Written By Isaac Simpson
What was the world like before the age of the mega music festival? What did we spend our money on? How did it feel before these 72-hour bacchanals with no sleep and copious substances, from which we must spend months recovering?
We don’t remember, but it probably sucked. In 2019, the best parties don’t draw a few thousand people, they draw a few million. Partying has exploded right alongside the technology that makes it possible, and 2019 will surely be the most insane year yet. Here’s a list of the 5 global parties that you simply cannot miss this year, just to give you a head start on planning:
Yacht Week
The floating festival in the Mediterranean that doesn’t necessarily require access to a yacht, but let’s face it, you’re going to be a second class citizen if you don’t. Thus Yacht Week is, needless to say, the most damaging to your wallet of the list, but also probably the only where you’re absolutely guaranteed to have the time of your life. How many other parties have the balls to call themselves “insane” on their own website.
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens is a rugby tournament that draws the hardest partiers from Australia and Europe to watch their favorite teams, but mostly to get utterly blackout on the streets of the most bombastic city in East Asia. There is likely nowhere on Earth more collectively hammered than Hong Kong expat party zone Lan Kwai Fong during the Sevens.
Burning Man
You just rolled your eyes, but you definitely shouldn’t have. Somehow, Burning Man has stood up to decades of corporate exploitation attempts to remain the most mind blowing, money free, clothing optional spectacle on Earth. This temporary alternative society might not be necessarily the most pure fun party on the list, but it makes up for it by being the most unique.
EDC
What was that about pure fun? Yeah, if you’re looking to lose yourself in a sea of neon and techno, EDC is your best bet. It is the platonic form of electronic music festival in the twenty first century—far superior to Coachella’s teeny bopper fest yet much more accessible than Burning Man.
SXSW
South By Southwest, Austin’s standby tech, movies, and music festival is getting bigger and bolder by the year. The movie premieres, party houses, secret concerts, and branded activations provide an endlessly entertaining string of distractions (Last year they recreated Westworld literally). Who knows what’s in store for 2019?
