With everything going on in the world, it's hard to get away from hearing about violence, hate, and bigotry. I bought tickets for the first day of Lollapalooza 2016 for my boyfriend and I earlier this year, before I found out that I needed foot reconstruction surgery. Of course I already spent the $240 for two tickets for the first day of the festival, so my boyfriend and I agreed that we were going anyway. I worried a lot about being able to walk, being able to see who I wanted to see because of that, or being stepped on in the crowds. That Thursday at Lollapalooza ended up being one of the best days of my life, and there's a lot of reasons why I wish everyday can be like my first ever music festival experience.
My boyfriend and I wanted to save some money so we decided to stay in Michigan City, Indiana instead of Chicago where the music festival takes place. We took the South Shore Line train into Chicago the morning of the festival. The train was packed! We got on the third stop of the train and it took us about ten minutes, and five train cars to find a seat. By the next stop, a bunch of people got on and ended up sitting on the floor of the train car we were in. It was amazing. They were playing music and everyone was singing, and girls who didn't know each other at all were braiding each others' hair. It was awesome to see everyone having a good time even though they were sitting on the floor of a dirty train. I wish everyday was filled with the enthusiasm and laughter that, that train car had early Thursday morning.
When we got off the train, and into the line to get into the festival, strangers were talking to each other and laughing and dancing with no music. It was hot and grossly humid, but everyone was having a great time just waiting in line to get in. When we finally got into the festival, we stopped to get some merchandise, and at the ADA Access booth since I still had a walking boot on. The Lollapalooza employees were probably the most informative and caring customer service employees I've ever had contact with. Again, I wish everyone (including myself) could be that enthusiastic about their job each day.
Of course it rained, because it rains whenever my boyfriend and I go to Chicago. I ended up tying rain ponchos over my walking boots to protect it from getting wet (these things are expensive) and I had a few people tell me they liked my "boot scarf" or even applauded me for coming to the festival barely able to walk. My lovely boyfriend even carried me on his back when my foot was really hurting. More than one girl yelled out that they wish someone would do that for them. It made me really appreciate him and all he does for me, and people applauding me for toughing it out made me happy, and we should be more willing to compliment strangers.
Towards the end of the day, the crowd was so huge it was hard for me to walk through it. So my boyfriend went to fill our water bottles while I sat on the curb. These two girls sat next to me and asked if I was OK. I told them I was just waiting for my boyfriend to get back and they scooted closer to me to make it look like we were together to ward off unwanted attention. So thank you to those two girls for making me feel safer while my boyfriend was gone.
Not to mention all of the amazing music. Dancing in the crowd for Danny Brown was fun, but being in the crowd for G-Eazy was probably one the coolest experiences of my life. Dancing and cheering with strangers was actually so cool. A lot of people watched out for my foot which made me feel better as well. Even when my boyfriend and I went up to the ADA platform, we had a blast being outside of the crowd too.
After we left the festival, we ended up getting dinner and more people talked to me about my boot as we were walking to the train station. Another guy had a boot on too, so we joked around a bit about it. We saw strangers helping each other, helping the homeless, and it was really uplifting. My boyfriend and I had a great time laughing on the train ride back, and got some food when we got back too.
I really wish everyday could be like my first ever music festival experience. There was so much laughter, happiness, and helpfulness. I'm so glad I got to experience this kind of love between strangers, and saw people helping people and dancing and laughing with people who they have never met in their life. I really think we could learn some lessons about happiness and helpfulness from music festival experiences, and I wish every day could be like my experience at Lollapalooza 2016.
