I am neither a hippie nor a hipster. I look terrible in tie dye and my glasses are prescription, not ironic. That said, I do love great live music, which I believe is a love I share with most living, breathing humans. I love the shared experience of music. People from all different walks of life singing the same song in unison. For example, when Paul McCartney performed "Hey Jude," at Firefly this year, tens of thousands of people of all ages and all walks of life were singing and holding up lighters together. That kind of shared experience doesn't happen on a daily basis. Someone also pointed out to me that no live music performance is exactly the same, so you and a group of people are experiencing a one-time event together, much like seeing a cloud (okay... perhaps I have a little hippie in me).Sara Cuesta, whose awesomeness I have mentioned in a few of my posts (she is the lovely blond right next to me in the first picture), is an incredibly energetic music junkie. She knows everything about music, so she was leading the charge for Firefly. We drove to Delaware Thursday night. I should mention that Sara and I went to neighboring high schools in Delaware long before there was anything remotely cool to do within a 20 mile radius. Like most Delawareans, we believe it is our duty to attend Firefly since it is finally something awesome to do in our hometown. Sara mapped out all the bands that we should see. Firefly is held on a huge compound, 154 acres, and many of the acts overlapped or were timed back to back, so we would have to hustle quite a distance from show to show.
Now, according to the internet, standing for 8 hours burns roughly 600 calories (see this nifty link https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc). This doesn't include all of the dancing, jamming and scurrying from band to band that you will do. This explains how the above-mentioned hippies and hipsters can stuff their faces and still fit into their skinny jeans and look flawless in their half shirts.The Friday shows were fantastic, but I definitely was the biggest fan of the Paul McCartney show, which came as a total shock to myself. He is not my generation, but there was something incredibly cool about his performance and how it captivated everyone. On Saturday evening, a huge storm rolled in requiring evacuation! You can see the ominous colored sky in the background of the picture of myself, Erin and Sara. Again, more calories being burned walking/running to shelter.
Luckily, like a truly mature 31-year-old woman, I called my mom and she picked me up from the concert venue and rescued me from the storm. #adulthood.
I couldn't stick around for Sunday's events, which bummed me out, but I had to get home to prepare for work the following week. Sara and Erin stayed to continue the "workout." Erin reported that walking in the mud the following day was probably also a very good butt workout.
My necessary return to work brings me to the next mystery that I would like to solve. How do people constantly go to music festivals? I ask this because I assume that I have solved the mystery of slender hippies and hipsters. Feel free to call me Nancy Drew moving forward.
Most of the people you chat with at Firefly are also attending Bonaroo, Lollapalooza, etc. They just follow the music festival circuit. I want to ask them what they do for a living? You look like you are (barely) old enough to work. Do you just have the coolest job in the world that lets you follow the music festival circuit? You must get paid an awful lot for taking time off because three-day passes, plus your travel expenses, probably cost as much as a car insurance payment. Additionally, you had to purchase festie gear, and unless you robbed an Anthropoligie at the beginning of the summer that has also set you back. I suppose I may never solve the second mystery, but it gives me food for thought.
Please, go to a music festival at least once. Eat terrible food (like cookie ice-cream sandwiches). Dance, stand and run around. Enjoy the fabulous shared experience and the calorie burn!
