Welcome to the next installment about the music festival I went to last month, Camp Bisco. I’ve already given you a little background about what this fest is all about, so now get ready for a recap of which artists we saw while we were there. Get ready for a day-by-day breakdown of all of the sets we saw while at the festival, complete with cheesy titles I made up. Camp Bisco's photographers took way better pictures than I ever could, so I linked up their post on Facebook of all the different performances each day. Make sure to take a look!
STUPENDOUS THURSDAY
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The first set we saw was at the Above the Waves stage, which stood right next to the wave pool. Zoogma was a group I had never heard of before, but they came highly recommended by one of our neighbors, so we checked them out. I really loved how the live guitar sounded with the different synthesizers they incorporated. It was a funky, trancey mix of rock and electronic, and I’m glad we caught the last 15 minutes of the show. We missed out on the action, though. Apparently about halfway through the set a fan jumped over the gate and rushed the stage without even a look from security and tackled one of the guys from Zoogma. You can check out the infamous stunt on the video below. I’ve also included a couple of my new favorite Zoogma tracks!
Catching Zoogma at the Wave Stage on Thursday.
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After Zoogma, we stopped by the Disco Lodge which was an indoor stage where some of the newer DJs played at. I really liked this stage the whole weekend, it had an intimate groovy feel to it. We checked out Manic Agenda on our way through, and I could have stayed and danced all night! We were on a mission to see our first headliner of the weekend, though. And on that note, we headed to the Electric City stage to see Atmosphere. I used to listen to Atmosphere all the time, but somehow he made his way on to the back shelves of my recently played lists. I was so happy when I saw him on the lineup for Camp Bisco, and he gave a great performance. It was a cool throwback to high school when I heard some old favorites like Puppets and Yesterday. His style is very different from the rest of the headliners, with the vocals being the main focus of the music. I love the smooth flow of his verses and his powerful word choice.
Watching Atmosphere on the Main Stage.
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During the break between headliners, we went back to the Disco Lodge and caught Craz’s set. We heard about this up and comer through his collaboration with Bassnectar on his song Thursty. I’m so glad we could catch some of his set. He had that tiny lodge area absolutely bumping. Just see for yourself!
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Next up for the night was Sound Tribe Sector 9. This was another performance I was stoked about, as I have a lot of friends who are really into this band. I wasn’t disappointed, their show was on point and had plenty of spectacular visuals. We took a detour to the Steamtown stage to check out Subset, and man am I glad we did. We were able to catch the kookiest remix to Funky Town I’ve ever heard, and it was nice to be at a less crowded stage (more room to dance!). We went back to watch the end of Tribe’s set and they left off with a bang. I would love to see them in a different setting one day, where I’m not too distracted to watch the full set!
Up next were the Disco Biscuits, and since it was their first set of the festival, they greeted us with a little “Welcome to Camp” speech that made me so excited to be a part of this festival. Watch the beginning of the video below for their intro, and also to hear the song they opened with. They put on a great version of Prince’s "Party Like It’s 1999." It was a killer way to kick off the whole weekend.
We were able to make it over to the Waves stage again to see part of Slow Magic’s set. I had never heard of him before, but as soon as his set started, I was completely mesmerized by his hypnotic drum rhythms. Everything about his performance, from his bizarre multicolored wolf mask to the perpetuating pattern that he banged on his floor toms, screamed ‘tribal’ to me. I was instantly made a fan, and there was some sort of beautiful mystery about his set and the few songs I saw. If you’re curious to learn more about Slow Magic, check out his SoundCloud profile below. Also, this interview with Huffington Post is a good place to start!
And finally, the last performance we saw of the night was Pretty Lights. I had been so excited about seeing Pretty Lights for the first time. I was hoping he’d play "Hot Like Sauce,” which was the song that really sparked my interest in electronic music. But, as it turns out, unexpected things happen and we were only at the stage for the first few minutes of the show. I found a video below of his set that night where he played an interesting combination of Midnight Riders and Fly Like an Eagle. It still ended up being quite an adventure of a night, and we were able to listen to two more sets from our tent that was conveniently close to the Waves stage area of the festival. So, Twiddle and DJ Classixx closed out the night for us as day 1 of Camp Bisco came to an end.
TANTALIZING FRIDAY
When Friday morning came, we decided to do some exploring before heading in the festival. The campgrounds were so expansive, and we soon realized how lucky we were to be camping near the bottom of the mountain. For the first year, the festival was at a ski resort which meant the campgrounds were put on the slopes. Even being near the bottom, we had a spectacular view off into the distance! It made for some gorgeous sunsets.
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We hiked a long way up from our tent and still hadn’t reached the top edge of the campgrounds. And there were two other huge slopes we didn’t even walk to. That hike was so needed, and we came back having sweated a little and stretched our muscles. Not to mention the spontaneous conversations and fantastic people watching that took place. After that we ate a huge lunch and started to plot out what artists we wanted to see for the day.
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Something that sets Camp Bisco apart is that this year’s venue had the facilities to offer $5 hot showers. We swiftly took advantage of this, which ended up taking most of the afternoon. We did catch some of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s set on the way through, though. They’re a funky group of dudes out of Baltimore, and I was glad we caught some of their set. I was surprised to hear the groovy sax, definitely one of my favorite instruments to incorporate with electronic music! I was stoked to hear some new jams, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out when they come to Atlanta in October!
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Once we got back to camp, I did some watercolor painting. It felt so good to sit outdoors and let my creativity wander. No joke, we were still really tired from everything, so we ended up hanging out at the tent for a good part of the evening. We gave our ears a break, too and listened to The Floozies, Herobust and Emancipator from our campsite. Don’t think we weren’t dancing, though!
