My First Festival

By Noam Orr

My first festival did not happen in my home country. Instead, it was held 4,602 kilometres away in the small town of Boom. Let me take you back to 2013 when the most played song on the radio was the late Avicii’s Wake Me Up. I was seated at a friend’s house in Eilat my home town getting ready to go out on a Friday night and like all good pre-game parties, we needed music. My friend chose the Tomorrowland Festival’s after movie from 2012 and that’s when I was hooked. From the music to the throngs of people dancing along to sets played by the best 100 DJs in the world to the intricate stage setups. All these things bring more than 400,000 people to Boom every year for 3 days. The demand is so high that tickets sell out almost as soon as they are released. That’s how our Friday night out turned out to be a night in as we binge-watched all the Tomorrowland Festival after movies. With the music still playing in my head as I went to sleep that night I promised myself that I would be a part of those 400,000 people one day.

I can’t say that I actively planned to go for the festival that same year but as luck would have it, my friend and I were able to get tickets! The festival gods had smiled on us and we were not about to let that opportunity go to waste. We were the envy of people in my city but that did not dampen our excitement. A month before the festival we dove into preparations. We spent hours in the gym making sure we were fit enough to dance for 3 days. Any other free time was spent working on costumes (how else were we going to stand out in a crowd of half a million people and make it to the after-movie if we didn’t have eye-catching costumes?). The days leading up to the festival felt like the longest days ever but we made to the big day.

Once we got off the bus, we walked 1 kilometre to the gate lost in a swarm of beautiful people from all over the world. The air was heavy with excitement! The energy was infectious and all around the smiles on peoples faces let you know that you were in for a magical experience.

Close your eyes for a few seconds and imagine that concert you went to then double the number of people, the energy and the excitement. Faint claps turn into syncronised louder ones that get faster and faster then the music starts. You open your eyes to an underwater city surrounded by pulsing spotlights and fireworks as a lone figure stands at the top, playing their biggest hits. Now imagine this over and over again for three days. It is overwhelming and breathtaking. I have been able to experience this every year (don’t ask me how I get ti ckets, it’s a secret!) however until the day I die, I will never forget the first one.