Truth. Music festivals are some of the biggest parties of the year. Coachella may be over, but the season of live music has only just begun. There’s still Osheaga, NXNE, Scenefest, Edgefest, Hillside and Warped Tour to look forward to, and that’s just the local ones. So, music lovers with penchants for parties and soft spots for sexy technology, listen up. I present to you five ways to make your music festival season more memorable.
Canon Powershot G1 X
A point-and-shoot camera is a must for any music festival. If high quality pictures are what you seek, the Canon Powershot G1 X (pictured above) is your new lover. The G-series is top of the line for P&S cameras and this 2012 model is no exception, featuring 14.1 Megapixels, 14-bit raw shooting, HD video recording, an optical viewfinder, various built-in image options, magnificent zoom, a bright, beautiful LCD screen, a sexy, smooth body and extensive manual controls. At $800, it’s not for your typical concertgoer. For you, I recommend generally any Canon P&S. I recently grabbed a lower-end Powershot for less than $200. It takes great photos both outdoors and in lowlight, which are really the only two features you need.
Juicebar Pocket Charger
Portable chargers are an ideal device for festivals that can keep you away from home for days on end. The Juicebar DO10-JB Pocket Charger is small, light and comes with various adapters that attach to your devices via USB. You can charge the Juicebar through your computer at home, then through the sun when you’re on the go (though this takes more time) and the charge is said to hold up to 30 days. It’s compatible with BlackBerrys, iPhones and iPods, Bluetooth, mp3 players and mobile games and also comes with a built-in flashlight. It retails at $50.
Artist Growth
This one’s for the bands. Artist Growth is designed to help bands manage their entire business including merch inventory tracking, industry contacts, gigs, finances, schedules and royalty payouts. Band members can share an account and access it through web, tablet or mobile — data is stored in the cloud. It’s Brooklyn-based, so better suited for American artists but the majority of features can still be useful for Canadian bands. It’s a free app compatible with both Apple and Android mobile and is backed by industry professionals from Sony to the Rolling Stone. There are some additional costs such as adding additional members, which will run you 99 cents each.
Zoom H4n
The Zoom H4n is a digital recorder with onboard XY stereo condenser mics that are arranged with the right and left mics on the same axis. This basically allows you to rotate to wide-angle stereo sound, making it rather ideal for handheld live music recording. It’s the only handheld recording device that allows you to record on four channels simultaneously through both built-in and external mics. It also features a large, bright LCD screen that gives great visuals to audio levels. You can save in wav or mp3 formats on memory cards (separate) up to 32MB. The device will run you about $300.
Bar-noculars
I’m not going to advocate illegal activities, but if you must bring with you to a concert some liquids you wish to hide, may I recommend the Barnoculars flask. They look like real binoculars, but each side can hold 8 ounces of liquor and the caps screw off to form shot glasses. This sly looking device is well received online and will run you about $20. You didn’t hear this from me.
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Sheena Lyonnais writes about tech for Toronto Standard. You can follow her on Twitter at @SheenaLyonnais.
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