Ten miles of darkness and 2000 cars separated us from the festival we had only dreamt about. As we stared forward, excited and anxious, there was a faint flicker towards the sky and then the familiar explosion of fireworks in the distance. A roar ripped through the desert from the cars around us. Indian chiefs and their topless girlfriends yelled and cheered out their windows, as packs of neon spattered fur boots ran by on foot. This was the scene I had heard so much about. The one that would save dance music events
The bad news: Last year the festival was at Bicentennial Park, a significantly smaller venue than this year’s Bayfront Park. There was little to no cellphone connection available, probably because I was sandwiched in a mass of 100,000+ people. I can’t speak for the new venue’s cellphone abilities, but with an additional 50,000 people, I’m assuming the same problem will present itself. Your best bet is to set up sporadic meeting spots amongst your friends throughout the day, in case someone in your group gets separated.