festnoise | Music & Festivals

I once heard that if you feel something special the first day you go to the opera, the crush will last a lifetime. Otherwise, at most you will only learn to enjoy it. In my case it didn't happen with opera, but it did happen with music festivals and I am sure something similar happened to Gal.

During this Summer without live music, I will be publishing short interviews with those who in one way or another are part of the music festivals that we love so much. Like in this case with Gal. Maybe his name doesn't ring a bell. Don't worry, it's normal and he prefers it to be like this. Gal, like you or me, is one of those many anonymous mad individuals (and in his case it sounds more true than ever) who plan vacations around festivals.

Although truth to be told, Gal may not be as anonymous as I said before. And surely for him some things are also not as easy as are for you or me, since among other things he uses a wheelchair to move around. Therefore, interviewing him seemed interesting to me because he is an authoritative voice to speak about accessibility and also about the special connection between people that occurs at festivals. In addition, Gal is the protagonist of the documentary Wheels Of Madness released last Autumn, and in the last edition of the Sziget festival he took the main stage invited by Dave Grohl himself. An episode of which when asked, he remembers feeling a wave of energy coming from the crowd like a tsunami and thinking how he could possibly give this huge love back.

Read below the responses of this unique person and don't miss the chance to say hi next time you meet him in a festival!

For those who do not know you, who is Gal and how does this special relationship you have with music festivals begin?

Gal: “Hye and greetings from Tel Aviv, Gal here. I’m working as a multimedia teacher. I studied Sound Engineering and during my service I was a sound man for the Air Force live music band. In my school years I was the school DJ and for most of my youth I followed as super-fan a local rock artist by the name Aviv Geffen. So music is my life and a huge passion of mine. I first traveled to see a concert in 2011 and that concert changed my life forever. My relationship with international music festivals began in 2012 when I visited Download, my first festival. That year I visited five more festivals.”

Since you started going to music festivals, in which ones have you been to?

Gal: “I’ve visited Rock Werchter, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, Desert Trip, Sweden Rock Festival, Isle of Wight, Tomorrowland, Defqon.1, Lowlands, Pukkelpop, Hard Rock Calling, TRNSMT, Creamfields, Nature One, Luminosity Beach, Sziget and many more!”

The Covid-19 has paralyzed the live music industry until no one knows when, and has left us all kind of orphaned. But how has the absence of live music affected you as a music fan?

Gal: “Covid-19 has affected all ways of life. Focusing on social gathering, the absence of gatherings and live music is devastating for so many in so many ways. I want to use this opportunity to ask everyone to stay safe and spread this love we all have and take care for our surroundings. It's up to each one of us to make sure we all gather again and go back to do what we love.”

In your opinion what do music festivals have that despite the heat, dust and lack of sleep, make us feel so good?

Gal: “I think what makes music festivals so special is the randomness. It's the energy from everyone bouncing around. It's the feeling that you are now part of something bigger than yourself. It’s the escape from the routine of everyday’s life. It’s the annual expectation for the next edition or season. It’s the feeling that everybody is there to have a good time. The strip back to a more basic state of being by camping plays part in that too.”

Are music festivals well enough prepared to go in a wheelchair, what would you ask a festival to have or change in terms of accessibility?

Gal: “The way I see it, festivals never meant to be accessible for wheelchairs or any other disability. The people who attend these events write them in advance asking questions and now with social media everyone has the power to impact events PR and actually demand solutions. They make an event accessible. Festivals by themselves could not progress in that matter if there’s no demand. It makes me very pleased and proud when I see more people coming and enjoying it. It means things are progressing. I would like to see more awareness of all kinds of disabilities in general and with that, the progress in events will be natural.”

“In 2018 I went camping to the FM4 Frequency festival in Austria and because they didn't have any accessible facilities in their camping sites they didn’t know what to do with me. Aside from the fact it is illegal not to have suitable facilities in place, their staff was unfriendly and without patience or compassion to me. That should change first!”

You have traveled to many festivals in different countries. Which one do you keep a special memory of and where have you felt most sheltered by people?

