In Southern California, festivalgoers have a dates on their calendar circled, highlighted, and underlined. In April, we have Coachella or Lucidity. In May, we have Lightning In A Bottle. In June, EDC is just a few hours away in Las Vegas. July is when we rest, as we get ready for the gauntlet of Hard Summer, Outside Lands, and Burning Man.
This year, things are a little different. Local favorite, Lighting In A Bottle, has changed locations and moved from Memorial Day Weekend to the middle of July. Suddenly there is a gaping hole in everyone’s festival season. This really throws a wrench in everything because Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time for a festival. The weather is perfect, you have an extra day off of work, and you are fresh as you haven’t been to a festival in over six weeks.
Thankfully, someone, or “some ones,” have stepped up and filled the gap that Lightning In A Bottle once filled. The interesting thing is that both festivals seem very similar to each other. They both have targeted the heady Burning Man-ish crowd and have all the making of an absolutely unforgettable weekend.
Your first option is to head to Apple Valley, which is located about 90 miles East of Los Angeles to a festival called Boomtown. Boomtown is thrown by well known Burning Man camps Steampunk Saloon and Opulent Temple. Also involved is a non-profit organization called Green Wave, whose mission is to educate the world on having a sustainable lifestyle.
Thanks to all of you amazing people out there I have made it to the final round of the King Of Electric Forest Challenge. The contest now pits me up against some very stiff and hilarious competition. (I'm excited to hang out with them no matter who wins) The winner will receive two VIP tickets, a golf cart for the weekend, and $500 to put towards to improving the festival somehow. Tickets and golf carts are great but it's the last part that has me so excited. I am working to create a life for myself of being a legitimate music festival consultant and having a festival that is willing to work with me would put me one step closer to creating my dream job.
This week's final video challenge was to show the audience, in three minutes or less, what your idea was on how to improve the festival. I immediately knew what I wanted to do. Last year Electric Forest was absolutely amazing. The one area that needed some help was the campgrounds. They were just kind of plain because not many (including my crew) seemed to decorate their vehicles and there needed to be some other late night options. So I spoke with Electric Forest and they agreed to allow me to get electricity to a block of campsites. Different groups of friends can apply to get one campsites once they explain what they are offering to the community. This block will be the hangout during the day and the party after the last set ends.
This idea of improving the campsites continues on into the standard campsites. If selected king I would like to work with the fan base and try and find ways that 30,000 people can all try just a little to make the festival prettier, cleaner, and even more enjoyable than anyone ever imagined possible.
Here is the video I made for the challenge:
Click here for my festival resume.
Click here to vote!
Click here to become an Ambassador Of Awesome and help make this the best Electric Forest ever..
Join my adventure.
I'm a lucky guy. I stumbled upon a pretty awesome URL, started this website, and have been able to commit my life to learning everything I can about music festivals. Someone recently asked me which of the mega festivals is the best bang for your buck. I really wasn't sure what to say. All of them have similar lineups and similar ticket pries. They all have things that are wonderful about them (I haven't been to Sasquatch yet but that will change shortly). This question really got me thinking so I decided to do some research and see if I could come up with some data to help me choose a winner.
First by my definition of a mega festival is an established festival with over 50,000 people that attend every day. I'm not including EDC and Ultra because they are major electronic festivals. I'll do one of these about them next.
The 5 mega festivals include:
Coachella, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, and Austin City Limits.
The first set of data I wanted to see was how expensive each festivals were when stacked next to each other. The average festival price was $275.
Coachella has a secret weapon which emits energy that Coachella's mega festival brethren could only dream of. This secret weapon makes the crowd smile and dance in a state of euphorie, an addiction to it as the weekend goes on.
Is the secret weapon drugs or alcohol?
No, but it it will give you a buzz all the same.
So what is this secret weapon?
The Festival Guy, aka Tucker Gumber, is in the second to final round to become the king of Electric Forest Music Festival. This weeks goal was to go out into the community and make some smiles. My idea was to take my Jammypack out and start some dance parties. Hilarity ensued.
The winner of King and Queen get two VIP tickets, a golf cart to drive around in, and most importantly, they get to help find ways to make the festival better. This is my shot to show what I can add to the festival.
Here is the link to vote >>>
Big love,
Tucker
Love music festivals? So do I. I love them so much that I started this website and have devoted my life to finding ways to making them better for everyone. Clicking the like button to the right ---> puts me one step closer to making my dream come true.