> Swap [Burning Man] with any modern or long lasting festival You can't really do that. Burning man is different from a normal music festival. I've never been

> Swap [Burning Man] with any modern or long lasting festival You can't really do that. Burning man is different from a normal music festival. I've never been to Burning Man, but I've been to other similar week-long psychedelic festivals, like Boom in Portugal and it's definitely not your 'normal' rock music festival. First there's the 'non-commercial' side - no companies or logos or other publicity displayed anywhere, then there's the international aspect - literally, it's a gathering of people from all over the world. Then there are the drugs, the virtual lack of alcohol, the psychedelia and the 'unsanity' that people experience for a week, which manifests as all kinds of forms of art, music, yoga, martial arts, shamanic rituals and so on. 'Leave no trace' means people are conscious and careful about the place, so the festival ground is always clean. People change, they become non-competitive, extremely nice and generous to each other - sort of like a sect, but in a good way :)). So the festival is not just a great amount of fun and suffering from weather extremes, but also a very 'spiritual' and introspective experience - in which I personally regain hope in humanity.. Boom Festival is always a powerful experience, but 'burners' who've been at both claim Burning Man is even more powerful. Of course as these events gain popularity, more and more people are going to be attracted to them and inevitably that's going to change the 'old spirit' of the festival. But this is the rule of life - old gives way to new and it's been like this since the beginning of time, right ? :).