Texas Eclipse Festival is the worst event I’ve ever tried to attend in my life. Not music festival, but event. EVER. To give context, I’ve been going to music festivals/concerts for over 20 years, and have attended 100s across 4 continents. I’ve attended all genres of music concerts, from tiny 500 people clubs, to 100,000+ people multiday events. I’ve seen the best and worst of what production companies have to offer, but I’ve never experienced anything like the nightmare that is Texas Eclipse.
After more than 6 hours from when we left our hotel to Texas Eclipse, we never made it inside. My wife, who goes by the online handle @Audiotism_Tanya, is a disabled raver. There are additional considerations that we need to take, but we rarely face issues. The EDM community is the most understanding and compassionate group of festival goers ever, and a majority of EDM production companies do their best to meet the high standard their ravers expect of them. While not all festivals hit the mark 100%, they at least have a coherent plan on how to assist those that require assistance. Texas Eclipse somehow failed both its able and disabled ravers at every opportunity it could.
After being misdirected into the camping line, waiting hours to find a turnaround point, being given wrong guidance on how to return where we need to go, told that the event didn’t start until Saturday, and having multiple employees inform us that “there is no ADA day parking,” we finally managed to find someone who truly cared. Event personnel nicknamed “Go-Go” was able to call us a shuttle that finally got us closer to the festival gates. I cannot justly put into words how upset I was at this point, or the rage I felt from being unseen and dismissed. He helped us get connected with the right people and shuttled to the ADA accommodations area.
I’ll start by saying that those running the ADA help area were the kings and queens of this event. They were so kind, understanding, and doing their best to help us manage an inexcusable situation. As we waited for a separate shuttle to the festival gates, since the vehicle we initially took was (from what we were told) unable to make it there due to unforgiving terrain, we had a chance to talk with ADA logistics organization contracted for the event. Art and Megan were two people we met from this group, their exhausted and apologetic eyes told us everything we needed to know. After chatting with them and being told that the terrain only gets worse the closer you get to the stages (and that the ADA platforms were never fully built), we made the decision to just go back to our vehicle and leave.
I have never been to an event as disgustingly disorganized as Texas Eclipse, and I hope to never again. I totally understand that not all events can be fully ADA friendly and that contracted employees have limited training on what an event provides, but this was beyond excuses. It was beyond understanding. It was negligence, pure and simple. So if you are at, or enroute to, Texas Eclipse, I wish you the best. I pray you are safe and somehow have a better experience than what was afforded to us. We never made it inside the festival gates and have no plans to try again tomorrow. If you, or anyone you know, has faced ADA (or any kind of) discrimination while attending the Texas Eclipse festival, you can join me in filing a report to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
If you would like to share your experience with us about Texas Eclipse, and we can post it to our site, we would love to hear from you. Please send us your stories/photos to submit@freshmusicfreaks.com so we can review.
Click here for an extended personal account, or click here for additional details on ADA issues that occurred at Texas Eclipse.
About Texas Eclipse
Texas Eclipse was produced by Disco Donnie Presents and Probably Nothing. The event is scheduled from 4/5/2024 to 4/9/2024 at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, Texas.
