We’re going to get old. We’re going to have
regrets. If you meet someone who has no regrets… they’re lying. There’s always
ifs and whys, could haves and should haves, that stick in your mind and make you
wonder if your life would be better had you made a different choice.
I should’ve stayed home on this weekend. I
could’ve been a lot safer. If I hadn’t gone out to this music festival alone,
none of this would’ve happened. Why did I do it? Because I had a feeling that
it would turn out to be a legendary weekend. And it was. And I will never
regret it.
Though it happened a couple weeks ago, I feel
like I’m still recovering. Unfortunately, I think my character will never go
back. There are those moments of stunning revelation that your brain can never
undo. My revelation? This shit happens in
reality, not only on reality television. Yes. It’s a scary one.
I dove into this world with an innocence that
now makes me laugh (okay, maybe calling myself innocent is a gigantic stretch,
but whatever blissful ignorance I had before this experience is now long gone).
Skipping the boring part where none of my friends ended up going, I’ll head to
the part where I end up sitting under a tree with a group of strangers consuming
some sort of… substance. They sat around me randomly, as shade was severely
lacking, and declared that I was ‘cool’. And it went downhill from there. They chatted
with me a bit and decided I was entertaining, and suddenly I was adopted into
the group.
We wandered and talked, and I deduced that they
were all older… but not necessarily wiser – which is not at all meant in a bad
way. Out of instinct, I scaled back the intelligent vocabulary and decided to
see where it took me. It took me back to the house where they were crashing,
and into another girl’s clothing. And no. Not in the lesbian way. In the way
that they concluded I wasn’t dressed sluttily enough for a night that would be
full of epic electronic music and crazy antics. Needless to say, I walked out
into public very cautiously. Cautiously because I felt like my ass was hanging
out of this so-called skirt, and if I breathed too deeply I’d hulk out of the
shirt lent to me by a girl who was decidedly smaller than me in certain areas.
But I got into the crowd and decided not to give a single fudge about what
people thought. Sure, the clothing got me significantly more attention than I
was used to, but in the end I was dancing for the love of the music and not for
anyone else.
In between all this dancing and fist-pumping
(oh yes, the bros were out, shirtless and in full force) there was a whole lot
of running around trying to find each other as the crowds split us.
Unfortunately we lost the backpack guy – he had a lot of our IDs and money, but
luckily not our phones – and only found him when the night was over… so he was
lost for about 5 hours. I also spent a good chunk of time calming people having
bad trips from whatever stupid things they ingested.
The performances were honestly the best I’ve
ever seen, and enjoying it with twenty-five thousand other people made it
pretty magical. If you’re into electronic music, check out the VELD 2012
line-up and you’ll realize how amazing the experience had to be. There were a
ton of DBs (drunk bitches, douchebags) causing chaos and made watching the
crowds ridiculously hilarious. It was reality at its worst. Pointless fights,
illogical and philosophical conversations, and a whole lot of people craving
attention.
The shirtless people, tight neon clothing,
flashing lights, and bone-shaking bass were an overload to the senses. You
couldn’t help but be swept up and embraced by the moments. The moments when the
many thousands knew all the words and sang them as loud as they could. The
moments when the beat dropped and everyone couldn’t help but go insane in
synch. The air was thick with heat and smoke, enhancing the effects and making
you grateful for the moments when rain pierced the sky and cleansed the world
for a while. But the masses always won, and the rain would leave mud that was
instantly forgotten. Nothing could suppress the feelings of joy that welled up
in the crowd with every note.
This all sounds relatively fine and dandy. And
I’ve made myself sound innocent. But no. I wasn’t. I’ll have to explain that
soon…. It’s still being processed. But the truth will come out. It’s
inevitable.