Gal: “My favorite country to festivalize in must be Belgium. You mentioned sheltered and in Belgium the accessible camping sites and the facilities in the festival areas are organized and operated by a group of volunteers that’s there to give a hand and make sure the festival experience will be great for everyone. More importantly, they are people who love music and fun just like you, so a warm and welcoming family is created coming back every year and friendships are formed. One of them became a close friend of mine. Rock Werchter 2012 was my second festival and thanks to him I didn't spend the whole time on the wheelchair platform looking at the screen through my camera. He took me around to meet his friends and see the site. The next days of the festival I did it on my own…Not long after that came Tomorrowland which had no volunteers or viewing platforms so I was completely independent and secure in my own abilities. Ability Camp and campsite at Sziget and accessible areas in UK festivals are also organized by groups of volunteers.”

What festival have you not been to and you dream of going?

Gal: “If you can call it a festival, Burning Man is my ultimate dream. But logistically I can’t make it there on my own. Some others I like to visit are BPM festival, Meadows on The Maintain, Shamba-la, Boomtown fair, Boom festival and all of them in Latin America. People over there takes their passion for music to another level!”

Gal at Sziget festival 2016. Photo by Rockstar Photographers.

Hopping from one festival to another, you are living the dream of many people and yet you go with a wheelchair. How do you think sometimes having a physical limitation can make us go even further and push our limits?

Gal: “I must begin by saying that it is a matter of view and prospective. I don’t feel that because I use a wheelchair I'm proving anything to myself or others. I see the chair as a bike or a car, it gets me from A to B. Besides, having also a visual limitation, the chair makes me feel more secure and aware. I go to multiple festivals on the weekend because I love it. I camp out in festivals because I want to be as close as possible to the action. I don’t think to myself ‘Let's see if I can camp 20 days between 3 festivals’ for me there’s no other way.”

At music festivals the feeling of communion with the people is beyond amazing, but in your case you take it to a different level. Because sometimes you need help and you also trust unknown people to lift you over their heads. After meeting tons of diverse people, what do we all have in common no matter the race, gender, religion, orientation or nationality? What have you learned from the people you have met in all this journey?

Gal: “I think that the thing we all have in common is a sense of knowledge that underneath it all, we are the same. I think places like festivals get it out from people so beautiful things can happen. During my journeys I learned and experienced that this general goodness in us not only coming out in festivals. I learned to trust people. It shows when I been lifted up but it’s way more rooted and simple than that. I constantly need another hand, when I’m moving between places because of my luggage, I also am not able to pitch my own tent or find my way in the dark hours…Most importantly for my growth as a person I learned social skills and made friends all around the world. I became more open to people and learned what love and empathy means.”

Gal at Sziget festival 2019. Photo by Thomas Astecker

You will be forever in the memory of thousands of people who, after a week of festivals, and an epic last concert, we saw how you lived the dream of many of us by taking the stage invited by Dave Grohl himself. What happened that night will undoubtedly be one of those moments that will be remembered when telling the story of the Sziget festival. What did you feel or what did that moment mean to you?

Gal: “I’d say what everyone wants to hear first. The feeling of being called on stage was incredible and a moment I can never express in words. People who witnessed that moment have to understand that I didn’t end up there because he (Dave Grohl) just saw me and decided to call me up. Which would have been special to a viewer. I was there and was spotted by him the whole show. I was mosh pitting and rocking the wheels off down there with my friend. So it wasn’t a complete surprise to me. I have been on stages before but never in that spotlight. That made it really unique and meaningful. I felt really honored up there at a festival that means so much to me. That edition more than before because I was being filmed for the ´Wheels of Madness´ documentary which made my festival experience even more unique. So it felt amazing to be up there but inevitably I went down the stage with a ´famous person label on´ and I'm a very private person so I didn’t want that. Despite me being in the spotlight and appearing in videos that went viral on social media since 2012 I have remained nameless. After the festival I faced the disrespectful and invasive side of the media and they ruined the joy for me.”

Follow the #WheelsOfMadness on Instagram and Facebook!

Cover photograph by Fille Roelants