After a long hiatus, five days of Symbiosis Festival happened this year at the picturesque Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Long nights of dancing in the dust to incredible music transitioned to lazy afternoons dipping into the cool waters of the lake and enjoying the beach party atmosphere with friends and family. Breezes off the lake kept the dusty desert days surprisingly cooled while the sun glistened upon the incredibly massive stages and artworks around the village. The festival was timed to climax with an incredible view of the full solar eclipse on Sunday May 20th, complimentary filtered glasses allowed a view of the fiery ring of sunlight around the black disc of the moon.
The stage design was far beyond most events we have attended! Expert lighting design danced across complex constructions and exotic materials and furnishing, creating powerful shapes and symbols for all to enjoy.
The Eclipse stage: built by Osiris camp, Mandala Domes, Space Shaping, and Michael Christian. Here you found a range of live bands with emphasis on soul and groove married with electronic and progressive technology, jam explorations, and glitch dubstep. Lineup: James Blake, Little Dragon, Beats Antique, Tipper, PaNTy RAiD, Gang Gang Dace, Love & Light, Lowriderz, Nasty Ways, Photek, Rustier, Emancipator, and more.
The Sun stage: built by Symbiotic Creations and Bamboo DNA. House, psytrance, world, glitch, and more. Lineup: Claude Von Stroke, Damian Lazarus, Perfect Stranger, Salva, and more.
The Moon tent aka the Big Top: built by Vau de Vire Society (fantastic cabaret, circus, and acrobatic performances all week) and Michael Christian. Circus, lyricists, folk, and psytrance. Lineup: Lyrics Born, Rapa and the April Fishes, Diego’s Umbrella, El Radio Fantastique, Sour Mash Hug Band, and more.
The Earth stage: built by Satyr Yuga, Dept of Visual Consciousness, and Symbiotic Creations. Downtempo, psychedelic, world, and reggae. Lineup: Bluetech, Entheogenic, Adam Sheikh, Chub I Sabbah, Gaudi, Dub Kirtan All-stars, Bird of Prey, Desert Dwellers, and more.
A five-day event allowed for a huge mind-bending lineup. So much diverse talent was booked and everywhere you turned amazing performances were broadening everyone’s musical horizons and requiring all of your energy to keep up. They did a great job of staggering the biggest headliners to help you see all your favorite acts. Also the pacing was very appropriate, with the relaxing downtempo grooves raining upon you during the day as you walked around exploring, the big hitters all packed near midnight, and the most trippy psychedelic acts sucking you into dancing all late night and early morning. There was also a massive schedule of workshops, activities, speeches, yoga, a sauna complete with masseuses, delicious food, and vendors hawking everything from colorful dancewear to rare crystals from across the globe. It truly became a dreamy village by the lake.
Some of our musical highlights:
Tipper – layered, complex, changing, and tremendously entertaining. A flow of madness, he orchestrated a mixture of early film scores on top of slews of beats ranging from drum and bass to acid jazz. Brilliant strobe lights flashed across the biggest crowd of the event. He somehow brought order to chaos during his night set. He also played a more downtempo, but just as complex and groovy, set during the end of the solar eclipse.
Claude von stroke brought his signature super heavy bass that isn’t just about loud volume but a designed sexy sound. His set was the most conducive to dancing and whooping cries of glee. A masterful progression from sound to sound, he kept the energy constantly peaking.
Little dragon. Their strong live element stood in contrast with the many DJ artists. Their hour and a half set started with slow jazzy numbers like Brush the Heat and Ritual Union, emphasizing the talent of sultry vocalist Yukimi Nagano. Then slowly building into a more jammy approach, they drew out the sounds and choruses of the songs from their 2007 self-titled Album into high-energy experimental breakdowns between songs.
Rupa and the April Fishes. Fast whirlwind pacing led by Gypsy rockstar Rupa’s tireless energy brings feelings of punk rock meets circus (appropriately playing the Vau de Vire circus big top tent), with a political lyrical punch. I’m always a big fan of acoustic stand up bass. Their wild polka stomping set left the crowd screaming and begging for more once the band’s time was up.
Pantyraid. The hardness of hip-hop meets electronic glitch that gets your hips bouncing. In somewhat humorous contrast to many of the psychedelic acts and darker dubstep sets of other artists, they elevate the atmosphere to a very positive party mood. They unified the diverse crowd well and their transitions and drops were buttery smooth. It brought out an inner ghetto booty shakin’ in everyone.
