Shambhala Music Festival (Nel Aug 8-11)

[b0ld]

how was Skream's set?
oh and did Rusko show up?

[rustybob]

This year was nowhere near as good as the last two. I ended up leaving on Sunday, but a lot of that is me being too old to party five nights in a row. I'm still burnt out today.

Bryx on Thursday was amazing. That was definitely one of my favourite sets of the weekend. Atomic Hooligan later on that night was great as well.

Friday, Skool of Thought dropped a wicked set, as did the Smalltown DJs. I gotta say, that lightning storm on Friday night was quite the sight as well. The whole sky was lighting up for a good two hours.

Saturday I just couldn't get into it, I was way too burnt out. Malente dropped some tracks before Fort Knox Five came out, and those beats sounded sick! I was disappointed I missed his (and Robb G's) sets later in the night. Fort Knox Five was exactly what I was expecting, but I just couldn't get into it. I think I ended up in bed by 2:30am.

Sunday morning, even after a good sleep, I was just too burnt out. My mind was telling me to stay for A. Skillz, Bassnector, and Drop the Lime, but my body was saying no way, so I ended up leaving. Even after another good sleep last night, I'm still tired.

I'll be back again next year, but I think I'll go up on Friday again. Wednesday-Monday is just too much for me these days, although it was great to be in a good camping spot this year.

In the end, it was the worst Shambhala of the three I've been to, but a lot of that has to do with me.

[GSG9]

Originally Posted by b0ld

how was Skream's set?
oh and did Rusko show up?

yea, what he said.......

[JGirl]

This year was absolutely brilliant compared to past years.

There were way less stupid coked-out, G-ed out Hard House loving idiots than previous years. I'm too old to deal with irresponsible wastetoids... Good vibes only please. :D

Im not a fan of dark, glitched, grimy Breaks, Dubstep, DnB - although I can appreciate it. In the past, Ive felt assaulted by this type of music at Shambh left, right, and center... This year offered less of that and more happy 4/4 rhythms weeeeeeee!

The House acts on Friday were fantastic and a much need breath of fresh air. LCG played to a full Village during a massive lightning storm - craziness. Gross drippy bug and slug visuals during LCG's set was retarded. lol! EW!

Neighbor owns. His 8AM Fractal House set is a highlight of my weekend. He played a nice spectrum of 10 yrs of underground Bouncy Chicago House that went off. He snuck in about 4-5 of his own tracks - sweeeeeet. Sounded great, love those basslines. Pepe Bradock's remix of Sunshine People made me grin from ear to ear - I LOVE that track and have not heard it in maybe a decade and never outside of Montreal-Toronto... That just reminds me to never get rid of your vinyl collection. Fractal was filled with House Heads - sweet.

Fractal's new lighting made the space brighter and more inviting and their pimping sound throbbed perfectly. :) Hats off the Rich & crew for their hard work. Dope acts in there as well.... sickness from Stickypod, ASkillz, Drop The Lime were fantastic as expected, & Phat Conductor and his MC just killed it with filthy beats and rhymes... Ursula1000 was a nice addition and of course Malente did what he does best and assaulted the place with great music. :) Im sad I missed the Fractal Funk Jam again... Still have not been able to catch that jam sesh.

The Pagoda stage design was beautiful :) Feature cast played a nice spectrum of non-nuskool Breaks. He tore shit up proper and at a dance-friendly pace and turntablism trickery. Very cool.

The Rock pit had very little rock this year. Their bands in from Australia were incredible filling the place with funk, soul, didgeridoo, reggae MCing and filling the place with dance-friendly, non-grimy World Beat rhythms. Five Alarm Funk are so incredible. Blue Kind Bown gave me chills - beautiful music and 3 solid lady vocalists... one broke into a sweet sweet Stevie Wonder song WOW. Ganga Giri rules! I caught Amanda Rudey and Erica Dee - nice combo. Amanda's trip overseas offered fresh new inviting beats. So good. :) Also caught BTraits' DnB set there - nice frenetic, brain-filled drummy driving beats. Love it. Her mom's pretty damn cool too - dancing away the whole time. That rules. Hats off to Exile for nailing that stage programing.

