Built by a Festivalgoer, for Festivalgoers

I grew up going to Summerfest in Milwaukee in the mid-90s. I was a kid — dragged there by family, wandering between stages, eating bratwurst, discovering that live music could make you feel something no recording ever could. That was where it started.

At 18, I went to Bonnaroo for the first time. My first camping festival. Four days on a farm in Tennessee, sleeping in a car, eating gas station food, and having my mind completely blown. I was hooked. Not just on the music — on the entire ecosystem. The community. The chaos. The feeling of being somewhere that only exists for a few days and then disappears.

Over the next nearly 20 years, I attended most major music festivals in the country across every genre — rock, electronic, jam, country, jazz, hip-hop, bluegrass. I've done them rough. I've done them right. I've made every mistake you can make — wrong shoes, wrong campsite, wrong entrance, wrong day to skip sunscreen.

I also worked in the festival industry — doing access control and RFID wristband operations. I worked festivals like Coachella and Tomorrowland Belgium, seeing the machine from the inside. How stages get built. How crowds get managed. How VIP actually works versus what they sell you on the website. That experience changed how I think about festivals entirely.

Then I discovered Jazz Fest in New Orleans. And I realized how much more a festival could be. Jazz Fest isn't just stages and headliners — it's the food, the neighborhoods, the after-shows at Tipitina's and Frenchmen Street, the cultural depth that makes you feel like you've actually been somewhere. That was the moment I understood: the best festival experiences aren't about the lineup. They're about everything around it.

I've been there and done that — and done it rough more than a few times. I've slept in cars, eaten questionable food truck experiments at 2 AM, and walked five miles in shoes I should have broken in first. I've also paid premium prices for VIP experiences that amounted to a slightly less disgusting bathroom and a lanyard.

That's not good enough. If you're spending real money on a festival — whether it's $300 GA or $3,000 VIP — you deserve someone who's actually been there to tell you what matters and what doesn't. Not a marketing team. Not an influencer who got comped. A real person who's done it, screwed it up, learned from it, and wants to help you skip the painful learning curve.

And this isn't just for high-end guests. I want to help the person doing Bonnaroo on a tight budget just as much as the group booking VIP at Jazz Fest. The guides on this site are free. The Sherpa Scores are free. The insider knowledge is free. If you want the premium experience with someone actually guiding you through it — that's the Sherpa Experience. But the goal is to make every festivalgoer's experience better, regardless of budget.

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