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The Inaugural Elements Lakewood Music & Art Camping Festival Goes Off with a Fiery Bang [Event Review]

June 2, 2017 By Brie French-Sorgini

There are so many elements that go into curating an inaugural music festival. With countless moving parts, it’s understandably difficult to work out all of the kinks to make it flow just right. And yet, a brand-new festival set deep into the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania accomplished what many have failed to do before.

This past weekend, BangOn!NYC’s inaugural Elements Lakewood Music & Art Camping Festival at Camp Lavi in Lakewood, PA truly went off with a bang (no pun intended). Featuring four incredible elemental stages— Earth, Air, Fire, and Water— endless interactive and performance art installations, theme camps, a real-life pirate ship to party on complete with Jack Sparrow doppelgänger, and sunset to sunrise tunes, it seamlessly intertwined all of the wonderful and eccentric elements of its Brooklyn counterpart, and topped it all off with a unique camping experience. Drawing in over 4,000 attendees, the festival might best be described by this image: burning man meets Brooklyn meets adult summer camp. Festivals around the world, take note: the incredible cabin accommodations provided were ON POINT. But what would a festival be without its centerpiece, a truly well thought out lineup, perfectly mixed to fit your every mood. We spent the weekend deep in the woods with no signal, straight up vibing.

Although it was somewhat difficult to imagine how the theme of an adult summer camp would mesh with the type of parties Elements is notoriously known for, the masterminds at BangOn!NYC delivered a perfectly executed mashup. Sprawled across the camp was every game and activity you could think of, including human foosball, mini golf, heated swimming pools, ropes courses, deep house yoga, a massage oasis and more. The roller skating rink provided endless highlights as campers spun and twirled around in costume to sounds of players like AKKI and Jackal Jyve from the decks of the life-sized boombox stage adjacent to the rink. For those not skilled enough to smoothly ride to the music (cough, us), there was plenty of room around the rink to get our stumble on.

At the top of the campsite sat two larger-than-life wolves howling at the moon, making up the façade of the breathtaking Earth stage. Here is where bass heads and campers alike congregated to see headliners like Tipper, Baauer, and Liquid Stranger play phenomenal sets over the course of the weekend. Other memorable moments that took place included ASADI playing his trippy trap version of the Harry Potter theme song and Herobust fans causing an uproar as he threw down a killer set. Surrounding the stage was an immersive igloo, iron sculpture garden, a lotus temple, and other art installations that gave way to the best views of the decks and the glowing crowd once you climbed atop. Kudos to the genius(es?) behind the VFX here because they were out of this world. On Sunday night, we closed down the Earth stage with one of the most unforgettable performances of the weekend by Keys n Krates, who played a stellar extended version of “Dum Dee Dum.”

Far down the hill, seated along the sandy shores of Camp Lavi’s lake was the glittering Water Stage. Paper sail boats spun in the air and bubbles floated through the crowd as the sounds of Tr(otter), NSR, Fort Knox Five, Horse Meat Disco and many others set the mood. It was the perfect area to slug back a few Shock Tops and dance the day away under the sunlight. Just off the docks was a real-life pirate ship that lived up to every expectation. Fully loaded with the aforementioned pirate captain, a mermaid, and a crow’s nest on deck, every half hour campers jumped aboard to set sail across the picturesque lake.

Not far from the Water Stage hid the most magical area of the entire festival grounds, the ZERO Air Stage. Tucked away in a corner of the woods, the stage had only two entry ways: through a dark, wooded path from the Fire stage, or by venturing down the Fairy Walk into the Black Light Forest. The latter path was by far the most idyllic, adorned with magic mirrors, glowing portals, light-up tunnels, a glowing tapestry sanctuary, a speakeasy, and other enchanting furnishings. As you approached the wooden tree stump-looking stage, you were welcomed by bedazzled branches, a double-decker tree house, rope bridges, and campers who appeared to be completely mystified by both the visuals and sounds engulfing them. Over the weekend we heard music from Anna Forest, Oona Dahl, Eagles & Butterflies, Lovecraft, M.A.N.D.Y, and so many more. The Air stage was by far the best destination to get the feels day in and day out. Given the option, we’d build ourselves our very own asylum within the trees and never leave.

Blazing on the outskirts of the festival grounds was the final main stage, Fire, where the decks were fronted by a pyrotechnic moat, and flames lit up its backdrop and the surrounding tops of geo-domes. The opening ceremony welcomed fire-breathers, stilt walkers, and other exotic acrobats to their home turf for the weekend. Friday night saw Claptone host a killer masquerade party featuring openers like Eli Escober and Eli & Fur. Saturday followed suit when players like Billy Kenny and Justin Jay erupted the stage with funkalicious vibes, delivering by far two of our favorite sets of the entire festival. The night ended with the father of the dirtiest birds, Mr. Claude VonStroke, throwing it down hard as always with all of his classic tracks. Throughout the weekend, surprise firework shows would light up the sky for all of the camp to enjoy, but the best view could be seen by those dancing in the flames. On Sunday night, the final set came from the deep and delicious sounds of Brooklynites, The Golden Pony. All in all, every single performance at this stage was pure FIRE, and fittingly so.

When each of the stages turned down for the night, the party turned up at the many late-night areas. Throughout the camp, performances lasted well past sunrise at stages like the Grand Hall with SNBRN and Jackal Jyve, silent discos with psychedelic trap music from those like RJ Pasin, and a “Members Only” campout barn-esque area that featured players only attendees in-the-know could truly appreciate. Even at the Rock n Roll bar, campers were losing their minds to Killadaze’s deep dubstep into the early hours of the morning. With all that was going on it felt like the party would never come to an end, and isn’t that what festival goers always yearn for?

Rarely does a festival in its first year leave such an enormous lasting impression, yet Elements Lakewood cultivated an inaugural experience that was truly unforgettable. While we try to relay all that we can, these few words written above only begin to do the festival justice. Be sure to follow Elements and BangOn!NYC to see photos of the all magic that took place last weekend. Thank you, Elements, we can’t wait for Lakewood 2018!

Photo Credit 1: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 2: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 3: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 4: Brittany NOFOMO
Photo Credit 5: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 6: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 7: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 8: Julian Cassidy
Photo Credit 9: Chris Lazzaro, FreedomFilm LLC