Bassnectar Beach set was a huge hit. I didnt think that many people could fit in that tiny space. :S The sky was such a strange color at that time too... Neat experience.

Excision warmed up the Dubstep Village Sat session very well... He has a dedicated crew and a unique sound. From there on, I couldn't even get into to catch any sets cuz it was so packed. Skreameo was so packed like PACKED.

Unexpectedly, I enjoyed the tunes & vibes at Labyrinth a lot this years. There weren't too many weirdo psytrance heads and the music was great and approachable and filled with world beat rhythms and not creaper noises typical of Psy & Goa. Adham Sheikh played some seriously amazing music. After him, Ganga Giri from Melbourne played 2 hours of eclectic driving beats filled with ragga MCing, Didge, pan flute, bongos, cowbell, flute, ... all live ... insane. So many layers of beats patterns and odd rhythm combos... They were relentless and are my fave act from the weekend.

Sad I missed Nikodemus DAMN. I was honestly shocked and thrilled about that booking. I never expected a NYC underground House DJ with so much cred play at a BC-style fest. I love House with Funk, Soul, Afro-beat, Latin influences and his "Turntables On The Hudson" is a legendary project with so much support from House lovers and I was curious as shit to enjoy his set and see how it went --but-- the hail storm + 80 mile per hour winds won the battle.... :( Wet tent, wet winter vest, wet blanket, flying crap, flattening tent from the winds, flying 2nd tent, ripped grommets on my tarp. Insane. I love hail storms. :evil:

Sad I missed Bryx - he is one skilled dude. He played very well at Solaris and hoped to catch him again at Shambh but alas.

Robb G pounded Fractal. Had some mixing issues but regardless - great tunes - great vibes. I've seen him many many times back east. It was nice to catch him play in the Shambhala setting.

We took a long walk down to the other end of the camping areas - places I had not explored and wont again. Holey daytime tweaker-fest ... camo land ... and showing up to Shambh on Wed and keeping to a diet of acid, E, K, 2CI is not good. LOL silliness wearing wings and talking to rocks and trees - poor things. Eat food not drugs.

Our camp spot was great. Met tons of rad people. Also, I brought a bike this year. yup! It's so all about the bike. :D

The drinking water was so chlorinated and my insides feel bleached - bleagh. LOL

Not sure if I will attend next year. It's incredibly taxing even for a 2.5 day visit. Im digging the smaller fests budding in the Interior in the past few years and would prefer to catch those... :D

[Average]

Originally Posted by b0ld

how was Skream's set?

It was murda so fucking heavy it crushed my chest I dont even dig dub step and that was the shit and Bassnectar owns

[suplex]

i loved bassnectar @ village- feckin claustrophobic city though!
j-pod and stickybuds @ fractal
ali b @ fractal
a.skills @ fractal
adham shaike @ labyrinth
ganga giri @ labyrinth
lightning storm on the beach with dj shawna
five alarm funk
brother @ beach
Atomic hooligan @ pagoda scratchin the cd-j violin style


The whole experience was shambha-wa wa wet n wild! Glad i had a good spot to camp and my stuff stayed dry.

[crackdragon]

Had a great time, but was sick the Saturday night and Sunday :( I missed a lot of shit so I am kind of bummed out about that but oh well I guess. Got lots of sleep :P
Next year I guess

[inside]

Originally Posted by suplex

five alarm funk



The whole experience was shambha-wa wa wet n wild! Glad i had a good spot to camp and my stuff stayed dry.

Five Alarm Funk played! thoses guys are wicked!

[cinist]

too bad it's cancelled next year

[Drazkers]

Originally Posted by cinist

too bad it's cancelled next year

Really? What is the deal?

[Average]

Originally Posted by cinist

too bad it's cancelled next year

lol as if haha

[dj_soo]

they say that every year

[Vitamin-X]

In no particular order:

-Drop-the-lime played an absolutely killer set.

-Had a great time.

-Was amazed at how relaxed and cool the staff were

-Odd to sleep from 6pm to 1am and get up and party until 7 or 8, but worth it.

