Safe & effective short-term energy boosts

I'm old and decrepit and need my sleep, and I'm generally in bed by 11:30 every night, but I'm about to go to a music festival with a pretty exhausting schedule. What's the verdict on trucker speed, 5-Hour Energy, Powerbars? Any tips on keeping me from falling asleep in the middle of a William Basinski set?

5-Hour Energy does nothing for me

Got two bottles of FRS Energy drink concentrate - was doing the concentrate as shots while bartending one night with a friend. Did 12 shots, felt a touch jittery at the end but nothing else. She had a decent energy boost.

Try a banana or two. Potassium and sugar.

Thanks...this'll all be new to me. I've never even had a Red Bull before.

I'm working insanely long hours at a really tiring job lately (that I love but still) and for the first time ever I recently tried some of these things. There is only so much coffee I can drink. So far I've liked the Monster Low Carb version (the one with blue writing) the best. It sort of tastes like carbonated cough syrup but in a good way as hard as that might be to imagine.

I'd also be interested in more recs.

bring your own tea bags and just carry around a cup of green tea at all times. not a cool option, but it helps me maintain a level amount of energy on 14 hr days like today.

you don't want to get all SUPERAMPED because then you can't sit still for basinski or riley and that would be terrible. have something to sip on and you won't fall asleep.

Green tea -or even black- definitely seems like the best option here. Make a thermos of it! Energy drinks make me jittery and occasionally unpleasant to be around and don't really provide a good kind of energy. I wouldn't experiment with them in a setting where I wanted to relax and have a good time.

Avoid eating like, candy bars and such.

OTOH, it's kind of a tough call. As someone who has an earlier-than-average bedtime, I had trouble last month staying at a party past 10:30 and we had an unlimited supply of tea. Maybe bringing along a diet red bull to drink just before you find yourself ready to pass out. But then you might risk insomnia and being completely wiped out the next day. It's sort of a personal thing.

everybody reacts differently to all of these energy drinks. for example, red bull does nothing for me but makes my friends completely wired. so it'd be best to experiment beforehand so that you don't fizz out on the day of.

I've heard that nba players like 5 hour energy? be careful, though, as a lot of these energy drinks are loaded to the max with b-vitamins (something like 10-20,000% of your rdv) and it may lead to toxicity?

a good hard slap in the face- insult christopher walken if he happens to be conveniently nearby.

I had trouble last month staying at a party past 10:30 and we had an unlimited supply of tea.

crazy times ;)

It was a fundraiser for Haiti relief at the Kung Fu and Tai Chi school we attend. : )

But also, I wake up at quarter-to-five every day to go to work.