Experience The Ultimate Dreamville Music Festival 2024: A Review

High...heels...on my tippies! When I say Dreamville owes me nothing, I mean nothing. I had the most amazing time, filled with Black culture, good food and good vibes. This was my first music festival in the books and I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend. Being in a space filled with so many Black people gave me all the feels. Reminds me of homecoming at A&T during undergrad. (AGGIE PRIDE!) Seeing artist I grew up on, some I loved during college and new artist I didn't even know, they all made the weekend memorable. This is definitely a festival you want to attend, especially if you are a music head that wants to vibe out in good company.

Attending a festival is a fun and exciting experience, however, it comes with its challenges if you are not prepared. I have put together a list of tips for those who plan to attend Dreamville next year for the first time. I have placed everything into three categories: Before the festival, Day of the festival and After the festival. This post is lengthy, but is very informative to ensure you have a great experience without preventable mishaps.

---

Before The Dreamville Festival

Purchase your tickets early.

Dreamville is known for not releasing their artist lineup until after the early access tickets are purchased. This year it was crazy with a last minute change in the headliner of day 1, however, I would not have wanted to pay for the more expensive tickets considering this change. We all know what we are signing up for when it comes to purchasing tickets to a festival. We may not like last minute changes, but that's part of the process. If it happens, we will deal with it or try to get a refund. In most cases all sales are final, so make sure you are going for the vibes and not solely for a particular artist.

Purchase the general admission ticket.

Now having attended the festival, I do not see the major benefit in purchasing VIP tickets unless you are going to get to the park on time and plan to sit in the dedicated viewing areas for most of your day. Don't get me wrong, there are perks that come with the different levels of VIP tickets, such as dedicated bars, restrooms, and free merchandise, however there are so many people in the park, you probably won't even be pressed about going to those areas your first time. General admission tickets do have a longer wait time to get into the park, but it did not take away from my experience. We did not get to the park on time, but we didn't feel like we missed out on anything because we still got to see all the artist we anticipated seeing. Everyone, VIP ticket holders included, are walking around the park eating and enjoying the space. I honestly enjoyed finding a place in the park to sit on the blanket while waiting for the next act. Due to the festival being split between two stages, you will be doing a lot of walking if you want to be up close to the front in the standing area to see each act. We decided to hang in the back instead of being deep in the close knit crowd. We actually enjoyed our experience more due to this. With fifty thousand people in the park at once, we still felt like we had space to move around and catch the vibes comfortably.

Read the list of approved items you can bring into the festival.

Ensuring you have everything you need will make or break your festival experience. Since I a major trip planner, I read over the list multiple time to make sure I had everything I felt Bae and I would need for this trip. You also need to read the list of things you cannot bring inside the festival so that you are not made to throw anything away at the door. Once you are inside the festival you cannot leave or you will have to purchase another ticket, if there are any available. This is why I say it's a must to be aware of this list and have all your items needed for a full day in the park. You will be there from early in the day until late at night. Preparing for all weather and necessary items was our priority.

Here are the items we bought and brought with that helped us have smooth experience for both festival days in the park. Clear concert approved bag Portable phone charger with charger cord Hand sanitizer Travel sized Kleenex tissue Reusable water bottle Flushable wipes Meds (Aleve, Pepto, etc.) Sunscreen Lip balm Sunglasses Blanket Games (uno cards, playing cards etc.) Hand Lotion

Check the weather continuously, even on the day of, in order to dress accordingly for both days of the festival.

North Carolina weather in Spring can be blazing hot one minute, warm and cozy another minute, then brisk as soon as the night sets in. Considering this, make sure you are checking the weather and planning multiple outfit to ensure you are not giving all the festival vibe in your fit, but are comfortable. Being over or under dressed for 12-13 hours is a no go. I originally planned to show some major skin, but had a last minute change due to the forecast. The first day the weather was warm during the day and freezing at night. The second day the weather was hot during the day and cold at night. Remember you are going to be outside all day, so you have to deal with whatever happens. I would suggest wearing layers. Bring a jacket and a pancho just in case it rains or gets really cold. Even though NC is in the south, our Spring nights are colder than you may realize if you're not from here.

Decide on how you plan to arrive to the festive each day.

There are multiple options for arriving to the park each day for the festival. If you choose to drive yourself, you will have the option of purchasing a parking pass or a shuttle pass. These passes do run out so you will want to decide early if you want one of these options. The parking pass allow you to park and walk to the park. The shuttle pass allows you to park further away and catch a shuttle to the park. The last option is ride share. This is the option we chose. It worked for us since I have family in Raleigh. We ended the weekend spending less than we would have on purchasing parking passes. With ride share you have to plan for when you want to get your trip. Timing is everything.

Book your hotel at least 4-5 months in advance.

Hotels prices skyrocket as the festival approaches. If you want to get a decent price, plan to book your room early. Also make sure you book direct if possible to avoid overbooking with hotels. This was an issue this past year. If you decide to wait until after early access tickets are sold out to get a ticket, be prepared for higher hotel rates ranging from $300-$500 a night. We decided to drive up from Charlotte both ways thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal. (We were very wrong) Our bodies were so tired and we will not make that decision every again.

Do not put on your wristband when it arrives.

The wrist bands are very nice, however they will not come off once you tighten them to fit your wrist. When you put on the day of the festival, emphaisis on the day of, you will only be able to take it off if you leave enough room. The downside of this is you don't want it too loose because it could fall off. Just be mindful that you have to wear it for two days.

---

Day of the Dreamville Festival

Indulge in your full hygiene routine the morning of both days to ensure you are thoroughly cleansed.

