I have slept very many nights in this particular field. In this vicinity. A country house grounds with high acreage. Every year it gets bigger. Wilderness Festival again. Usually I sleep in public camping despite my accreditation as the lakes are more accessible. This time I’m actually in performer. Which is weird as this year I’m really just an assistant with a free pass.
I’ve brought loads of woowoo stuff. My ADHD is off the scale, I can’t be here and not be adding value… I’ve already given loads of people glowsticks kinda irrespective of whether they were welcome. Just doing something. But I’ve got some serious kit with me.
Tonight I can write from my tent. Internet is gonna go to tits though tomorrow. If it doesn’t I’ll be very surprised. The bulk of people come tomorrow and it already feels crowded. The walled garden used to be a calm little spot, so now they call it “The Riddle” and some idiot sticks a sticker over your phone camera to try and make it feel special and it is a load of more of the same but with stoners working through the same old empty lines under the apple trees.
On a first night I’m a bit perplexed. It feels like the soul of this festival has been brutally consumed and regurgitated. So much alcohol branding. Shiny shiny BUY STUFF. I’m gonna reserve judgement. But lots of the woowoo stuff I brought is about cleansing, and it feels like there’s a parasitic infection here that needs some work. That’s how I can add value. Not the glowsticks. Just the glow.
Tomorrow I’ll stay straight and be there for my friend. Then I’ve got various mycological wonders that might have affected my thinking this evening in small quantities. Generators and electric noise and I know only too well how it all fits together. You don’t get the lights in the darkness without the fire and you can’t harness the fire without the artifice. And artifice comes in so many forms but it’s always artifice. Nature will win in the end, but some people make a lot of noise in this denial phase. This festival. I think we need festivals, living like we do. But I wonder if this is the festival we need now. There are QR codes on the wall of “The Riddle”. Everywhere I look there are hooks for the unwary. I brought cash but nobody takes it. “Isn’t it supposed to be cashless here?” “We’ll see how that works out when everything goes down.” Adapt or die. We need to adapt back to cash fast, generally. Japan never lost it and we can learn from them.
Anyway I’m likely not making any sense and that was a little one I grew myself years ago. Thanks pal.
AlBarclay 