In a not so surprising development, it appears that the majority of Festival-Goers attend events not for a star-studded lineup but for an insane party environment. According to a MSN UK poll, which polled 2,000 concert goers, less than half of festival attendees are there simply to listen to music; a meager 45% of attendees reported going to a festival to actually listen to the artists they paid great deals of money to see.
It seems that raging is the primary motivation for the majority of people, with 25% admitting to having sex with a stranger and 21% admitting to taking some form of drug. I actually expected the number of drug users to far exceed just shy of a quarter… Hell I’ve attended festivals where that number seemed to be hovering near a solid 100%. More amusingly though 13% admitted to getting into a physical fight, (this number, I can sadly believe). 
Let’s level for a moment, festivals are a great environment to let loose and escape the monotony of daily life. Sober raving for this reason is an incredibly uncommon phenomenon but I honestly thought people were motivated by the music and artists as well. Perhaps EDM is the end all be all of music to get obliterated and lose your mind to. After all, George McKay a Professor of Cultural Studies at Salford University, confirmed this to NME, saying “Music festivals continue to be places where we can escape reality and subvert the rules—whatever age we happen to be.”
So rage on you crazy people, but remember, know your limits and please for the love of God can we work on getting that fight number down to zero. Party how you want, but be responsible… Our EDM can be exemplary party music, so party on you crazy people.
Your sample is of 2000 people from the UK. You should change your headline to “according to a small study more than half of the sample group from the UK go to festivals for the party – not the music.” Jackass.
Your sample is of 2000 people from the UK. You should change your headline to “according to a small study more than half of the sample group from the UK go to festivals for the party – not the music.” Jackass.
It honestly pisses me off when I find out that people go to festivals for that reason. They are taking away tickets from people who actually want to see the artists. Leave the tickets for the fans! Find some other venue to get high!
PS – You should do a study at Ultra Music Festival. I bet the stats would be very different.
Since when does raging get defined as taking drugs? Raging is dancing your ass off.. end of story.
seriously people are fucking up edm shows
Hey who’s Molly she must be popular because like 4 dudes asked if I seem her
2000 people is a really small sample. Also I have seen few fights but it would be nice if less people were shoving and just being asses ad were really there for the music and experience combo.
No one will EVER ruin electronic music for me. I was here before and I’ll be here after this mad rush of “fans”. Rage on, my friends. And by “rage” I mean dance. Dance HARD.
No one will EVER ruin electronic music for me. I was here before and I’ll be here after this mad rush of “fans”. Rage on, my friends. And by “rage” I mean dance. Dance HARD.
You clearly don’t know how studies work.
You clearly don’t know how studies work.
Lol. Jesus it’s only what the old school cats such as myself have been saying since this new generation of fans entered our scene. You like the music, but you’re more in it for the scene. What you fail to realize is the music IS the scene.
Lol. Jesus it’s only what the old school cats such as myself have been saying since this new generation of fans entered our scene. You like the music, but you’re more in it for the scene. What you fail to realize is the music IS the scene.
what if we want to go to the festival to do that but also really want to see the artists
Jaime Gonzalez do you remember when raves were called “raves”….. peppridge farm remembers 🙁
This is sort of disgraceful, what a waste of a ticket that could of been used for a die hard fan of someone from the lineup.
Author here… Stats work in a fun way where we can apply far reaching significance without having to poll every last festival goer. Also, I don’t make the news I just report it. 🙂
How is 21% more than half?
That’s because the stats weren’t taken from psytrance festivals.
That’s because the stats weren’t taken from psytrance festivals.
2,000 individuals where surveyed…that mean less 1% or.57% out of say the audience at EDC or ULTRA. This guy clearly is apart of that percentage and doesn’t truly understand the real reason that we travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to come together as a community and celebrate the environment we are blessed to be in. Articles like this are bringing a terrible reputation to the EDM culture especially when they are being written by a baboon who doesn’t partake in it. Try and survey a reputable number of festival goers, one that actually pertains to the majority not minority. Then come back and let’s see what you have to say…”SO RAGE ON”….JACKASS!
This is absolute garbage. Whatever you’re angry about, you don’t need to trash the exact scene you work in. Do some better research and get that stick out of your ass.
Woah. The wording in this article and the wording in the poll itself is sketchy. If someone were to ask me why I go to festivals, I wouldn’t say the music, I would say the environment. I go to festivals to enjoy the company of people who are interested in the same music I am, to connect with people I would never have the chance to meet, and to connect with the friends I bring along. Of course the music is a huge part of it, and a main reason for going, but don’t make it out to seem that everyone goes for the drugs. That’s complete bullshit..
Yes I do. You clearly don’t know how geography, age groups, gender and many other variables play into the results of studies. That’s like sampling a group of African people on their thoughts about lions and then making a statement. “Turns out everyone hates lions encroaching on their property.” You fucking twat.
Haha I love stats
This is a silly headline and conclusion to the data. This is quite clearly implying it is one or the other, which of course, is nonsense.
Simply because one takes drugs at the event does not mean the event is being used as a mere backdrop to the drug taking. Many, and I would suppose, most of the people taking drugs at these events would tell you that they are doing it to enhance the enjoyment of the music, dancing and social environment, rather than using it to enhance the effects of the drugs.
If we wanted to get even more in-depth in the psychology of it, my theory would be that many of the people who enjoy the music and want to go see it live, are otherwise, uncomfortable in such large-scale social interactions, and thus, use drugs and alcohol, as a crutch or coping tool to ease that. The most popular drug at such events, as we all know, is MDMA, which has exactly this effect as its main attraction.
If that proves true, than these effects, of course, would see a rise in numbers correlating with the downward trends of social interactions in the information age.