The great news is that Download Festival has come back for 2021!
While the ‘official’ festival was announced as cancelled back in March, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any events at the histonic Donington site this year.
The Download Festival Pilot 2021 is a small festival that is part of a government scheme to try and get live music and festivals up and running again as the Coronavirus Pandemic finally starts to go away.
The pilot event has a total capacity of only 10,000 (down from the usual capacity of 111,000), and sold out very quickly, meaning that not everyone could get a ticket (myself included).
However, the lucky people who did manage to get tickets are sure to have a fantastic weekend of music and relaxing in the sun (and/or getting drunk and acting silly).
But since it’s been so long since festivals happened (The last festival I went to was Download Festival in June 2019!) you may need a refresher on festival advice.
OR this could very well be your very first festival (which would be awesome and congratulations if it is!) and you are just looking for general hint, tips and advice on how to enjoy the festival as best you can.
So I have wracked my brain and come up with 9, totally random and disorganised tips, tricks and ideas for how to ensure your festival goes off without a hitch.
1. Follow the rules (and don’t get kicked out)
The fact that Download Festival is on this year is genuinely fantastic!
However, be aware that there are a lot of new rules that go with it: You are not allowed to leave the campsite, you can only get in if you have a recent, negative Covid test and you can only take one crate of beer per person.
These rules exist for a reason, so please respect and follow them.
For the love of god, don’t try and sneak in if you have Covid or try and break the rules just because they’re inconvenient for you.
You risk not only being kicked out of the festival, but literally ruining it for everyone else.
This pilot scheme is big news for live events in the UK. If it fails, it may well have a knock-on effect on dozens of other festivals for the rest of this year and potentially next year too.
You don’t want to be branded as the person who ruined all live music in the UK.
Think of the ratioing you’d get on Twitter…
2. Make friends with your neighbours
I say this every year, and I will continue to say it because it’s really good advice!
When you camp at a festival, you are surrounded by thousands of potential friends. You already have stuff in common (similar music tastes, enjoying camping and day drinking), so why not make friends with them?
You may or may not become lifelong friends, but at the very least you will have some people to look over your campsite if you’re not there and some shady guy comes looking through your stuff.
It’s a primitive form of a Neighbourhood Watch, and it works!
3. See different bands
Let’s say that you’ve bought a ticket for the Download Festival pilot scheme specifically because you want to see Bullet for my Valentine.
I don’t know; maybe you’re a late-twenties BFMV fanatic who never got a chance to see them and you want to relive that sweet teenage angst.
The point is that Download Festival is hosting 40 bands over the weekend. If you only see the one or two bands you want to see, you may miss out on some really great music.
You never know, your new favourite band may be playing early in the day and you’d never know unless you check them out.
I first discovered NOFX whilst wandering around Download festival and they ended up being a defining band of my 20s.
So while you’re at Download Festival, check out both Frank Carter AND Frank Turner.
Maybe you think Hot Milk is a terrible name for a band (it is), but maybe you’ll love their music if you give them a chance.
Wargasm isn’t just a band with a funny name, they also play music! Maybe good music! Find out!
The point is, go listen to bands you’ve not heard of before. Maybe you’ll hate their music, but at least you’ll know.
4. Earbuds
If you are someone who has trouble sleeping, a music festival is probably not going to ease that burden.
No matter what time of day or night it is, there will be loud, drunken festival go-ers.
And if that’s not enough for you, Donington Park is situated literally right next door to an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
If you are, for some reason, the type of person who’s sleep DOESN’T get improved by the sound of 200,000 tonne planes taking off in the next field, then maybe invest in some earbuds to reduce that sound somewhat.
I am not joking when I say how loud they are!
Every night at Download I go to sleep fully aware of the sound that will happen the next morning, and get woken up thinking that World War 3 has started next door.
5. Beer under the tent
Keeping beer cold at a festival is not an easy task, so here’s a quick tip for you.
With the totally-not-global-warming-related record temperatures that the UK is experiencing at the moment, keeping your drinks chilled is basically a madman’s fantasy, right?
Wrong! When you set up your tent, just chuck a couple of cans under the groundsheet.
