This past weekend I joined my Bassnectar family at Euphoria Music Festival in Austin, TX. I had missed out on Okeechobee (honestly more bummed about missing Robert Plant than Nectar), and I was starting to get that oh so familiar itch to go full-on freak mode. My last minute decision to make the trip couldn’t have worked out better. The good vibes started way before we got to Austin, and kept expanding as the weekend went on.
In the week leading up to the festival, I saw a tweet from Bass Network encouraging people to define what Euphoria means to them. I loved reading everyone’s responses, and when I tried to think of my own, the only thing I came up with was “I don’t know.” Really? That’s the best I've got? I put it in the back of my mind and didn’t think about it again until halfway through Bassnectar’s set on Saturday. Something within the music sparked a realization that brought me full circle.
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Let me back track a little bit. Experiencing that show was absolutely surreal. Bassnectar opened his set with Color Storm, a rare gem that hit so heavy and set the perfect mood for everything that was about to wash over us. Plus he mashed it with Now, it was a total beauty banger right off the bat. My crew and I had been guessing at what he might open with and none of us saw that coming (do we ever though?). We were also blessed with Kyrian Bee Bop, the wonkiest, wubbiest, make-you-feel-like-a-noodle kind of song I’ve ever heard. I was on cloud nine for every second, and I could feel everyone right there with me. Major highlights for me were Genesis, Ping Pong (always hits so hard), OG version of Lost in the Crowd, and that magnificent 'What x Into The Sun' mashup.
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Track after track, we kept getting thrown curveballs. The less I knew, the more I loved it. He gave us a special throw down of a new song called Reaching Out that put a sparkly magical vibe over everything (I can’t waaaait for this new album!). A lot of the visuals were completely new, even for the all-time favorites like Noise (don’t worry I think still I caught a blip of the puppy kitty lasers).
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All of the moments that were the most special came out of the blue. And that’s when it hit me. I knew the answer to what Euphoria means to me all along. Not knowing. My Euphoria is embracing the unknown; detaching, letting things happen as they come, letting my curiosity lead me, and not getting too ahead of myself when it comes to anything in life. It was as if Lorin was reaching into my mind and telling it to slow down and quit overthinking. Gotta love those beautiful moments of clarity during a Bassnectar set, right fam?
I’ve said it before, but I feel like people let expectation consume them too often. I've been there. Life is so much more beautiful if you let everything take you by surprise. Nothing in the future is guaranteed, and we should appreciate every present moment we have. Humans are creatures of attachment, and when something rattles what we thought was going to be a sure thing it can cause all sorts of stress and internal negative energy. But when we embrace the unknown endless possibilities and focus on the silver linings, uncertainty becomes opportunity.
The wonderful friends we meet on the road, the incredible tracks we all dance to together, the random acts of kindness and love. These things aren’t planned, they’re opportunities we all embraced to bring positivity into each others lives. Euphoria was filled with wonderful positivity and surprises, and I’m so inspired by you all because of it. There is something so beautifully simple about being okay with not knowing what’s coming next. For the first time in my life I'm living by this and I've never been happier. I encourage everyone out there to loosen your expectations, find whatever your own Euphoria is, and spread it as far and wide as you can.
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