Are Extended DJ Sets the Answer to Your FOMO?

With the culture of electronic music and festivals becoming so popular, events are booking more acts to accommodate the fans. This plethora of artists can be very satisfying; it allows you to get a bite of each sonic dish and leaves you feeling accomplished to some degree. It’s like a giant buffet you can work your way down, scooping up what you want—but sometimes, that abundance of choices can leave you feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Often at festivals, there is a little voice in your head that whispers regret in low, mumbled tones and creates a feeling of anxiety. “You could have seen more, bro; you could have seen more.” It’s the voice of that little nasty mental virus we call Fear of Missing Out. You can almost envision an actual FOMO virus looking like that little foot fungus monster from the Lamisil commercial, or the Eats Everything creature. The smug little green bastard is just sitting on your shoulder, taunting you with insults of your festival shortcomings.

One way to overcome this anxiety of missing things is to downshift your festival approach and slow your roll. What you might consider doing is tracking down some DJs who are doing some longer sets.

The extended set used to be the norm in rave and club culture. DJs would expect to be on the decks for at least two hours; anything else was unacceptable. The art of DJing, or mixing, used to be its own thing before all DJs became producers and all producers became DJs.

Originally, a DJ’s job was to create a vibe for the dancefloor with different tempos and genres to build up the energy as the night progressed. You were with them, and they were with you, for the entire night and often into the morning. Today’s approach is usually DJs/artists playing a lot of their tracks live or in a short mix, so often it’s satisfying in some ways, but you usually know what you are going to get: the hits.