Festival vocabulary

Festival vocabulary

 
The festival world is so far from reality it even has its own lingo.  Newcomers to the scene may find themselves confused during conversations, so here is a vocabulary lesson to keep updated.

Heady: causing feelings of excitement or dizziness: having a powerful effect on your senses.

Shakedown street: every festival has one or more than one. Tthis refers to a row of vendors found usually within the campground.  When you arrive at a festival ready to shop just locate the local Shakedown for many festival goodies like clothes, glass, jewellery and things like that.

Miracle: in the festival world a “miracle” means something entirely different.  To “miracle” someone is to provide them with a ticket to the festival free of charge.  

Ground score: this refers to awesome unclaimed items you find on the ground around the campsite.  You may find that during a festival weekend you can ground score all kinds of fun items like money, sleeping bags, and who knows what.  The best time for a solid ground score harvest is if you hang around the festival grounds until the next morning after the shows are over.

 Wookie: the term wookie in this case refers to the dirty dread heads who have spent a large majority of their time frequenting shows and festivals.  They sometimes resemble homeless people because many of them live on the festival circuit and live the festy life all the year round.  If they are coherent they can give great advice and usually know where the best shows, food, and goodies are.  

Who’s got my … ?:  when walking around a festival you will certainly find characters mumbling “Who’s got my blah blah blah?”   Much like those who hold out signs claiming to need tickets, but may actually be selling tickets, this phrase is often used both ways.  If you are looking for something just mumble this phrase to anyone walking by and they will either ignore you or stop you if they have something to offer.

 Spunions: the spunions are usually the ones who get the after party tents set up in the campgrounds so that we have somewhere to go after the shows end and party all night!

Noodle-ing: this is a loosey-goosey form of dancing, often found at shows where there is a large crowd of up people.    This dance involves very little skill and basically just entails a small amount of swaying and flailing your arms around.  It is the easiest dance to do when you are really wasted but really feeling the music.  

 Trustafarians:  this is a loving term given to festy kids who were probably nicely dressed suburban children.  They gave up the cushy life and travel the festival scene, finding its music far more appealing than the upper middle class society of their youth.

Have a good show!: pretty self explanatory but this is a farewell greeting to any festival friends you meet along your adventures around the camp grounds.  It is a nice way to say goodbye to people you may never see again but who have made your weekend a little more fun.