Summer Music Festival Tips
Stay ahead of the festival pack this summer with these tips. Festivals abroad have become increasingly popular with music fans in recent years. Whether you are heading off to Sziget or planning a weekend of debauchery at Oxegen, here are a few helpful hints to make your festival fun memorable for all the right reasons.
If you can’t pick which festival to rock out to this summer but you know you want to travel as well as hear some tunes, here the top 10 picks of the world’s best summer festivals:
Top 10 unmissable international festivals
1. Sónar Festival, June 16th – 18th, Barcelona, Spain
2. Northside Festival, June 16th – 19th, Brooklyn, NYC
3. Glastonbury, England, June 22nd – 26th
4. Roskilde, Denmark, July 30th – August 3rd.
5. Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, July 1st – 16th
6. EXIT, Serbia, July 7th – 10th
7. T in the Park, Scotland, July 8th – 10th
8. Melt! Germany, July 15th – 17th
9. Benicàssim, Spain, July 15th – 18th
10. Fuji Rock Festival, Japan, July 29th -31st
Dr Graham Fry, Medical Director of TMB offers the following tips for making the most of your summer festival plans:
Location – Vaccines: The location of the event is crucial as sometimes vaccines and malaria prophylaxis may be recommended. These should really be started quite a few months before hand if at all possible (to get cover against Hepatitis B working before you leave as cheaply as possible). If it is a rural festival outside of the UK and Ireland then cover against Rabies may be worth considering. Festivals held during the cold season/ winter may increase the risk of Meningitis and Influenza.
Be Prepared: Make a checklist for passports, flight tickets, local currency (if outside Euro zone), timetables and costs for local buses, trains etc. The more preparation possible the less the risk for stress and missed connections – and missing out on the bands you want to see.
Safety & Security: Very few tents are equipped with secure safes for your belongings so don’t bring anything irreplaceable and keep all your essential items (passport, money, credit cards, phone etc) in your belt bag worn at all times.
Strangers: Treat all new found friends with a degree of suspicion and don’t be too trusting. Get your own drinks and stay with known friends.
Just say no!: Drugs and Drink don’t mix.
Sanitation: Staying clean and hygienic at a major festival can be an uphill struggle. Bring antiseptic wipes for your hands before meals and talcum powder for those raw patches at the top of your legs. Girls, if you have ever had to use the WC facilities at any major concert you will know of the mental trauma associated with trying to decide which is worse the full bladder or the risk of Typhoid! Bring along a ‘Whizz’ or similar gender bending contraption which will allow you pee in peace! (just don’t confuse the fellows!) Bring sufficient supplies for all your feminine needs.
Misery with Measles
There has been a huge increase in cases of measles during the past few months across Europe. Festivals tend to be crowded places where air borne diseases spread very easily. If you are not already covered having the MMR vaccine is a very wise precaution.
source Tropical Medical Bureau
Where is Sziget in the top 10? I’ve been to EXIT, T in the Park, Melt! and Benicassim but Sziget was the best!
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