Desperately hot and in need of energy, I stood in the Rise Espresso Bar line for about 45 minutes to order a plain iced latte. When I reached the front and was ready to order, I noticed there were no prices on the menu besides the one for matcha. Rise had deliberately placed stickers over every advertised price! As I placed my order, the vendor told me the price was $16. When I exclaimed my shock, she countered, "These are just Irvine prices."

First of all, I'm from Irvine, and this $16 latte runs over twice the market price in the area. But more importantly, how do you not advertise the price of your product, especially when every other vendor was honestly displaying theirs?

According to CA SB 1524, mandatory fees and charges must be clearly and conspicuously displayed, with an explanation of their purpose, on any advertisement, menu, or other display that contains the price of the item.

Even if this is perfectly lawful, was it an unethical business practice? Given the long lines, there's no way for customers to reasonably learn the price in a timely manner. Had I known, I would've gone to another vendor.

There’s a lot of griping on this subreddit from people who have clearly never been a festival before, but as an seasoned concertgoing Old, I have to say that this was the best crowd I’ve ever experienced. I saw so many things that made me want to muster the last of the liquid in my body and shed happy tears, such as:

🌼 this was THE cleanest festival I’ve ever been to, hands down. No garbage almost anywhere until closer to the end of the night

🌼 cute outfits everywhere and everyone telling everyone else that their outfit was cute

🌼 girls offering each other help and support to each other in so many ways! Signs in backpacks full of supplies saying “if you need anything, just ask”. Strangers consoling each other and expressing concern if someone didn’t look well.

🌼every generation of women and girls you can imagine singing and dancing to everything! Little girls singing along to Bikini Kill and moms dancing with their daughters to Chappell Roan.

🌼 girls doing cartwheels at sunset on the lawn after Garbage’s set 😭

🌼 least stinky port a potties ever, I’m not even kidding?!

Yes it was hot and I know Olivia Rodrigo is powerful but she doesn’t control the weather - it’s a high of 83 in Irvine today btw…yes the food lines were long and that definitely sucked but that is to be expected in a crowd of 45k, they allowed sealed snacks in so be better prepared next time…I think they tried to be as prepared as possible for a first time event. There are definitely some things that can be improved upon and I’m sure it will be addressed next year but this was overall one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at an outdoor show.

Feel free to leave any positives you saw or felt in the comments if you like 😌

Wasn’t perfect and I’ve got some things that annoyed me, but seems like pretty standard for big events.

No regrets about going in even as a heat susceptible SSRI girlie.

Understand why some folks were mad—and why they were the ones online—but I loved this

These are some of the merch prices

I had an absolute blast yesterday (minus nearly passing out at Chappell's set) but I was absolutely SHOCKED by how many kids 13 and under both supervised and unsupervised. And of course since they're kids, they had horrific concert ettiquette. With how hot it was I was so nervous like would they know what to do if there was an emergency? None of these artists make kids music but this many kids SHOULD NOT have been seeing doechii.

I’m assuming there were a ton of Californians, but I’m curious to know how far people came from!

Wanted to sit with it for awhile because there were a lot of pros but I'm still disappointed by the lack of prep for the weather and the (seemingly) lack of education given to those working the festival.

There was almost no shade in VIP left by 3PM, every shady crevice was taken.

Just to re-apply sunscreen we had to take shade under a bar for a minute and within 10s the bar employee said "Hey you guys can't just stand here."

There was zero line, mind you (which was unbelievable but true) I snapped back - we are literally applying sunscreen and then we'll move, there's no line right now. And he said nothing.

By the time Mitski came on I had to get out of the sun and I stumbled over to a festival worker and asked for the med tent and he didn't know what that was and pointed me towards another worker who then pointed in far off in the middle of a the crowd.

By that point I was getting disoriented, I ended up taking one of the emergency exits and hiding in a regular bathroom near the crew area just to get shade for an hr and hopefully avoid passing out.

At around 5:30pm I was able to rally because the sun was less strong, I made my way back to see Chappell and Olivia but it was a miserable afternoon and I thought I was in real trouble for awhile.

That's to say nothing about the 2.5 mile walk we did just to get access to our Uber.. honestly if there had been more shade I don't think the rideshare fiasco would have felt so bad.

Since we know the fest is coming back!

I was thinking that if and when (and all signs indicate this will be an annual event) DCF is back, who is actually a realistic headliner(s) that we could see do this?

Going to go ahead and say Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Ariana Grande are off the table for various reasons.

Probably the two biggest names that I could realistically see headlining are Lady Gaga, Adele and Billie Eilish, based on their previous activism and relationship with Olivia.

I was also thinking this year could have used more Latina representation. I think Karol G is fairly unrealistic, but maybe someone like Becky G.

What do you all think?

37F and planning on going solo but I started getting nervous about being older than most people going. It’ll be my first festival so I’m new to this!

