How to Lose Yourself in a Magic Reality at Music Festivals

When you decide to pack your stuff and temporarily move to a music festival camp, leaving behind social conventions and responsibilities, there’s a crucial subconscious reason that makes you do it.

It seems to be a mysterious need of Magic in your life, beyond the urge to travel and change the everyday routine setup, to reach a state of happiness through dancing and listening to the music you love, or to just be with friends and loved ones in a new place.

Fairies with their bike caravan at ‘BoomTown Fair’ Festival

Though many unfairly labeled this needy feeling as being Escapist, scientific research proves it’s more than that: deeply positive emotions are achieved when you attend music festivals and  you do role-playing or connect with others through dance. Engaging in your deepest fantasies and switching identity is not all about running from reality.

As Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, puts it - it is a way to subjectively achieve the PERMA - Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and finally, Achievement.

Specialist’s final diagnosis: good music and festival interactions improve quality of life by actualising human potential (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)*.

But what are the best places to experience it?

Join us on a magical journey through 5 European Music Festivals that offer the perfect atmosphere to challenge your ultimate realities and habits:   

1. BoomTown Fair (Winchester, UK) /  10 - 13 August 2017

In this pop-up mega-festival-city with a capacity of around 60,000 people and 23 main stage areas, it will be easy to find plenty of fellow utopian festival-goers.

Dressing-up in fictional characters, such as clowns, fairies or mythical creatures is as casual as business suits inside a corporation’s office building.  

The good news is that - just as in ‘real life’- people are acting accordingly, getting so well in the skin of their character you won’t even say they ever had to deal with modern city life as you know it.

Role-playing is the key to self-knowledge and expression, and has established as the main custom for this epic 7 year old British music festival.

The magic arsenal includes tons of local glitter stations, amazing performers, traders, entertainers or general vibe makers, ginormous stages depicting strange creatures and plenty of live acts.

Exciting? Then don’t forget a brief reality check before you step in this 3 day-long modern La La Land: The Lineups are to be released early 2017, but early bird tickets are almost sold out! Find out more about the ticket schemes here and book your own now.

2. BODY & SOUL - (Ballinlough Castle, IRELAND) / 23 - 25 June 2017

Starting off as a community lifestyle idea, shaped and coloured by festivals like Burning Man, the Irish Body&Soul carves an alternative world for artists, musicians and like-minded people to get together, to share ideas and stories that result in a unique and indescribable magic – an atmosphere so often lost in generic festivals and productions.

Voted as ’Best Small Festival 2011′ at the Irish Festival Awards, Body&Soul is the annual Summer Solstice Weekend playground for creative people sharing a mutual love of art, music, performance and partying.

Placed in an amazing setting with a XV century walled garden, it showcases a brilliant line up, secret hideaways and glittering late night discos in the woodlands, an inspirational art trail, spoken word and debate, a magnificent masquerade ball, culinary feasts, steaming hot tubs and seaweed baths.

It appeals to both fans of electronic music as to nature lovers, to families with young kids as to the 30 somethings that like the finer things in life, to foodies as to folkies, funksters as to late night revellers.

If you have artistic skills or simply a great idea to put in practice at next year’s edition, you can get involved and participate with your project here.

This will also guarantee free access for you! Regular tickets can be purchased here.

3. THE TIPI FIELD at GLASTONBURY ( UK, Pilton) / 21 - 25 June 2017

Photo via Glastonbury

If your fantasy wish is to go tribal, this is the one place to fulfill it. The Tipi Field at Glastonbury amazes festival-goers every year with its neo-hippie, native american and mystic mix.

The area became iconic for the festival due to authentic experiences people lived here, along with the original British hippies that still come every year to celebrate the ‘going back to the roots’ movement.

The venue not to miss in the Tipi Field is Ancient Futures, with a programme of inspirational music and performances, celebrating traditions from around the globe.

Dance into the night with vibrant roots, folk and global fusion! Tipi Field offers a great retreat from the main stages. A place where you can rekindle your festival spirit and remember the magic that it is all about.  

4. Mysteryland - Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands / 27 - 28 August 2017

The longest running dance festival in the world, the Dutch Mysteryland has the kind of magic appealing for very energetic dancer and visual tripper.

But it’s also a fairly good place for dreamers and changers concerned about the Planet’s sustainability.

Photo via Mysteryland’s Official Facebook Page

You can easily teleport yourself into a new dimensional reality by taking a walk through art installations festival areas, or by living in one of the famous camps, such as the Holy Ground.

Fun intertwined with responsibility for the Nature is the magical recipe for this amazing music festival, where you will probably meet lots of like-minded people.

Early bird ticket sales for 2017 edition will start on the 28th of February at 10:00 AM CET.

5. PSYCHEDELIC CIRCUS - Glaisin, Germany / 1 - 5 June 2017

You probably didn’t know about this small German music festival, but here’s why it worths your attention: as the name says it, it’s a deep psychedelic experience created near the beautiful forest landscape, where you might experience gnomes or enchanted fairies visions.

If you’re into psytrance and dark psy electronic music, you know what we’re talking about.

The deco, the jugglers and the flashy moving light installations you’ll overload your eyes with, are part of the set up.

Lots of BPM’s and dancing sleepless hours await you. And of course, a neo-circus vibe that gets you through all the emotional phases you can think of.

Psychedelic Circus is very underground and has a history of more than 15 years on the scene, since its first edition in 1999.

It can get quite anarchistic and post-apocalyptic sometimes, so if you like this sci-fi scenario and way of self-expression, you will definitely charge your batteries there!

 

:: Book your tickets for the next edition ::

Hope you enjoyed our magical music festival journey. Do you have your own suggestions and stories to tell? Contact us on our Facebook page and drop a few magic lines!

___________ 

References -  * Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14 ; 

Seligman, M. E. P. Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well- being. 2011, New York: Simon & Schuster