, but it’s less work and more play.
Why? Because you’re working with kids that are exactly like yourself. People who are there strictly for the music, people who are there to volunteer to stretch the budget and hit that one extra show. People who are down for the cause.
7. Enjoy the show!
Depending on the festival, each volunteer is usually required to work 12-15 hours over the course of the event, leaving plenty of room for tunes and shenanigans.
8. Receive your refund at the end of the festival and get home safely.
Ta da! It’s that easy. Volunteering can be a great way to get out and travel to new places, catch new music, and meet new people, all while saving some cash. From personal experience, it can be the most enriching festival experience that one can have. Ranging from networking with fellow music fanatics, dancing fiends, and musicians to getting to know the people who run the festival to getting a behind the scenes look at how things work, you’re sure to come out with an experience that you wouldn’t otherwise have had. It’s awesome.
The best part, though, is the people and friends that you connect with along the way. Friends that run deeper than the 30-second encounters that a lot of festival interactions revolve around. Don’t get us wrong, though, 30-second friends are tremendous.
Making eye contact underneath the lasers and exchanging a smile, trading some happiness for the moment.
It’s a truly unreal experience that can’t be bought or sold for anything. We’re not knocking this one bit. But, after everything is said and done, coming home with a new group of homies and people that you truly have come to know as friends.
That’s just magic. The reality is that it’s impossible to meet every beautiful soul in attendance in an extended encounter, it just can’t happen. A lot of friendships may be for just a fleeting moment, never to meet again. But with volunteering, you share something more than a quick moment in the crowd. You share in the creation of those moments.