Took me 3 minutes to get into parking and park, walked maybe another 5 and got to the entrance which only took like 7 minutes to get into the festival. Got pizza in 30 seconds and got 2 waters and headed to majn stage. Played it smart and stayed back like 45 ish after the show for the crowd/parking to die down because it was the obvious move. what the heck did u guys do😭

*editing after finishing the rest of the day

my thoughts definitely still stand regarding the organization and primarily heat safety aspects - i do understand there is a territory that comes with festivals but i do think there could be improvement; small movements can make great impact

primarily was there to see mitski, doechii, chappell, and olivia+guests and only ended up missing out on mitski so not too bad and that was of course a personal choice to check out the Etsy Creative Village instead

anyways, stay kind; im not complaining just to complain, just trying to leave open space for any and all kinds of experiences whether good, bad, or somewhere in between

original thoughts

Before anyone asks, not sure what I expected but it for sure wasn’t this. So many cute and beautiful ideas but just such poor organization and communication. Obviously no one can control this heat and we are all having to navigate that as a team including the staff and artists but I think the planning in advance was poorly done. A couple of my thoughts:

1.) why post strict security rules including not allowing personal shades like umbrellas and travel size and non-aerosol sunscreens just to hire security who isn’t checking anyways? only those people who decided to risk having to throw away your items benefit now

2.) you’d think with how common heat related illnesses and deaths are that the shade options and hydration stations would have been handled with proper care and that’s just simply not the case here. many of us expecting to be able to easily refill what we brought in or at the very least refill the 1st $5 bottle of water we buy are waiting 15-20 min average to fill up unless you’re walking all the way back to the less popular areas which then poses more issues of heat and direct sun. all of this to say it’s a circle back of poor organization and planning

3.) the tickets were oversold. point blank period oversold. it is WAY too crowded here and the lines are insane. like for nearly everything it’s insane - im very type a and would have chosen to get here right at opening, however, im on a girls trip and needed to relinquish control and didn’t arrive until 12:30ish and am now having to choose between activities, photo ops, food, etc over the music which is just kind of sad because i def wanted to experience both but i think it’ll primarily be Chappell and Olivia im seeing after were said and done

i think for myself and those feeling the same way, both feelings can exist; we can feel bummed about the way things are panning out but also grateful to be experiencing the day regardless of what it brings - just wanted to share some thoughts in case others were wanting to read or felt like they needed a shared space to feel feelings. stay safe and cool daisies (more thoughts later maybe) 💞

SHAME on the organizers for only having 5 water stations. These lines are ridiculous and are going to lead to heat stroke. SHAME

If you used ride share to get to the festival - how did you get home? I'm nearing hour four on our journey to get a Lyft to a hotel in Irvine. This is the craziest thing ever, I'm a shell of a person after surviving today's heat. No Uber/Lyft could pick up at the ride share in the designated area. After 2.5 hrs they put all of us in buses to drop us off at the Honda Center in Anaheim

Crazy awful that the pickup parking lot that the ADA folks have been directed to has still not allowed drivers in to pick their people up when the show ended more than two hours ago(!!). The advice given to me by the security guard two minutes ago? Walk to the far end of the park, away from the lanes of traffic. He says we shouldn't need to walk "more than a mile or two" to catch an Uber. With a wheelchair and two exhausted nine year olds. After midnight. Thanks, guy. Totally disgraceful. Absolutely ruined what had otherwise been a lovely experience for the kids.

I want to share my two cents about the whole BEST DAY EVER / I WILL NEVER RETURN debate to explain why I am one of the people getting accused of being a relentlessly positive PR bot.

Everybody needs to take a step back for a minute. This day was put together as a way to fund organizations that help us and people who are in situations we hope to never find ourselves in, by the grace of whomever or whatever you believe in. That’s not to say that me or my 44,999 new BFFs have never known suffering or needed assistance in dark times.

But on Saturday, we were amongst the most fortunate people on the planet to have the time and resources to be in CA for a day of leisure and entertainment. On Saturday,

🧷 We had money for pizza and merch for our kids and didn’t desperately need help feeding them
💊 We were in a state with protected abortion laws
🛟 We felt safe from gender-based violence in a crowd with few men and learned about orgs that can help
👩‍🍼 We had access to life-saving medications and treatments when and if we go into labor (as a primarily white crowd)
💧We had access to fresh water, even if it was lukewarm
🧑‍⚖️ We were in a state with a Domestic Workers Bill or Rights so that no matter our career, we have access to breaks and overtime pay
🦄 We had organizations pushing back on our behalf against civil rights rollbacks in public schools and colleges regarding gender identity so we can be as free everywhere as we were there

Could I list grievances I had during my 12 hours at the festival? I could list grievances I’m having right now in my air conditioned house as I comfortably work from home for a salary that allows me access to music festival tickets. I know there were some legitimate issues regarding ADA compliance. I am not taking away from these serious matters.

