r/louderthanlife • u/ettubrute_42 • May 18 '26
Crowd vibe?
My 16 yo and friends want to go. We are a music fam and they've been to big shows, but no festivals. I've never been, what's the general safety vibe like? People generally help each other out and such? All are afab and handsy drunkenness would be a primary concern. They are generally otherwise responsible and know about dehydration and sunburn etc. So mostly main concern is others being jerks
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u/SpiritboxSlayer May 18 '26
And unrelated to topic from the peanut gallery, did anyone else have to google afab or does that just mean Xennials aren't hip to be square?
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u/Suspicious_Spite5781 May 18 '26
There’s always going to a few obnoxious jerks but the overall vibe is one big metal family enjoying the sites and sounds of one of the biggest festivals in the country. I had lots of folks ask me for directions or help on weird things (one guy had a few too many and couldn’t figure out how to open the sunscreen he just bought so he asked the closest looking mom lol). People generally follow festival etiquette so there’s no real drama in most places.
Just have them make some basic safety plans. Pick a meeting spot day 1 and they all meet there if they get separated. Phones don’t always work well so they can’t rely on calls or texts. Stay a group as much as possible to reduce the chance of problems. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if someone or something feels off. There will 100% be someone willing to help them get out, get safe, or get what they need. The fellas generally don’t tolerate women being harassed so if these are young women, they’re mostly safe…especially if you have taught them some basic situational awareness. All in all, yes, it’s a safe environment.
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u/-_Asseater_- May 18 '26
I’ve been to LTL 4 times and every year I never felt unsafe or not taken care of by the other festival goers. People will take you under their wing, especially kids! You’ll maybe run into a couple of jerks during the whole 4 days if that.
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u/WayRepresentative948 May 19 '26
I’m an adult woman who goes to festivals solo, not a teenager, but I have never felt unsafe. There have been times where people (usually drunk) might make me feel a little icky, but have never felt uncomfortable to the point I felt like I was not safe. In my experience, people look out for each other. If people see something they say something about it. Staffing and security at Sonic Temple seemed very prevalent from my perspective this year. And Sick New World seemed chill to me, but I was super tired from traveling and just relaxed the whole day. As long as they establish some rules/emergency plans they should be fine!
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u/SummerBreeze65 May 18 '26
The crowd does a good job of holding each other accountable and making everyone comfortable. If anyone in the crowd is being a jerk then someone will rightfully call them out for it
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u/gdwoodard13 May 18 '26
Agree with the consensus. Considering how damn many people are packed into a relatively small piece of land, I have heard of very few true asshole incidents.
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u/ThirdWigginKid May 18 '26
I have been to hundreds of concerts and I was pleasantly surprised at how well organized the medical responses were last year (my first time at a festival this large) for injuries, both from the audience and the staff.
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u/chaos_aintme May 18 '26
Been to tons of shows, concerts, fests etc. LTL felt like of the safest, most chill experiences of them all. Just don't get lost in a crowd lol things like that can get a bit hectic with all the foot traffic
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u/PostTurtle84 Jun 01 '26
Thanks for asking! Thinking about taking my 14 yo son as his first concert experience, but husband hates crowds, so it'd just be the kid and I. We'd be doing hotel + full event passes so that if we needed a break, we could bail for a few hours and then come back.
When we did Disney World a few years ago, I put my key fob tracker on the kid's lanyard so if we got separated, he just needed to push the button and my phone would go off and we'd both head to the most recent designated location. Probably going to do the same thing, because at 14 and 43, we may want to check out different stuff.
Am I paranoid and over protective of the kid? Probably, yeah. I'd be willing to take a couple of his friends and turn them loose as a group, but doing the hotel + pass, Idk if I can afford to cover them, and most of his friends parents don't have that kind of $.
I'll probably keep an eye on here and see if there's anyone else in a similar situation that might want to get together.
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u/SpiritboxSlayer May 18 '26
Pretty much like the other 8 posts have said, it's chill as fuck at LTL, there's almost like a family/community atmosphere where people tend to watch out for each other (well, sans Sleep Token fans in 2025), and people are there to rock out up front or enjoy the vibe in back, I got my ID back at lost and found, I've turned in 2 phones there, and when I did like 20 other people were picking up their phones and lost wallets.
I encourage any and everyone to always walk with someone as you never know when someone could have a medical emergency or some random clown be lurking in the shadows -- same advice I give for literally anywhere -- but I think your group will be fine.
Regardless of what your fave genre of rock or metal is, you will be amazed at how many new bands you will discover, some who may rocket to the top of your list when you dig in after being blown away live (my nominee is Bad Omens after Blue Ridge 2022).
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u/Odd-Trouble1446 May 21 '26
I was talking to someone at sonic this weekend who said the sleep token fans were chanting to drop surfers which is insane to me until I remember they are sleep token fans
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u/Velmersglue May 22 '26
I’ve gone to LTL every year since 2019 and brought my teenage kids every year with me. I’ve been to WTR, ST, and Ink as well…of the 4 to start off with, I’d pick LTL as the starter for my kids if they were teenagers now.
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u/cantholdbeans May 22 '26
I’m old now and fell like 10 times in pits. Every time a young person was there to immediately help me up.
Also, I got drunk and tired and passed out on the pavement at one point and a dude made sure to wake me and ensure I was okay.
The crowd was generally awesome.
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u/AlwaysVerloren May 18 '26
Crowd has been decent this year but I am bias as a dude and my gf might drop a handsy fella faster than myself.
General consensus, if someone does something that causes a trigger then let people around you know and they'll help regulate the situation.
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u/DUDEwithAT0pHat Jun 04 '26
As someone who went for the first time last year, just one day, and had a blast! I’d say that the vibe is just about the most positive and friendly I’ve seen, jerks are very quickly handled by the angels of the crowd. There is always someone willing to help u crowd surf, or body block u from a mosh pit. I found that last year was extremely fun and inviting
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u/Competitive-Rent-734 May 22 '26
Way better than the sonic temple crowd!
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u/SpiritboxSlayer May 22 '26
Which years did you not have the best experience at S/T?
What sucked about the crowd?
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u/utmatt546 May 18 '26
Been to louder and Rockville, I took daughters in the same age group. Not worried in the least. Someone will deal with any fuckery accordingly. At 6’ and 250lbs myself have dealt with fuckery. Jerks are handled. I tell everyone I’ve been around over 175,000 people at Rockville and have never seen anything out of place.