OPINION: VOLUNTEERING AT FESTIVALS - IS IT WORTH IT?

Thinking of volunteering at a festival but unsure if it’s for you? VOCAL GIRLS’ writer Amber Lashley has rounded up the highs and lows of her experience to help you decide if the juice is worth the squeeze!

Now that the UK is (hopefully) starting to come out the other side of COVID-19, we are finally seeing the return of live events. With festivals selling out so quickly this summer, the comeback is likely to have many of you thinking about what festivals to attend in 2022, and what options there are to enjoy yourself as much as possible after our long wait. Among these options is volunteering at festivals—which I have done twice, both at Boomtown 2019 and Latitude 2021. 

Volunteering can be a really great option for those who can’t afford to attend every festival they want to go to, for those going alone who want to make friends, or for anyone just wanting to try something different. It can be hard to know whether this would be a good fit for you especially if you’ve never done anything like it before, so let’s explore the highs and lows!

So, what are the drawbacks?

Missing performances:

One of the downsides of volunteering are the shift times themselves, as it's more than likely that you’ll miss a performance that you wanted to see. I ended up missing performances from artists like Lauryn Hill, Damon Albarn, and Slowthai. Even though I knew this was inevitable, it was still gut-wrenching to be so close to these sets yet so far away. 

Tedious shifts:

The work itself can be pretty tedious...At both festivals I was a ‘steward’: Boomtown had me at the workers' entrance for three 8-hour shifts across the festival, and at Latitude we instead did two 6-hour shifts (dressed as fairies) during the festival and then one 8-hour shift the following Monday. Although being dressed up and being around the music helped my shifts at Latitude go a lot more quickly, we still hit many walls of boredom, so it can really be dependent on the nature of the shifts and their patterns.

Lack of sleep:

Arguably the biggest issue people face when volunteering is tiredness. Most people who volunteer at festivals do so to get a free ticket—which is what I did—so when I had free time, I would go and make the most out of the festival. This meant I was almost only ever on shift or in the arena, so if you don’t have an unexplained energy reserve, or you're someone who can’t enjoy themselves when tired, you may find it hard to get a good balance of fun festival time, work and rest in these roles.

And what about the positives?

Making new friends: 

One of the best parts is meeting new friends! Similar to attending a festival, you have the opportunity to meet like-minded people and make loads of new pals, and this feels especially easy because you already share a common ground with everyone else you’re volunteering with. This also means that if you’re volunteering alone, it’s very likely that you’ll meet some good people that you can spend your time with. 

The live music:

Another obvious upside of working at a festival are all the acts you get to see in your free time - even though you miss a few, you can still see some amazing sets. I was able to see acts like Wolf Alice, Lynks, Greentea Peng, Sorry, and Pozi; when you finally get time to join in it’s a great feeling!

Better facilities:

As an employee at a festival you also get to stay in a separate campsite. With this, comes the luxury of a quieter camp, (slightly) cleaner toilets with shorter queues, and also feeling safer as you’re separate from everyone else. 

Free festival!

Personally, volunteering was also good for me because I got a free ticket. I'm a student so can’t always afford to spend upwards of £400 on a festival ticket, travel, and food. A free ticket was enough for me to give this method a go and it also meant that I could’ve afforded to do multiple festivals in one summer without struggling too much.

So what’s the verdict?

Ultimately, I would recommend volunteering at festivals. If, like me, you find yourself wanting to go to more than one festival, this can help you afford that and for me, the three shifts were a small price to pay for a free ticket! I did however see some people struggle to enjoy themselves through the tiredness and boredom in the shifts. I would say that if you love festivals and live music and for some reason can’t go as a regular ticket holder, volunteering is a great alternative and is worth trying - you may even fall in love with it. I have met many people who volunteer at a handful of festivals each year and in doing so have made a tight circle of friends and some great memories, so if you’re curious, there's no harm in giving it a go!