Party Team Extreme

This post isn’t for the faint of heart–or liver.

I’ve been kicking this idea around for a while to make a list of the biggest/best/awesomest parties and festivals from all around the world, and systematically attending them. You’ll find the current list at the bottom of this post, and I encourage you to suggest others!

So what about the PARTY TEAM? Well, if you’re the jet-setting, adventure-seeking, pretty-bitchin-awesome type of person, I invite you to come along for this rad journey. You don’t have to come for all of the events, but I’d love to assemble a crew who can descend on any festival whether it’s Mardi Gras, Carnival, or La Tomatina and GO HARD. Like I said before: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

If you’re reading this, you just might…

If you want to learn more, the list of events is below. I’m arranging them in a rough order of how I’m thinking of attending them, starting with US/Canada events and moving farther abroad. Anything past the first two or three is not in any sort of order other than how soon I found them.

A Few Considerations Regarding The List

There are certain festivals that I’m excluding here because they didn’t appeal to me, I’ve already done them, or they are so well-known that it’s almost not worth mentioning. Among these are St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland or NYC and Halloween in any large US city.

There are so many music/arts festivals in the US and other countries that I couldn’t possibly attend all of them. I’m targeting the biggest music festivals, and ones that cater towards my taste in music (electronic dance music).

I selected most of these events because they seemed fun or weird. Unique experiences FTW..

There are also a few that I excluded because I’ve already been to them! The list of “Attended” festivals is at the bottom of this list.

The Definitive Extreme Party List:

• Burning Man (Black Rock, Nevada)
• SXSW (Austin, Texas)
• Calgary Stampede (Calgary, Canada)
• Mardi Gras (New Orleans)
• Carnival (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) (or maybe in Trinidad?)
• Boi Bumba (Parintins, Brazil)
• Ati-Atihan (Philippines)
• Ibiza (Spain)
• Full Moon Party (Thailand)
• Queen’s Day (Amsterdam)
• Running Of The Bulls @ Fiesta San Fermin (Spain)
• La Tomatina (Spain)
• kaZantip (Ukraine)
• Ultra Music Festival (Miami)
• Holi (India)
• Bob Marley Birthday Bash (Jamaica)
• Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling (England)
• Monaco Grand Prix (Monaco)
• White Nights (St. Petersburg)
• Glastonbury Festival (England)
• Aloha Festivals (Hawaii)
• Galway Oyster Festival (Ireland)
• Joust of the Saracen (Arezzo, Italy)
• Exit Festival (Serbia & Montenegro)
• Penis Festival (fine, “Harvest Festival) (Japan, obviously)

Awesomely Attended Festivals List

• Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany)
• Coachella (Indio, California)
• West Hollywood Halloween Carnival (California)
• Bay To Breakers (San Francisco)

PS- Party Team Extreme abbreviates as PTX. There is definitely a way to make that into an insignia and stamp it all over everything. Consider that when you’re thinking about joining.

Update (April 2012): I’ve attended Bay To Breakers — it was amazing. I also have my ticket for Burning Man this year and am planning to attend!