Music festivals can be a pain in the ass. You end up waiting in lines, spending too much money on a can of Budweiser, and must force your way to the front of the crowd to even get a look at your favorite artist performing dozens of feet away from you. The worst part? Music festival passes have only gotten more expensive over the last year; you can end up spending hundreds of dollars for two days at a show. So, why not just sneak into them?
It's easier said than done but photographer James Marcus Haney has spent the last three years dodging security, hopping fences and faking his way into over 50 different musical festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Ultra, Glastonbury, and even The Grammys. Haney turned his three-year-long adventure into a full-length documentary which premiered on MTV last month and is now available to stream, in full, above.
No Cameras Allowed follows Haney as he hitchhikes his way across the country and is able to sneak his way backstage to capture amazing footage of huge artists. He even made some friends during his travels, including Mumford and Sons and The Naked and Famous, who both provided a soundtrack for the doc.
Although Haney, like he says, was practically stealing from these festivals and sneaking his way in, that wasn't the purpose of his doc.
"The trailer makes the film out to be about a guy sneaking into festivals but it’s really a coming of age story set in a music world," Haney said. "It’s a love letter written to these festivals, in a way. And it shows them in such a great light that my goal is that people will see my film and then go and experience live music on their own. There’s no way you can translate the live music experience on to film.”
