I am really after going tho am a bit unsure about heading off there alone as I am not sure what to expect and want to be prepared!!!
I'm sorry I missed the part about you going alone when I first replied to your post, Happybunny. Reading it again, i'm sure that's a particular concern for you...
I don't know about other countries, but here in England the major music festivals i've been to aren't really the sorts of places to go to alone. Other than the fact that it's so much more fun with others, the festivals attract a lot of criminal interest, so there's safety in numbers, and it helps you to relax a lot knowing your friends are also keeping an eye on your tent when you're not there etc.
I think the only way i'd ever go to a music festival by myself in England is if I lived right by it, and could get back to my own bed at the end of the day.
At
Fuji Rock I would have no such concerns. Sure, there may be a few mischievous folk there, but it's a completely different atmosphere from the crazy hedonism in the UK. Heck, I like things pretty civilised myself, but I found it almost
too sedate there, very un-rock'n'roll!!
One evening over the weekend stands out in my memory particularly - Massive Attack (headliners I think). There was not only no big queue at the beer tent, there wasn't anyone buying much at all! A whole beer tent all to (st)one's self!!
And very few people were even dancing!
Another example of the contrast with the UK: lots of people left their bags behind while they went off to other areas. You definitely don't do that in England! At one point we left our stuff (nothing really valuable, of course, but it still would've been very inconvenient to have it pilfered) on a little hill. When we came back a few hours later, there was a gig happening
around our bags, and the crowd were all carefully keeping a little space round them - amazing!
So I definitely wouldn't worry about going alone, as long as you take sensible precautions. One thing I would say is that people weren't especially friendly, so you'd probably have to make the effort to meet some fun folk.
Hope that helps a little, and good luck! Please feel free to post any more questions, and I hope some others will chip in with their experiences too.
mos
