Festival Season Kick-off – ‘Rookie Errors’ to avoid this weekend at Rebirth.

Only ravers can understand how it feels to wake up on a mildly warm Saturday morning, knowing that the moment they’ve waited for since last September has finally arrived! After leaping out of bed at lightning speed, they proceed to shower (depending on one’s personal hygiene), pick out the perfect outfit to make a statement with and fuel up on food (and possibly beer) before launching themselves full-speed at the activities ahead…

Yes, I’m indeed talking about the grand kick-off to the long-awaited festival season!

In a matter of hours, Raamse Akkers in Haaren will be transformed from deserted terrain into a lively weekend of wildness as partygoers celebrate the very first Hard Dance festival of the season, Rebirth. This two-day extravaganza boasts thousands of excited souls who are eager to party harder than the cooked cunts you see in Thunderdome 96’ footage.

There’s something unique about the whole ‘first festival of the season’ concept; I mean, the people at Rebirth are absolutely ruthless! Last year I saw one dude who was so turnt that he was literally asleep… I probably shouldn’t be laughing at this guy’s misfortune, however I find it really hard not to.

Anyway, this leads me to my main point. Despite being extremely excited for this colossal kick-off, it’s easy for ravers to get a little too overexcited, just like the turnt guy from last year who probably missed out on a good 5 hours of the festival. With that being said, I’m going to highlight a couple of classic ‘rookie errors’ that ravers make in the initial weeks of festival season and tell you how to avoid them.

– Getting so overexcited that you ‘accidentally’ eat a handful of pills

Really, I must stress this. Nobody likes a ‘munted cunt’ at 1PM. Seriously, you don’t want to be that loose unit wandering through the crowd begging people for chewing gum before the festival has properly began; mind you, your friends will also be extremely pissed off if you happen to get overly fucked up and have to sit down for the initial hours of the festival. So please, pace yourself and most importantly, try not to die. Another thing I must mention is that it’s important to maintain your stamina over the weekend and over the whole season; stay healthy and try to not take too many drugs.

– It’s ‘summer,’ so I’m not going to wear any clothes

This is something I see quite a lot during the early stages of festival season. Despite it officially being spring, the temperature is still around 14 degrees in the daytime, dropping to as little as 8 degrees before midnight, so girls, I know you want to look ‘hot’ but please wear something substantial and guys, please wear a shirt or at least bring one with you. It may be hot inside of that tent, but as soon as you walk outside you’ll be whipped by that unpleasant crisp coldness.

– “I trust that a magical unicorn will bring me home…”

Okay, being the wildly unorganised person I am, I have learned this lesson the hard way and embarrassingly enough, I have learnt it more than once. Rebirth Festival is one of the easier festivals to get to by public transport; the location is a short bus ride from Tilburg station, however you have to allocate enough time to not miss the last bus or train. Sorry to break it to you, but despite your drunken or cooked state, the magical unicorn is very unreliable and will probably not drop you off safely to your bed. Figuring out a way home in advance is a good solution and sticking to that plan will ensure that you arrive home and aren’t left considering walking home from Haaren.

– “I don’t need to rest my legs… or eat… or drink anything…”

Don’t say that I didn’t warn you… At the time, dancing for 12 hours straight with no food, drink or sitting breaks may seem like a fantastic idea, however you will probably want to kill yourself the following day. It’s only logical to take a few short breaks throughout the festival to ensure that your muscles and joints will remain in prime state. If you don’t want to miss out on any action, find a little spot on the grass and rest your legs whilst still enjoying the music. Something else that I must mention is that despite not feeling hungry or thirsty, dancing all day really takes it out of you, so try to at least eat or drink something with sugars in it.

– Spending your whole month’s pay in one day

This is one that I see way too often and I still cannot fathom how an individual is capable of spending 500 euro’s in one day. It’s totally okay to shout your friends a few drinks, but don’t buy one for every person in the crowd, otherwise you’ll literally be eating rice (and rice only) for the next month. A little budgeting tip that I like to do is allocate enough cash for the day and leave the bank card at home. You’ll wake up the next day feeling a whole lot better knowing you didn’t spend next month’s rent on beer.

– Overestimating your ability to ‘bender’

Festival season is so exciting, but that doesn’t mean that all caution should be thrown into the wind. Bendering may seem like a great idea whilst you’re mid-peak on Saturday afternoon; however once the early hours of Sunday morning roll around and you are tripping kitties, it’s probably a good idea to get some sleep before partying again. Sleep is not a shameful activity, neither is taking a shower. Oh by the way, please remember to shower.

There’s a few classic rookie errors that we’ve all probably made before! On behalf of the Alive At Night team, we’d like to wish you all a fantastic festival season kick-off at this years’ edition of Rebirth! Party hard, stay safe and stay hydrated!