Staying in touch with your many friends at large music festivals, such as Bonnaroo and Electric Forrest, can be a pain in the ass. You get service for one minute and then immediately lose it faster than you can say “Mimosa!”
Then there is the issue of your friends not having the same type of phone. Group Texts on iPhones aren’t compatible with Droids! No one has the same kind of phone! So Annoying!
What I recommend from personal experience is downloading the app, GroupMe. It can be used on multiple different smart phones AND it can be used with WiFi so even if your cell service provider fails you, you can try to connect to the festival WiFi and send messages, pictures, etc.
Now, there’s also these handy dandy things called walkie-talkies. I know they aren’t super popular yet, but I could see them blowing up in the festival world. You usually have more than one car and group of friends going to a festival, so get a pair of two-way radios and let the fun begin! You can get a set of Walkies that range for about 25 miles for $50 on Amazon.
Also, it’s fun to say things like “Over and Out” and “Roger That!”
Wan’t to know our way of finding friends in a large crowd at a festival? Snap a photo from your view point, and send it to your friend. They can see exactly what you are looking at from what direction, and find you easily that way. This has helped me at numerous festivals when crowds are large and there are multiple rage sticks to get confused by!
Have other festival communication tips? Leave a comment to let us know!