The annual gathering of Bassheads and PL Fam that come together in Hampton during the last week of December best resembles a peaceful takeover of the town. Hotels are mobbed, the Waffle House and surrounding restaurants are packed, and the scene on the strip after the show gets out at midnight has locals turning their heads and stopping to ask where all these homeless people came from.
This was our second year attending Hampton Basslights and although we were underwhelmed by the music, the Fam that came out made the festival/show (showstival?). We break down the sets in our official event review, so if you’d like to read up on this year’s performances you can check that out here.
After seeing a couple handfuls of Bassnectar and Pretty Lights shows this past year I’ve been really fortunate to meet some incredible people along the way. For some reason, whether it be Hampton’s prime location in the middle of the East Coast or the love for the music that Nectar and PL create, it seemed so much of the family that I made this year was at Basslights. I got to see Amanda, aka the “So Big Very Gigantic” girl who I caught up with at Red Rocks and Forest this year after meeting at last year’s Basslights.
We exchanged a great sweaty hug and some positivity as she told me how grateful she was to be able to make it out again. I got to see my friends who sold me a sweatshirt at Red Rocks, who we then saw again at Forest and Moonrise, to check in and make sure all was well with them. We ran into our buddy from Long Beach Island in New Jersey, who we saw at a Waffle House in Delaware on our way back from Moonrise after those insane final fifteen minutes of Nectar’s set.
We caught up with our newest family friend from the NSVB tour who is a huge fan of our totem, it was great to see her safely make the trip all the way down from Massachusetts to be with the Fam in Hampton. With so many awesome people around, it didn’t matter that these weren’t my favorite Nectar sets I had seen, the show and the weekend were still unique and memorable.
Basslights is just a music event, but it has morphed into so much more because of the people that come to be together for the music. The stories I’ve shared above are just small examples of the interactions we all experience when we go to shows and festivals, but the vibe at Basslights this year feels different than your usual show. It’s a sort of positive, cathartic, end of the year feeling that works its way in and puts everyone in a great headspace. With everyone that you run into in that mindset, the event becomes more than just a music concert.
Basslights has become a gathering of like-minded people, united by music and then bonded by their shared experience. This may seem trivial to those on the outside looking in, but to those of us fortunate enough to be there we know the emotional attachment that the experience creates.
We can recall fond memories of being on the floor surrounded by friends, or running around our hotels and chilling in the hallway until the sun came up. We can remember all the spontaneous conversations with strangers that started because we were both wearing PL pins or because we overheard a conversation about Nectar’s best set of the year (Red Rocks Night 2 no question).
All of these memories and family that surround Basslights are what made the event special and memorable for me in 2014. We can’t wait for all the new experiences we get to share with everyone in 2015 and we hope to see you at Basslights next year. Much love fam.
Share On
