By Sydney Foreman
A few hundred or even a few thousand miles did not stop music lovers from seeing their favorite acts this summer.
Although Sziget, one of the biggest music festivals in Europe was not Ally White’s ’13 only reason for traveling to Budapest, it was one of the highlights of her trip.
“My friends invited me and who am I to turn down a European experience?” said White.
White is familiar with traveling abroad, but is not as familiar with music festivals. Sziget was her first. “It’s the best I could have imagined,” said White.
“People were so excited because LMFAO, The Killers, etcetera don’t come to Hungary often. I love watching people singing lyrics in English when you can tell they don’t really understand what the words mean.”
She does not feel that she would travel great lengths for musical performances unless she loves the area in which it takes place.
“People have to be excited to be in the place they are in,” said White. “If there is not someone you want to see playing every moment, then the energy level goes down. You want people to be excited to be there in general, not just for the music.”
Once his trip to Madrid was arranged, Jordan Elist ’13 bought a ticket to Rock in Rio.
“The reason I signed up was to see Rihanna,” said Elist, who was greatly disappointed when she cancelled her appearance.
Despite this, Elist listed Rock at Rio as “the perfect summer vacation getaway for kids between 16 and 23.”
After three years of attending the Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo, Aimee Misaki ’15 is still delighted by it and intends to return to the festival.
Misaki is particularly drawn to the upbeat atmosphere that Tokyo has to offer a music festival, which she believes Los Angeles is lacking.
“Even though my feet are ruined from walking miles every day, I just had the best time,” said Misaki.
Summer Sonic was an opportunity to see many artists Misaki grew up listening to such as Tears for Fears. Headliner Green Day performed their new album Dukie, which allowed Misaki to rekindle her self-declared “love-hate relationship” with the band.
While it was not the 11 hour plane ride Misaki took, the hour ride to San Francisco where the three-day music festival Outside Lands is held was the furthest Andrew Meepos ’13 has traveled to hear live music.
“This year at Outside Lands, I had the most fun I’ve ever had at a music festival,” said Meepos.
Meepos said Outside Lands is his favorite of the six festivals he has attended because of the surrounding culture in San Francisco. Every day food is provided from some of the Bay Area’s top rated restaurants.
San Francisco is currently the furthest Meepos has travelled for music. However, he plans to attend the Glastonbury festival in England next summer, a significantly longer journey.
Blake Nosratian ’13, another Outside Lands attendee, believes the energy of the other festival goers enhanced the experience. “Even though I was towards the back I could tell that the whole crowd was really into it,” said Nosratian.
Anna Witenberg ’13 does not predict she will be returning to Bonnaroo, after taking a four-hour plane ride and spending two hours in a car and three days of camping in Manchester, Tenn..
“It seems like a once in a lifetime experience and I don’t know if I need to do it again,” said Witenberg.
Radiohead, a favorite of Witenberg’s, was a huge disappointment for her during the festival. She is unsure whether the letdown is due to a low quality sound system or because of the immeasurable amount of sweaty fans that surrounded her. Despite the letdown, Witenberg feels optimistic about other music festivals in the future. Witenberg believes that traveling great lengths for a festival can be worth it, but very unpredictable.
“It’s a risk and you just have to for it.”
For Ethan Weinstein ’15 and Eli Weinstein ’16 traveling to Chicago for Lollapalooza is nothing new. The brothers returned to Illinois to visit their grandmother and to attend Lollapalooza for the second consecutive year.
This year the Weinstein brothers attended the festival with their mother. For future festivals, “I would like to go with a big group of friends,” said Ethan.
