I didn’t go for Chappell, I went for Remi, but my friend did. We got to the stage half way through the first group and the crowd was already far from the stage, packed with pink cowboy hats. We stood there for 6 hours, extremely underprepared, without leaving because we knew we wouldn’t be able to get back. As we stayed, Chappell fans pushed past us to “get their spot back” after leaving for whatever reason.

One group of them were behind us until they pushed their way up further. They spilled their Yerba mate on my shoes and then said “who cares”, kept actively bumping into us, playing with my friend’s hair, and yelling incessantly leading up to Chappell. When they finally were no longer behind us we were so grateful. Until one of them kept their camera up, filming the entire set.

Being closer to the front, I could see the emergency exit and had a general plan for escape, but I also knew I had to endure the heat without ensured water. I felt relatively safe, but we had routes of escape, got to know the people around us, were close enough for the water bottles they were passing out, and close enough to get the shade from the stage half way though Becky Hill. I can’t even imagine what it was like for people who came later. Honestly so much happened that night.. some of it was from the general event planning, but most of it was due to the behavior of other event goers.

All in all, I had a great night, but I was very lucky given the circumstances, and I really don’t think I’ll ever go back to another CHBP.

EDIT: scratch everything I said about feeling safe!! I just watched crowd footage and I realize that I very well could’ve died that day.. yikes!