With one of the greatest North America festivals coming right around the corner, it’s easy to get lost in the madness. Throughout the last eight years of attending Electric Zoo, I can attest that this festival is known for beautiful sunsets and amazing times. Below you’ll find a weekend checklist of the must do’s to help you guide your way through the concrete jungle this Labor Day weekend.
1. Catch A Sunset Set At Mainstage
This is always one of my favorite moments at EZOO every single year, nothing beats watching the New York City skyline turn from bright orange to black while grooving to your favorite beats. In the past few years, I was lucky enough to see Alesso, Benny Benassi, and Laidback Luke drop life-changing sets while day became night. One to surely not miss this year is Kaskade‘s sunset set on Friday. He is sure to put you right on the feels train with this one.
2. Check out The Festival Sponsors
EZOO is sponsored by various brand names, from alcohol to clothing. You’ll find a sponsor that will interest you, and you’ll usually walk out with tons of freebies! In 2015 Mike’s Hard gave sample cups of free alcohol, and let’s face it, who doesn’t love free booze? You’ll find out about new brands as well, and see if it fits into your lifestyle. Nada to lose and freebies to gain! Sign us up for that!
3. Roam the festival alone
Are friends annoying you? Schedule conflicts? Tell your friends the usual “I’ll be right back” and roam the festival grounds alone for a bit. I am guilty of doing this plenty of times and it usually works out well. In my opinion, nothing is worse than being at a stage watching an artist you love and your crew or friends are just not into it. Make a meetup point just in case so you don’t lose your friends for the entire day, but a few hours alone may do all your festival experiences justice. Get lost in the festival sauce and soak up some much-needed solo roaming time. I promise you’ll make new friends along the way!
4. Ditch Your Schedule
Ever have your entire festival day planned out to the very last minute and then suddenly you realize the artist you’re watching isn’t doing it for you? This happens to everyone a lot more often than anyone will probably admit! No worries, this is the moment you ditch your entire planned day and #yolo it. Check out stages and artists you haven’t seen before, meet up with those strangers online you’ve been dying to meet, anything in between! Do whatever your gut tells you to do and just wing it, usually the best sets are from artists you have no clue about and will blow you away. Feel free to check out our previous EZOO articles if you need help with finding out about some low key acts you should be seeing, they’re freaking great!
5. Dress To Express
While I’m quite basic when it comes to festival attire, I’ve always been big on people expressing themselves through fashion at festivals. To me, festivals are an escape from reality and this is the perfect place to let it all out, be free, and show your style off on the dance floor. While we’re close to the festival date, sites like Amazon have the perfect last-minute outfits you’re looking for… worst-case scenario you can always get glitter last minute and sparkle up. Feel free to express yo self.
6. Live In The Moment
I cannot express this one enough, please put your phone away and don’t record the entire set! A good amount of sets end up online anyway via Soundcloud or Mixcloud and you’ll miss some of the best moments of the festival by looking at your phone. It’s cool to take videos and photos of course, but be mindful of how long you’re recording for and enjoy the moment for what it is because you only get it once! It’s always nice to have photos to remember your weekend, but don’t ruin other peoples festival experience by trying to get your IG flex shot. We’re all in this together.
I hope this checklist was helpful for everyone reading this, prepare yourself as we head back to Randall Islands for another round of what will be an unforgettable EZOO experience! See you all this weekend!
