Festival Stories

Festivals are for the love of music, clearly. But they are also an opportunity to go hog-wild. I’ve just been on Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel, one of the biggest music festivals in Germany. It’s three days of playful anarchy. Don’t wash, don’t behave, shout at people, dance wildly, drink too much… altogether very interesting asocial behaviour, especially on the camping ground. I’m not saying I like everything people do there. Like peeing against your tent while you sleep. Or being so wasted that they feel the need to jump around completely naked (interestingly only men do this). But it is kind of liberating to get rid of civilized life once a year. 🙂

If you like to visit Hurricane Festival, be prepared for any kind of weather. You know, in Germany there is no such thing like real summer and you have heavy rain or even thunderstorm one day, followed by blazing sun the next day, while at night you will be freezing while already wearing three layers of clothes inside your sleeping bag. Duck Tape becomes essential for survival because you can use it to repair everything the wind destroys, like your pavilion, your camp chair, your tent. You may also use it to make a shoulder bag out of a Tetra Pak to carry something to drink on the festival ground (bottles are not allowed).

Of course there’s only juice in these…

You will see many people in funny costumes, because you know the Hurricane is actually no festival but an inofficial contest for the weirdest outfit. You will learn to stop thinking when going on the portable toilets and inevitably you will have to play “Flunky Ball” – a drinking game: Two teams line up facing each other and try to hit a bottle in the middle between them with a ball (or something you can throw). You are only allowed to drink when you hit the bottle; who empties his beer first wins. Surely this will become an Olympic discipline soon! 😉 Finally, on the last day you will witness an epic level of destruction on the camping ground, with collapsed pavilions and more waste than you could ever imagine.

Apart from that you will also see some concerts I hope, although some people seem to forget this is the real purpose of a music festival. 😉 You will become familiar with a dance named “pogo”, which is basically just wild jumping and shoving other people around. Unfortunately some guys like it to really punch people while doing it, so I advise all girls to be careful. Yes, that’s life on festivals. Even days later you will find some dirt in your nose and ears. You will totally love it. (No irony. It’s great fun.)

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