I know you may think this is a given, but I know from experience that some people came to that park will an odor of "unclean" body. It is highly important that one never leaves the house without washing first, but on this occasion, it is required that extra measures are taken when cleansing. Being outside for this amount of time requires double cleansing, body scrubs, exfoliation and moisturizing. You want a trail of fresh and clean to be left as you pass people, especially fifty thousand people. You all get the picture. Wash and wash well lol.

Eat a well balanced breakfast.

When you arrive at the park the vendors will probably already have a line and the prices are expensive. Since you will be in the park all day, you will rack up in expenses just from eating multiple meals. To ensure you are not waiting in a line hungry, eat before you go. A well balanced healthy breakfast will leave you still feeling light and not sluggish in the weather.

Double check your festival bag to ensure you have everything packed.

Before heading to the park check you festival bag once last time. The worst thing every is leaving something you really want to use or wear during the day. On day two of the festival I forgot my sunnies in the car. Due to my dramatic personality, it took me a couple hours to accept that I just had to deal. I advise having a checklist to ensure you have everything because once you're in the park, you're there until its over.

Put on your wristband before you get to the park.

Make sure you put your wrist band on when you are getting ready for the day. Look at it as your accessory. I personally saw a girl looking for her wrist band the second day on the ground because she dropped it and couldnt find it. You do not want to lose the one thing that proves you paid hundred or thousands of dollars to get into the festival. Doing this will ensure you are prepared and ready to go.

Check the weather and dress accordingly.

As I stated before the weather in NC during the Spring can change at any moment. Plan warm and cold outfits for each day so no matter the weather you are ready for all the vibes. Festival fits are very much a thing and you want to feel you are dressed for the occasion. I am thankful Bae and I were prepared form checking the weather in the weeks leading up to the festival. We had to change our outfits for the first day since the weather app showed it would be cold that night. There were so many people who had on summer outfits and didn't bring any layers. It gets cold at night in the park and many people were freezing and uncomfortable. We had our jackets and wrapped up in our blanket together. I can't stress enough being prepared so you are not uncomfortable watching a show outside in the middle of a field.

Wear comfortable shoes and socks.

You will get in miles during the festival if you plan to see all the artist perform. The lineup is split between two stages. The artist performances alternate from one stage to the other. Make sure your fit includes shoes you don't mind walking in all day. We want to be cute, but I can't stress comfort enough. Also, the walk to the front gat can be a little much depending on your fitness level. Since we hike on a regular, we ate it up lol, but for those who don't get in much cardio, plan to pace yourself or just get there early when heading into the park. Your shoes will make or break you day, so if you don't feel you can wear boots or heels for 12-13 hours in a field of grass, please don't wear them.

Use the bathroom and fill your water bottle once you enter before you do anything.

Doing these two things before we got started exploring the festive was a game changer. The lines to the bathroom and water station get long very quickly. To ensure we wouldn't be waiting at the most inopportune time, we decided to do these first. The bathroom gets really filthy as the day goes on, so going earlier in the day as often as you feel you need helps to avoid it later in the evening. Since you're moving around outside all day, water is a neccessity. Make sure you keep you bottle filled.

Review the line up schedule and plan when you want to eat.

Planning when we would eat helped us maximize the time we would have to find a good place to watch the performers we came to see. We planned to get food during performances weren't pressed about. This way we got to see everyone without being too far in the back of the crowd.

Review the map of the park and decide if you want to be in the front near the stages or in the back on your blanket during each performance.

Knowing the space before hand helped us decide on the areas we wanted to be during each performance. Now, we only stayed on one side of the park (which we kind of regret) because there were so many people, but we got good views of each performance with being packed really close next to other people. This was a priority for us. Some people may not mind being shoulder to shoulder, but we wanted to really enjoy space on our blanket and vibe out.

Prepare for the bathrooms to be filthy.

Not much to explain here. Just make sure you go early in the day like I stated before. Have your toilet wipes out before you enter the bathroom. We like to freshen up every time we use the bathroom on a regular anyway, but definitely when were outside all day. I recommend not eating food that will cause your stomach to be intense. Needing to poop (And yes, I said poop. This is a safe space to be real) in a portable bathroom around thousands of people is not the move. From our experience, it got so bad in the large accessible stalls that we had to use the small individuals ones at the end of the night because they were the only ones being cleaned.

If you are using ride share or the shuttle, leave the park a little early to avoid long lines at the end of each night.

Leaving a little early really helped us get a Lyft much quicker. We only waiting about 5 mins the first night and about 20 mins the second night. Either way you may end up waiting so just plan for that.

---

After the Dreamville Festival

Use PTO for that Monday, you will need it.

Now, because I have usually allowed my job to control a lot of my life, I did not use PTO the following Monday (My mindset has shifted and you all will get a whole updated post on my current state of mind). I regretted it. I was so tired from being out all day and driving. I ended up taking a day in the middle of the week just to rest and reset. Even when you feel like you don't need the time, you need the time.

Plan a self care day.

I am a firm believer in taking time to replenish yourself. Being intentional about getting what I need for my mind, body and spirit are important to me. I needed time to spend with God, take care of my skin and reset my mind back into go mode. I suggest planning intentional time to help you transition back into work mode after you finish any exciting event or vacation. I will always need time to transition back into work mode and if you don't do this, I highly believe you can benefit for this.

All of these things help Bae and I have an amazing experience without many worries. There will always be the occasional unexpected challenges, but overall we didn't have to think too much due to planning everything in advance.

I will be doing a YouTube video sharing our experience in the park in more detail along with examples of the things we brought with us, so make sure you subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss it.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I will be sure to answer them in a timely manner.