-A really cool vibe, lots of wild costumes, and enough glow-whatevers to land a 747.

-Left early Sunday (7:15-7:30am), and was the last car out before the cops pulled up (at about 100km/h, they were in a hurry,-can't let any ravers escape I guess) *pumps fist*

Overall: very costly and effort intensive, but definitely different than anything I've been to in the past.
(Don't know how i can ever go back to The colosseum now.)


-although It wouldn't hurt if they shoveled a little gravel on some of those mud spots...

[cinist]

venue was sold for commercial development, it will be a walmart this time next year.

[Erin]

Where do I start...?

Got in line on Wed at about 1:30 - in the party at 6:30 - set up the tent and down to the river eating dinner etc by 8ish...

And it only got better from there!

Every year is better then the last - How does it happen?!

I got a bit of the shamb-a-litus though - Boyfriend and I are both sick. :(

Sunday night was just silly... Skream and then Bassnectar and then bed time - how much fun was that huh?!? :)

Don't think I'll be there next year - gonna try something new. 5 years is enough.

[Bevvy Swift]

worst shambles ever. a guy died.

besides the good music everything else sucked ass. and even the good music seemed crappier than usual. maybe it was the acid, maybe im just bored of partying, or maybe i just dont have 5 days of rave in me anymore.

overall it just seemed way less magical than the rest of the years i attended. just felt like a high budget apex . still some wicked moments though, which i will cover now.

#1 - MICHAEL RED'S SKETCHY SUNDAY MORNING SET - saved my life.
#2 - hog tying jeremy in his sleep and dragging him ass first around his tent
#3 - back massage, courtesy of PK sound and SKREAM
#4 - floating.

[cinist]

how did someone die?


didn't someone commit suicide last year

[Bevvy Swift]

^i never heard about that, but i guy died for sure this year, i was there.. just too many drugs i guess, his body and brain couldnt take it and he freaked right out before going limp.

i also forgot to add 2 other sets that rocked my weekend, AnaSia, and edIT on the Rhodes on friday

[GSG9]

Originally Posted by Bevvy Swift

overall it just seemed way less magical than the rest of the years i attended. just felt like a high budget apex . still some wicked moments though, which i will cover now.

or MAYBE you dont have apex to compare it to, and in comparison its much better, making it appear better than it is?

or maybe the novelty is wearing off. cause nothing is special once you experience it enough times.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Bevvy Swift

worst shambles ever. a guy died.

besides the good music everything else sucked ass. and even the good music seemed crappier than usual. maybe it was the acid, maybe im just bored of partying, or maybe i just dont have 5 days of rave in me anymore.

overall it just seemed way less magical than the rest of the years i attended. just felt like a high budget apex . still some wicked moments though, which i will cover now.

#1 - MICHAEL RED'S SKETCHY SUNDAY MORNING SET - saved my life.
#2 - hog tying jeremy in his sleep and dragging him ass first around his tent
#3 - back massage, courtesy of PK sound and SKREAM
#4 - floating.

Maybe it was the shit and garbage in your tent?

[Erin]

PS Acid is gross. It ruined 2005 for me.

*Edit: Not the entire year of 2205, I mean Shambhala 2005.

[Bevvy Swift]

^no, the shiot and garbage in my tent were actually a bright point lol..

[Erin]

<3 <3 <3 ^^ You make me smile. :)

You're a food sport.

PS What did you do to him? All he would say is that you took his knife.

*Edit: That should say good sport... not food. :)

[b0ld]

skream posted this comment on dubstepforum.com

Originally Posted by skream

i must say this was by far one of my favourite sets i've ever played.....
And also one of the best festivals in the world....
Massive shouts to all the organisers and dj/producers i met...

[-evil-duerr-]

there were some great times. the music was excellent, met lots of cool people, and partied with a bunch of friends i only get to see at the festival.

but this year proved to me that i'm getting too old for this kind of partying. The sleep dep caught up to me in a big way, i had to leave the festival early (sunday morning). Think i'll be taking next year off haha