Everyone has different priorities at a festival – maybe yours is getting in as much time at the stages as possible, desperate to see that new up-and-coming artist or your all-time favourite. Or maybe it’s sun protection, unlike my mum at Glastonbury 2008 when we walked across the entire site in one day getting to our tent and she got so sunburnt she needed steroid cream from the first aid tent. Whatever your priorities are this festival season, here are our writers and editors festival essentials.
Corrie David: Bum bag! All your essentials safely stored around your waist. Plus someone decided they’re fashionable again so double win (and a cheeky hip flask to put inside, student life doesn’t budget for £5 ciders). Glitter to cover up five day old festival skin. Bandanas too, the weekend festival exclusive garment to fool people into thinking your hair isn’t greasy. Bonus points if you go into a crowd wearing it and come out without it.
James Barker: Sunnies! Optimistically packing your shades is a must for festival season. There’s nothing worse than watching [insert your favourite indie band here]but not being able to see a bloody thing thanks to a massive, beautiful, extremely bright sunset. Undoubtedly, you preserve and stare at the great old fireball for the entire set – only to end up with a miserable headache by the time the headliner arrives.
Carly-May Kavanagh: A loaf of bread, a condiment you like, a way of spreading said condiment, and a tub or tinfoil/clingfilm. Technically multiple items, but when combined you have a sandwich which you can make every morning for breakfast, and possibly a second for lunch. This way you’ll save a ridiculous amount of money, and you won’t feel too bad about buying yourself a nice dinner that evening. Even if you don’t like sandwiches, you should be too exhausted/drunk/busy to care. Oh, and a box of wine, because it’s much safer than a bottle and bags of wine are easier to transport.
David Mitchell-Baker: Waterproof trousers! You may look like a middle aged man on a rainy bank holiday hike and they’re about as fashionable as taping two bin liners to your legs, but damn if they’re not useful as all hell at festivals. You can literally sit down anywhere without concern, they’ll keep your shoes dry from rain and will leave you at least 50% less soaked through by the end of the day. But mainly the sitting part, literally anywhere you want and you are dry. I cba to stand for 12 hours straight, man needs his sitting time, and my experience at Reading Festival 2012 was all the better for it. God bless you person who invented waterproof trousers.
Emma Frizatta: It’s got to be lots of wet wipes! You never know when you need to wipe some mud off your face or clean up a mess next to your tent… cleanliness shall prevail!
Sam Law: Let’s be honest, is any festival really complete without an assortment of face paints? It really just wouldn’t be right if your Instagram posts and Facebook albums weren’t filled with people sporting wavy designs in UV and sparkly paint, sitting on each others’ shoulders and soaking up the good vibes.
Thea Hartman: Raincoat! Rain may not bother you on a 20-minute walk home, but it surely would on a 3-day festival. There’s nothing worse than missing that cool headliner because you’re too soaked to stand in the rain for two more hours or getting horribly ill afterwards because you did… And to be honest the good ol’ brolly isn’t the most practical thing to carry around in a crowd of annoyed people. A good raincoat with a sunny design is just the right thing to protect those festival clothes and brighten up the often grim British weather… Or at least attempt to!
Jake Willis: Multiple boxes of red wine, preferably 3 or more. This will get you through both the good and the bad of the festival, even those times when your friends try and drag you to Digital Farm Animals and you would rather jump off those Newquay cliffs into the Atlantic Ocean below. You should all try Boardmasters btw.
