This past weekend my family and I headed out to New Jersey for Sea.Hear.Now music festival, because if you know my parents you know it's hard for them to ignore a fun, different opportunity to see Dave Matthews Band.

Besides being sick and miserable for part of day 1, it was an amazing time! I love a good festival and a festival on the beach with music, art, surfing, surfboard making, and smoothie bowls is basically all I could ever want in a festival!

Hands down my standout artist was Dave Matthews Band, followed by Lumineers. Sea.Hear.Now marks the 4th state I've seen DMB in. While this seems crazy, compared to most die hard fans (aka my parents) it's nothing.

Okay, so a few highlights of the weekend:

Dancing, toes in the sand and teary eyed, to "Come Tomorrow" during DMB.

Okay, I'm that person that cries at concerts occasionally, occasionally meaning every time I hear "Rivers and Roads" live by The Head and The Heart. It's fine, I've accepted that I'm "that person." Anyways, back to this weekend. Come Tomorrow is my current favorite Dave song. Our political climate is well.... interesting, and this song speaks directly to it. Add this to the list of songs sung live that make me teary eyed! Also if you haven't already, go listen to it now!!

Crab Fries and Smoothie Bowls.

Day 1 we ended up eating out on the boardwalk outside of the festival (crepes and massive pizza slices, yumm!) but day 2 it was festival food! I had a big bowl of garlic crab fries and a coconut and Nutella smoothie bowl. So good. I also have to say, I love an Aperol spritz and was happy to enjoy a few on the beach. Part Aperol, part Prosecco and club soda, a whole lot of tasty. Add that to drinking it out of a reusable cup and I was sold!

Art

I am a huge fan of cool art there was no shortage of rad stuff throughout the festival. There was a gallery filled with art created by some of the musicians performing at the festival, there was a rad surfboard art photo op, and murals by local artists. Add this all to the murals covering the existing buildings and surfboard shapers shaping boards throughout the weekend, and it's safe to say there was something cool to see almost anywhere you look.

Bathrooms.

Okay you may be thinking, "Mads, why on earth are you considering bathrooms at a festival a highlight?" Let me tell you. These were the cleanest, least offensive port-a-potties I have ever been in and not just even at solely the beginning of the weekend. They remained nice the whole weekend. Honestly, a huge thumbs up to whoever planned the bathroom situation, it was impressive.

Like I mentioned earlier, I love a good festival. I figured why not end this post by throwing out a few of my go to festival tips:

Water bottle with a carabiner.

Most festivals have water filling stations, so help Mama Earth and bring your own bottle to fill throughout the weekend. Adding on a carabiner to the bottle is a game changer. I love being able to just clip my bottle to my purse so I don't have to carry it all weekend.

Bring a portable charger and use low power mode.

Okay, live in the moment and try to use your phone minimally but this tip is still good! If your phone battery sucks, like mine, put it on low power mode! It helped my phone hold a charge all day. I also always pack a portable charger. I didn't need it this weekend, but it's aways great to be the person in the group who can offer it up if needed.

Bring an extra layer.

After cooking in the sun all day, and extra layer is almost essential for when the sun goers down, especially being near the water. We brought a canvas tote and threw all of our sweatshirts in (and a beach sheet to lounge on). It's so much easier to enjoy your favorite band when you aren't freezing.

Thank you for a fantastic weekend Sea.Hear.Now! See you next year!