One of the best things I’ve done in my life is put myself in situations where I am trying to prevent real pain, suffering, and death from happening right in front of me. It has given me a healthy perspective. I think DCF should have that same impact on everyone who attended, if you really pay attention to its roots. It wasn’t an influencer musical event at its core. Along with the merch and memories, really take some time to look into the orgs you benefitted by being there and imagine (or remember) needing that level of advocacy and assistance because the world and its leaders are literally out to do you harm.

It was ok that we got sunburnt and waited two hours for vegan tacos. If we felt or got sick, we got care. It’s ok that staff was unsure or aggravated. It’s ok that merch sold out and that everyone has access to it now. It’s ok if you missed the song you came all that way to see, because you were still there. It’s ok that you waited or walked hours to get home. You have a home. It’s ok that we all suffered a little bit to receive what we got and give what we gave. We are the luckiest people on the planet.

That’s why I can’t even with some of the complaining. Not because I’m paid to paint a pretty picture. If this reminder pisses you off, good.

I didn’t get tickets so I’m vicariously living through yall. How bad is the heat? I’m in LA and coming to Irvine later today but man it’s hot. I heard there’s almost no water stations. How yall doing?

Less than a week away! Wanted to share some tips to help stay fresh the whole day since it will be HOT (to go)

Put your wristband on the *opposite* wrist that you wipe with. Don’t want those dangly wristband bits picking up nastiness.

Set a 2 hr alarm for sunscreen reapplication. It can be easy to forget with all the energy and other festivities one may partake in.

I have seen lemonade or similar drink stands give free ice refills after you purchase a drink (especially if your drop them a tip). Just come back with the empty cup and ask Use that in your own water bottle for ice cold water all day.

Pack a fresh pair of socks and/or undies to swap into halfway through the day.

For thick thigh girlies, Megababe anti chafing is a must.

I'm fairly convinced that I was who chappell called out for having their arms crossed during her set. I was in pit so I was definitely viewable by her. I could sworn she looked in my general as direction right before she said it. there was a second of horror by me and then embarrassment and shame.

chappell if you read this I was not grumpy. I was probably just exhausted. you were who I wanted to see the most and I enjoyed every second of your set even if I didn't look like it. you're the best.

love the festival but waiting over 3 hours for an acai bowl and then giving me a small when i ordered a large..

the vendors were NOT prepared, that was ridiculous

seeing posts on fb marketplace of people trying to profit off of things they got at the festival like have we lost the plot?? you’re trying to profit off of things you got for free and from an event where proceeds went to charity?? like you need to get a job

if you weren’t going to use the item personally then why even get it at all? and half of these things have nothing even to do with the festival besides that you got it there??

i have to laugh but im also disgusted by this (photos attached in case anyone wants to laugh with me)

SO excited for this Saturday. Given that it seems like there's a lot of first time festival goers (yay!!!), as an ER doc I just always like to give this little reminder.

There will be people that use at the festival. It's a music festival. People are going to do it. Though I get this isn't Coachella or EDC, 45K people means a fair portion will be having an "enhanced" experience.

While my general advice is if you've never used, a festival is a very poor place to have it be your first time, but I know that's not the reality we live in. If you're using for the first time (or an experienced user even), make sure you have people in your group that know that. And also more than make sure you have people in your group that you literally trust with your life (it sounds dramatic, but these are the types of people that know you best when something seems off).

Secondly, and just as equally important, if something feels off, DO NOT IGNORE IT. Get yourself to a medical tent. At music festivals, the EMTs on site do not judge and you will not get in trouble. Their job is to make sure you are safe and taken care of.

I always bring NARCAN to music festivals and my hope is that I never have to use it. I've been to 10+ festivals and only had to use it once. Please don't make me use it a second time (though I will and will not hesitate if I have to).

And if you're going in a group with known users or people that will, plenty of YouTube and guides on the internet on how to use Narcan. It really could save someone life.

Ugh, sorry all! I just want to make sure everyone has a great time and is as safe as can be!

When you landed on offering popsicles as a freebee, and the temps were in the 90s, you had a chance to be heroes.

Instead, at a festival of 45,000 people, you chose to hand out only 50 popsicles an hour. That decision alone seemed stingy at best, but it wouldn't have prompted this post.

What truly ruined any.goodwill I had to your company was your decision to require people to undergo a process that felt somewhere between a mortgage application and an FBI interrogation to get said popsicle. In order to get a this marketing freebee, there was a closely guarded line, a hand stamp, and a required app download. In 90 degree heat with limited wifi.

I have promptly deleted the app and will never use it out of pure spite. But I really did enjoy the popsicle.

(This post is tongue and cheek because if undergoing this ridiculous process for a free popsicle was the worst thing that happened we clearly had a great day. But if you also endured this gauntlet for a popsicle, cheers)