It's summertime, and over the next few months the cream of the Australian and international music scene will be bursting your eardrums and leaving you twitching in a heap. With a line-up of amazing festivals in the pipeline we know it can be hard to pace yourself, so we're bringing to you the Summer Festival Survival Guide. With everything you need to make it through with your mind/body/relationship intact, this is one survival guide you'll be happy to follow. And unlike Man vs Wild, we won't make you eat bear poo.

With most festivals packing in upwards of 20,000 people, losing everyone at some point is pretty much guaranteed. Instead of spending the day crying down your mobile or running through the crowd screaming "Allan, Allan, Allan" til somebody knocks you out, take this opportunity to go see that band your girlfriend/boyfriend said they hated that led to that massive fight about your mother. Better yet, make new friends. Bum a light off someone and slip in a "hey, how 'bout that local sports team", and you never know where you could end up. Although I would stay away from the guy who looks like he's taken way too many of the happy pills and is trying to make love to the garbage bin. It's just not worth it.

We all want to have fun, and in the summer heat it's easy to bypass the H2O and start downing cold beers like a Motley Crue roadie. While drinks at these things ain't cheap and are more often than not half-strength, strapping that bottle of vodka to your thigh and hoping your pants are baggy enough comes with its own risks. If you make it through the front gate without anyone noticing that you're walking like you've spent a night in a cell with a heavy set convict who liked to call you Betty, do try to pace yourself. Passing out halfway through the day like a thirteen-year-old girl with her first bottle of Passion Pop is way uncool, and come Monday you can be sure those photos of you heaving out your internal organs in the mud are going to end up on Facebook. They always do.

Ever since the emergence of fluoro, festival fashion has been highly contested. It doesn't matter how short you are, high heels are a surefire way to snap an ankle, and if you have any intention of head-banging your way through the moshpit, wear enclosed shoes. Thongs will only lead to your toenails slowly turning black and falling off, all the while resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon. If you feel so inclined, do dress up as your favourite Muppet/farm animal: if you manage to sneak on stage and live out your stage diving fantasies, nothing will set off a crowd like a pig flying through the air.

As tough as you think you are, cops and security are tougher and they have a job to do. Before you go all Dr Dre and start yelling out "f**k the po-lice!" remember they will mace you faster then you can say "he started it", and you'll spend your festival crying like a bitch out on the curb while more awesomeness then you can imagine happens inside. Nothing hurts more then paying 150 bucks for a ticket, only to see your wristband cut off during sound check. Stay out of trouble, or at least don't get caught.

So this festival season play it like a pro and don't miss out on a thing - we've got everything you need to have yourself a good time and you might just remember half of it.

Words: Renuka Nicail