One of the worst things that can happen to anyone attending a festival is to be saddled with the wrong person.
Sometimes it can be situational. You and your boo might have planned to go to Electric Daisy together, but sometime between buying tickets and making reservations, you break up. This creates a totally awkward situation in which it would be better if one or both of you don't go, a situation you did not anticipate. But there are other times when you should have considered the company you keep ahead of time, especially if your festival companion is one of the following:
1. Young and Clueless
These are your underage ravers who really should be accompanied by a responsible adult. For them, the less clothes the better. They are always found by main stage, jumping all over each other just to get up to the front, and running from stage to stage to beat the crowd. The young and clueless are often described by seasoned ravers as the least PLUR out of anyone at a festival – and no wonder – they didn't bother to bring anyone with any experience to show them the ropes. These kids are also found in the med tent quite often, overdosing on drugs, not caring about their own safety or the safety of others.
2. Druggies
these are the people to take recreational drugs just because they can't enjoy the show without getting massively f'd up. Druggies are easily spotted: sweating, eyes rolling back, freaking out, or just laying down in random spots in a comatose state. One friend always gets stuck babysitting this person – AVOID BEING THAT FRIEND!
3. Drama Queens
People think that “queens” refers to gay men who dress up like women and act fabulous. Drag queens can be a lot of fun at a festival. Drama queens – not so much. A drama queen can be gay, straight, male or female. Their main beef is that they really didn't want to go to the festival in the first place, so they make everyone around them as miserable as they are. Or they go to the festival to stalk an ex – really bad news. It cannot end well.
4. Self-Absorbed Couples
It is a wonderful thing to be in love! It is not so wonderful, however, if you and your soul mate are constantly making out, ignoring the rest of their friends, and doing unbearably cutesy crap non-stop. When we choose people to experience what could possibly be the greatest high possible – dancing to fantastic music with thousands of like-minded others in a temporary world of peace, beauty, compassion, and incredible energy that borders (and possibly crosses over into) the spiritual, the boundaries between us and the members of our immediate tribe should fall. This is the time to really relish your friends and make new ones. If the lovey-dovey couple is sooooooo into each other, they should just chill at home with a good 4-hour set of EDM instead of annoying the daylights out of everyone and possibly causing people to hurl after hours of exposure to their nauseating cuteness.
Stay tuned for Part III: People You Should Hang Out With at Festivals
