Music Tuesday: Guide to Aftershock! Post 2021

Hello! This blog post did come out a little later than I wanted it to, due to writing it and working really hard on it only to have the app I was using completely delete all of my progress. Anyways, this is a bit of a new kind of post that I’ll probably be writing more often from now on.

This will be the first in a series of guides to festivals, concerts, and venues. I really wish I had things like this before I went to concerts and stuff, but especially festivals. I want to make sure that people have some information before going to the festival, because some of this stuff would have really helped me the first time I went.

I will be separating this post into 4 parts, so feel free to skip around if you want. Those sections will be what’s the festival like?, best ways to get there, what to bring, and general tips. I’m really excited to write this to try and help people attending the festival for the first time to feel more comfortable going into it, and not as blind.

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What’s the festival like?

Aftershock takes place at Discovery Park in Sacremento, California. This park is really big, and also has a lake and a bridge near it. It’s a really beautiful park and I honestly wonder what it looks like when there aren’t tens of thousands of people there. About 50,000 to 40,000 people have been attending every year across the 3 to 4 days when the festival is taking place.

There are three stages around the park, and they’re pretty much all different in terms of popularity of the bands that they schedule for each stage. This is definitely a rock/metal festival, which I am a huge fan of, so it was a little funny when MGK came last year. I know a lot of people there really liked him, but I also knew that a lot of people did not want him there. Anyways, he isn’t going this year so yay.

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Best ways to get there

There are some hotels that are within walking distance of the festival, but they are super expensive around that time and we have also heard that isn’t a great area, so I wouldn’t suggest staying in those. We usually choose hotels that are about 15-20 mins away, then we drive closer to the venue and park our car for the day, and then Uber the rest of the way to the festival.

Since there isn’t any parking at the park, this seemed like the best decision for us. We will probably be doing this again this year as well. And we drive closer just so we can get the Ubers a little cheaper than if we Ubered from the hotel to the venue. I would also suggest scheduling your Ubers, espeically for after the show since the price will go up with the demand.

There is also a shuttle pass available for purchase, which is about the same amount as what we spend on the Ubers every year. We have heard some people at the festival say good things about the shuttle pass, but we haven’t done it yet, so I’m not sure. We might do this eventually but we definitely have to find out some more information about it first.

I would also suggest trying to get there before the door open to the festival grounds if you want to get a really good spot at the front of one of the two main stages. People at these kinds of festivals are really aggressive about getting the spots that they want, so make sure to get there early if you want that. I usually like to get there 60-30 mins early, and there are always people in front of us in the line. This also helps you skip the traffic, because once the grounds open and the festival gets going, the traffic around the festival really picks up and it’s hard to navigate.

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What to bring

In 2019, they wanted us to only bring clear bags, but not a lot of people did that haha. You can bring any small bag really, just not big stuff like tote bags or big backpacks. If you want to bring a clear bag that’s fine too, but they wouldn’t say anything if you brought a different kind of bag. I’m not sure what kind of bags they are saying to bring this year, but people don’t listen anyways. Last year, both me and my mom brought a fanny pack and that worked out pretty well for us.

Onto the other things you should bring. You should try to remember your ticket, duh, cream sunscreen since they won’t allow the spray sunscreens, a jacket if it is going to get cold and you have a locker or want to carry it, a power bank to charge your phone, money for food and drinks if you want, ear plugs to protect your hearing, water to keep yourself hydrated for cheap, pain pills if you want to, but make sure to hide those when dgoing through security just in case, and some snacks if you want to try and smuggle those in as well.

I know this might seem like a lot, but these things will all make you a lot more comfortable during the festival than if you didn’t have them. And, if you don’t want to bring some of these things, that’s totally fine, just stay safe. I would also suggest to try and bring the least amount of things possible while still bringing everything you need.

One last thing to be aware of is that there is a lot of dust and dirt kicked up at this festival. I would suggest bringing a face mask, but I know a lot of people don’t want to wear one or have to bring an extra thing. So, I just want people to be aware that you will be breathing in a lot of dust and dirt during your time at the festival, and I know it’s really gross but I wish I was prepared for this so I’m going to tell you. When you blow your nose after you get back home or to your hotel or whatever, you will have black snot from the dirt. It’s pretty crazy but it’s true and I have experienced it ahaha.

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General tips

I have several general tips to put in this section, so it might get a little long haha. Just wanted to warn you guys before you got into it.

The first general tip I have is about lockers and warm clothes. My mom and I have rented a locker for all three years we have gone, including this year. We think it is super nice and convenient and really helps us out. We can put stuff like our sunscreen in there, the merch that we buy at the beginning of the first day so we don’t have to carry it around for the whole day, and our warm clothes for the nighttime if we bring those.

You should also definitely be checking the forecast before you go to the festival so you can see how cool it’s going to be at night. The two years I went, it was pretty warm in the day, but pretty cool at night. This is another reason why a locker is super nice, so you can put your warmer clothes for the night in there so you don’t have to carry them around all day.

If you are wearing shorts, fishnets, or a skirt, I would also recommend bringing some nude stockings to put on under them at nighttime. They do make you a lot warmer and it’s pretty nice compared to having bare legs during a cold night.

Another pretty important, in my opinion, tip I want to talk about is about the schedules and daily lineups. Aftershock will usually come out witht he set times a week or two before the festival takes place, and this is super valuable. You should definitely look at the schedule before you attend the festival since it makes it a lot easier to go throughout your day when you have a good idea of what you want to do.

The first year I went to Aftershock, I wrote down all of the bands on each day of the festival and color coded them to show priority of who I wanted to see, and that helped me set up my days when the final schedule finally came out. I know this sounds like a bit of work, and it definitely isn’t necessary, but it really helped me at the time. Last year, I only looked at the schedules when they came out and planned my day around those.

Another tip I got from someone a long time ago was to take a screenshot of each day’s schedule and set it as your lock screen for every day that you’re there. This really helped me since I didn’t have to go through the hassle of unlocking my phone and looking for the picture every time I wanted to check the schedule. This was also helpful when other people wanted to know what the schedule was.

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That’s all the information I have for you guys about this festival right now! I will be updating this after I go this year, so there will be some new and improved information in the future. I really hope this helps some people and I really wish my mom and I had some information like this the first time we went.

Thank you all so much for reading my blog post and supporting my journey! I have a few more advice guides in mind that I want to write, so stay tuned for that! I’ll see you guys in the next one 🙂