Many disciplines including geography, tourism and event management, anthropology, sociology, psychology, public health and medicine have a contribution to make to the study of festivals. Despite a growing body of tourism and event literature outlining the many motivations for and subjective benefits of attending festivals, the reporting of positive health outcomes remains underdeveloped. Researching festival visitors who take risks for pleasure (voluntary risk-taking or 'edgework'), would make an important and illuminating contribution to the literature and could offer alternative and broader perspectives on what we define as 'health'. Interdisciplinary research collaborations using universally accepted definitions, methodologies and measures offer great potential to further our understanding of positive health and voluntary risk-taking from the perspective of the festival visitor. Festivals are a part of contemporary life, with different festivals appealing to different tastes and age groups; the outdoor music festival exemplifies this global phenomenon by celebrating eclectic lifestyles and attitudes. Many disciplines including geography, tourism and event management, anthropology, sociology, psychology, public health and medicine have a contribution to make to the study of festivals. Yet, despite a growing body of tourism and event literature outlining the many motivations for and subjective benefits of attending festivals, the reporting of positive health outcomes remains underdeveloped: indeed, the travel medicine and public health literature favour researching negative health issues associated with attending events and mass gatherings. This being the case, research into the taking of risks for pleasure (voluntary risk-taking or 'edgework') and associated feelings of positive health (often linked to an increased sense of freedom) experienced by festival visitors, would make an important and illuminating contribution to the literature and could offer alternative and broader perspectives on what we define as 'health'. The traditional medical view defines health in terms of illness, symptoms, and disease (Smith, 2008). In contrast, sociological research into lay (non-expert) health beliefs spanning a thirty-year period, positions health and illness within the social and cultural context of everyday life (Cornwell, 1984). Lay concepts of health affect a population's perception of risk, health, and illness behaviour, and are consequently adjuncts to the traditional theoretical medical definitions (Helman, 1991, Lawton, 2003). Helman (1991) also suggests that lay concepts of health are in tune with the seminal, and still relevant, World Health Organisation definition of health, outlined as encompassing mental, physical, and social dimensions (WHO, 1946): this definition delineates the holistic, interactive and dynamic features of health. A UK survey of 9000 people investigated lay views of what being healthy meant to them; the results were divided in terms of negative concepts, where health was defined in terms of...