Up next was Solidisco at the Waves stage. They’re a high energy duo that knows how to throw a true dance party. We stayed at this set for longer than most. The crowd at this show was getting so into it and you could feel how energized it was. It didn’t matter that the sun had gone down, there was still a massive party going on inside the wave pool. This was definitely one of the more fun sets we saw!
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We finally made our way back over to the Main Stage where we caught the Disco Biscuits' second set of the day. It was fun seeing them play a night show, and the crowd was eating up everything they dished out. I liked being able to see them play multiple sets, it gave them a real opportunity to spread out their different styles and let people see a little bit of everything. We didn’t stay at this set long because we wanted to catch Snails back at the Waves stage. Snails was one of the most interesting performers at this festival. I read a pretty cool interview that goes into where the heck this guy came from. Montreal, if you were curious. His set had a level of insane intensity, covered with the filthiest kind of dubstep out there. Snails destroys, that’s all you really need to know. If you don’t believe me, check out his EDC 2015 set on SoundCloud below.
Big Gigantic was the next headliner, and we had about 2 hours before the set started. We thought we’d get a quick power nap in and then head into the show so we could see them and then catch Kill the Noise on the way out. Sleep deprivation will make you do crazy things, though. Like sleep through one of the top headliners of the festival, and that’s what happened. The next thing I knew it was morning, and we had missed the last sets of the night from Day 2 at Bisco. I watched plenty of videos from it though, so I’m not too disappointed. Sometimes you have to give your body what it wants - rest.
FREAK FEST SATURDAY
The best thing we could have done was give ourselves a really good night’s sleep before Bassnectar Day. So, once Saturday came we were more than ready to take on the last day of the festival. We had another relaxing morning, and we didn’t waste any time before we started breaking down our campsite. After waiting in line for hours to get in on the first day, we didn’t want any chance of getting stuck on the way out. So we packed up and headed down the mountain to load up the car. It felt like the past few days flew by, and it was weird that we were already getting ready to leave. Good thing we had one more awesome day ahead of us!
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We mostly hung out by the Main Stage on Saturday, meaning we got to catch some of The Werks' set. Then we saw the Disco Biscuits’ first set of the day. They played three sets on Saturday, so it was fun to finally be able to see one from start to finish. We hung out under the tent for a little to get a close up view of their set, and some selfies too! We moved to the lawn for the rest of the afternoon, just listening to the music and enjoying the beautiful weather.
Manic Focus played that afternoon, and I really loved the set. In fact, I heard the first ever electronic remix of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song and I was freaking out as soon as I heard it. Check out Manic Focus’s remix of Dani California below! It’s definitely one of my new favorites!
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Just before the Biscuits’ second set of the day, an announcement boomed over the festival telling everyone to seek shelter, as there was a huge storm cell headed our way. We had been eyeing the weather closely, so we sort of saw this coming. We headed to the Disco Lodge just minutes before a torrential downpour hit Montage Mountain. I was happy to be safe and cozy in the Disco Lodge, and we even were entertained by a spontaneous beatbox competition. I can’t imagine what the campgrounds looked like after that, packing the car early was the best idea of the weekend!
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It was a super intense storm, and the performance schedule had to be delayed because of it. Luckily it didn’t last more than 15 minutes, because if Bassnectar’s set was cancelled, I wouldn’t be surprised if a riot broke out. The storm passed, and as we headed back to the Main Stage we saw one of the biggest double rainbows I’ve ever seen. It branched over the entire festival grounds. It was something pretty special.
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We hung out under the Main Stage tent to watch the Biscuits one last time. It had gotten dark by then, and the light show was especially spectacular. We listened, we danced, and we grooved. But nothing could distract us from what we had been eagerly waiting for all weekend. Bassnectar. At long last, we were seeing yet another Nectar show. It felt like it had been ages, even though it was only since New Year’s Eve. Bassnectar had a busy summer, and in the aftermath of each show, we became more and more antsy to hear his new music live. Finally the moment had come. We found an open spot on the lawn where we had some breathing room and sat eagerly, waiting to hear what the first sounds of the set would be.
I laughed, and a huge smile came across our faces when we heard his voice boom the friendliest “HI!” over the speakers. From that point on, he took us on a ride. Dropping one hit after another, mixing in acapella verses from familiar sounding artists (like Big Boi from OutKast and Childish Gambino!). He topped it with some of the craziest visuals I’d ever seen (that lightening show, amirite?). The whole set was high energy, even during the more mellow songs like his “No Way” remix and “Underwater.” I still am in awe of seeing that song live! Underwater is supposedly a very rare track, and it’s one that is super meaningful to me. We heard at least two-thirds of his newest album Into The Sun, and more favorites like Noise and Expanded. One of the best moments of the night was when he played Wildstyle Method (that transition from Sommarfagel was superb!). I’ve heard this song both New Year’s shows I’ve gone to, but never have I heard a crowd yell “WILDSTYLE” so loudly. Check out the video below and see what I mean!
He ended the night with Enter the Chamber, and I can remember feeling so happy and so connected after that show. Bisco attracts a special breed of Bassheads. The ones who will camp the rail all day if they have to. The ones who won’t let a little rain stop them from raging. The ones who will travel far and wide to live on a mountain with each other for three days. The ones who show constant outpouring support for his music and the community around it. The crowd that night was something special, you could feel it. I think Lorin was feeling it too, just check out that huge grin in the Family Photo!
It was the perfect way to cap off the whole festival, and I felt a deep sense of appreciation as we made our way home. Camp Bisco will always have a special place in my heart. I’m so glad I chose this festival, it proved to be one of the most unique and inspirational experiences of my life.
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