The insulation that stops the cold from the ground rising into your tent also works the other way around: the insulation also stops the heat from the sun seeping downwards to your beer.
So, when you wake up hungover in the baking heat, you can crawl out of bed and shove your hand under the tent to get a near-enough ice cold can of Fosters or Strongbow Dark Fruits or whatever it is you kids drink.
Obviously, just remember that the cans are there and that you don’t accidentally step on them or something.
6. Don’t wear a jumper to bed
Remember how I mentioned the sun and the heat? It was in the last paragraph? Come on, keep up.
Let’s say that you go to bed at 4am, perhaps a little bit tipsy? It’s cold and you just want to crawl into your sleeping bag and get all cosy and get a good nights’ sleep.
So what do you do? You put on a hoodie and a hat and wrap yourself all snuggly and warm and gently pass out.
Then suddenly you wake up, boiling to death and sweating enough to refloat the titanic. You rip all your clothes off and dive outside the tent, excited to start seeing bands because it must be like noon, right?
Nope, it’s 6.30AM.
I really cannot express how hot your tent can get with direct sunlight, even in the very wee hours of the morning.
When you go to bed, wear whatever you normally wear to bed. You’ll be cold when you get into the sleeping bag, but it won’t last long, because that’s how sleeping bags work.
Then when you wake up in the boiling heat, you won’t feel quite so much like you’re about to die of exhaustion.
7. Toilet paper & baby wipes
Ask someone who has been to even one music festival ‘what is a key thing to pack?’ and you will get these two answers, probably screamed at you as the person starts to remember some horrible experience.
Festival toilets are not exactly renowned for their cleanliness. You wouldn’t want to eat your dinner off one anyway, (though I bet some drunken fool has!)
Without getting too graphic, you don’t want to be in a situation where you NEED toilet paper and there ISN’T any.
And wet wipes are just a very versatile tool.
From wiping down plates and cutlery, to wiping up sick from your sleeping bag, Wet Wipes really are the best thing you can possibly take to a festival.
8. Take photos (but don’t film the bands)
“I wish I had taken more pictures.”
That is a lyric from the song ‘I Wish I Could Go back To College’ from the musical Avenue Q.
Why do I bring this up? Because its a really great show and you should go see it if you haven’t already.
But also, it’s very good advice.
I went to a lot of festivals in my mid-twenties and I really don’t remember much about them.
I now make videos and so record my festivals, but not everyone does this.
“Make memories to last a lifetime” is a total lie. You’ll make great memories that will last a year and then start to fade. Take photos of you, your friends, the weird things you see and anything else you want to remember.
BUT, don’t film the bands!
The quality will be terrible, you will never watch the video back and you will just annoy the person behind you who’s view your blocking with your phone.
9. Hope for the best, pack for the worst
This is some very old advice that it is very sensible and very easy to ignore.
Yes, the weather in the UK right now is really good: it’s heatwave temperatures and that is expected to continue.
But this is still the UK, and the weather is always unpredictable.
Just because it’s been really nice weather for the past few weeks, doesn’t mean that Download Festival won’t experience torrential rain on the saturday.
Let me tell you a story: I went to Sonishere in 2014 with a friend.
On the Saturday, we both carried two packets of cigarettes on us each (I know, smoking is bad – I have since quit!), and settled into the crowd to watch the debut set of Babymetal at a UK festival.
While they are a fantastic band, we were actually just there to get a good spot to see the next few bands, particularly Frank Turner.
We were having a lovely time and making friends with some people nearby.
When suddenly the heavens opened and there was torrential rain for 20 minutes.
Then it went away again just as quickly. We were left soaked to the skin, with 4 ruined packets of cigarettes between us, and needing to trudge back to camp, dry off and change.
In the end, we only just managed to get back to see Iron Maiden!
So, don’t go overboard with the planning, but remember to take the basics: hat, suncream & umbrella or poncho.
Over-packing means you will have to carry more to and from the site. Under-packing means there’s a risk you will ruin your entire festival by ruining all your clothes or getting serious sunburn.
Summary
If you managed to get tiockets to the Download Festival Pilot scheme – congratulations!
I’m sure you are goin to have a fantastic time; just make sure you make the most of it and don’t ruin it for other people.
