Don’t be Beholden to Your Schedule. Explore and Discover Music You Never Heard Before

One thing that’s great is that normally I’ll make my schedule and decide who are the artists that I want to see. You go in with your list of what to do, but don’t. I recommend roaming the festival at some point unplanned. If you stumble across an artist, check it out.

To go to a festival and just see the artists you already know and are into, part of the whole point is to discover new music that you never really listened to before. I think some of my favorite times at festivals have been randomly looking around. Last time we were at Coachella, I remember seeing Grinderman — Nick Cave’s other band. They were playing in some tent — and he was also headlining — but they were playing the small tent show. It was half-full and it was one of my favorite performances of that whole festival. It was wild and out of control. I never sat down and listened to Grinderman records before, and it was one of the most inspiring live sets I ever saw. Going exploring was great.

Stay by Front of House

People may not realize this, but you always want to be at front of house. It’s the booth in the middle where the sound guy is mixing. That is always the perspective that’s going to have the best mix for the festival. So go somewhere near there if you want the best listening perspective.

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