There’s nothing worse than arriving at a music festival unprepared and ill-equipped.

In some cases, forgetting even the simplest of moshpit must-haves can mean the difference between a seamless festival experience or, as evidenced by my 2019 Splendour trip, going tent-less for three whole days.

While I’ve since learnt the importance of pre-festival list-making (tents now sit at the top), even the most attentive revellers can sometimes overlook the essentials, be it straightforward necessities like water or a shirt (the latter is sometimes optional) or more experience-based items like a paper fan or an easily-identifiable doof stick. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwGypWTrYY

Sydney indie-rock duo Lime Cordiale know all too well the dangers of an incomplete festival arsenal, both as performers and as attendees. Making sure no concert-goer suffers my chilly Splendour fate again, they’ve compiled their top three fezzie essentials in the lead-up to their own 2022 festival, The Squeeze.

Added-to by fellow lineup additions Teenage Dads, The VANNS, merci, mercy and Client Liaison, the list is in itself a must-have before any music event, and ensures that when The Squeeze kicks off in WA in April, it’ll be home to the most well-equipped moshpit in history.

Catch all of The Squeeze artists’ festival essentials below, and head here to buy presale and general public tickets on December 1st and 3rd respectively. 

Lime Cordiale

Stainless steel water bottle.
You don’t want to spend eight bucks for a bottle of water, and it’s no good for the environment. You’ll be getting hot and sweaty so take a little canvas bag and pack your own water bottle. OK, so maybe the flask stuffed down your pants counts as two water bottles.

Hat, headpiece or haircut.
An elaborate headpiece will help your friends find you and if they don’t, it might make you find some new ones. It needs to be unique, unlike a sweatband or a plastic cowboy hat, and you better not be considering a feathered head-dress. A wig can get a bunch of attention but you’ll need a good hat to fit your head. So why not go the whole 9 yards and get your friends to cut and dye at pre-drinks?

Pocket-sized temperature stabiliser.
Summer festivals can get steamy, so we recommend waving a paper fan at your face whilst in line for a drink. During Winter, a pair of fingerless gloves will keep your fingers attached with an icy beer in your hand.

Client Liaison

Sunscreen.
There’s just no getting around it. Too much sun exposure will singlehandedly ruin your day.

No jumper.
Hot in the day and cold in the night? Don’t lug a jumper or coat around all day when it’s hot, rather simply buy some band merch in the evening if it gets cold

Glow sticks.
If you wanna stand out, there’s no better way than to bust out the all-time classic glow stick. They remain a trustworthy mood elevator and also provide a great source of light when your phone runs out of battery.

VANNS

Water
This is a lesson I’ve learnt the hard way. It doesn’t matter how much the environment you’re in is conducive to a good time, if you’re dehydrated, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Beach ball
I have no idea who brings gigantic oversize beach balls to festivals, but kudos to them for gifting the festival crowd another element of fun. Perhaps it’s the fact that nobody really knows where they came from that makes them so entertaining.

Timetable
Wandering around a festival with no idea who’s on, at what time, and on what stage with no real answer in sight can get pretty confusing pretty quickly. A timetable will also help you plan for the run at the end of a set to get in a good position at another stage for the next set you want to see.

merci, mercy

Boyfriend.
My main essential for a festival is my boyfriend. He acts as a personal assistant, rolling my cigs, pouring me drinks and providing me with endless support and cuddles.

Cigarettes.
My second essential is my cigarettes. They comfort me before and after a show when I don’t know what I should be doing.

Clothing.
Clothing is the third and final essential. It may seem silly but if you’re not wearing an outfit you feel good in how are you going to do your best? My mum most of the time doesn’t like what I wear and that’s how I know I’m doing it well.

Teenage Dads

$4000.
For snacks.

Guinness Book of World Records 2006
Great book. Has a lot of good records in it like the Lizard Man. It’s nice to see how far we have come with record books.

Huffy Green Machine
In case we have some spare time to cut sick, this is what we’d go for.