EntheoGeneric

And now for something completely different. Trance and down-tempo music at a forest rave! They colored this party as a "Lightship Activation," some kind of preparation for the coming madness, climate change, the end of the Mayan Calendar, etc. There were a few speakers on Saturday afternoon, but ultimately, this festival was not what we would call a conscious collective moving toward change. I just can't ever care about trance music, especially when it's supported by so much electricity (where's the bike-powered generators?). The only reason Julia and I were there was to help Simon and Drea work at the art gallery, which Simon was in charge of.

Lots of the right elements were in place. A beautiful property on Mt. Elphinstone with a pond, a creek, summer tanagers flying amok; the art gallery; vegan food huts; plenty of unique vendors who try to be as sustainable as possible; a hooka lounge off the beaten path; ravers camping instead of driving. Yeah.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to the music. This scene is still the same scene, no matter how pretty an environment is. People are still doing drugs everywhere, which isn't necessarily bad, but the collective intent is totally misguided. It is, after all, a party, not a learning community. The music is trance-oriented. Duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn. You know the kind. A relentless pulse which, if you are not actually in the tent listening, always sounds terrible from afar. There was another tent that had much better and diverse music, but our art gallery was right next to the trance tent. So, we got the raw deal.

At least we were surrounded by people we love and great artwork all weekend. The sun did shine and we lay on moss and blankets. It was very relaxing. It's a shame I have to complain about the festival, because if it didn't express those intentions beforehand, it wouldn't have fallen into the category of "not good enough." It was a very nice place. I think the organization was fine, but the scene just doesn't reflect what the intent is. Nice costumes, though, as usual.