After a wet and wild weekend at Camp NCN for the fourth edition of Infrasound Music Festival, we finally made it home safe and hope all of you did as well. It seems like Thursday was an eternity ago, and I know I’m not the only one wishing for a time machine or DeLorean to transport me back to the line waiting to get in with no idea what to expect and butterflies in my stomach.
I’ve attended my fair share of festivals and a solid handful of camping ones, but none have impressed me the way Infrasound did. From the smooth entrance and short line, to the camping situation, to Party Central it seemed like every detail was anticipated and handled perfectly. The only other fest I’ve experienced this attention to detail is Electric Forest, which is about 30 times bigger in population and grounds. For a festival of 1,500 to be handled so professionally is a huge testament to the commitment of the organizers.
Tipper Visuals by Android Jones
Besides the smooth execution of logistics, I was blown away by how incredible the sound was. I’d heard a lot about these mythical “Funktion Ones” and was eager to see if they would live up to the hype. When we first arrived and were setting up, I couldn’t tell if the person on stage was playing a guitar live or if it was a recorded instrument. Throughout the entire weekend I overheard people asking others if someone was playing right now or it was just background tunes during set breaks. That’s how good the sound was. With a lineup featuring huge dubstep names and a crowd of bass music fanatics, I doubt there is anyone in attendance, artists included, who had a bad word to say about the sound. Simply put, the audio experience was the best I’ve ever heard, and judging from talking to artists and fans alike, very few people would disagree.
7 Funktion-Ones on both sides of Main Stage
As I said before, the capacity at Camp NCN is only 1,500 making Infrasound the smallest fest I’ve ever attended. This lent to communal vibes that were off the charts. By day two we had been seeing the same faces and totems at every stage and when a festival is so small there tends to be a sense of personal accountability that permeates through the crowd. Over the course of the weekend I saw very few people who needed to be handled by security or were pissing people off with their antics. Everyone was also extremely giving, thoughtful, polite, and pleasant to be around. It truly felt like a family.
Steam coming off the lake during Tipper’s Sunrise Set
If all of the above isn’t enough to have you slamming your fist into your desk and cursing yourself for missing out then you don’t want to hear about how immersive Infra was.
There are a lot of reasons why people go to music festivals and it’s interesting to think about the different perspectives of people there. Some go for a place to do drugs, some go to dance in the rain, others to hear their favorite artists throw down their favorite tunes.
The reason I, and I’m sure many others, go to fests is to get away from every day life and do something different. I believe strongly in the process, and when you switch up your lifestyle and drive 19 hours through the night to the middle of nowhere Wisconsin to put yourself in a new place and have an experience the result is a shift in your mindset. When your mindset is changed your thought process is changed and thus your perspective as well. So when you have moments of self-reflection during Thriftworks in the pouring rain and you think about anything (your family, friends, work, life problems, life goals) you approach them from a different perspective, yet they’re still coming from within you.
To me, this is extremely significant. Our human nature yearns to be free, so we’re hesitant to listen to advice and counsel because we fight the feeling of being told what to do. So at Infra during TRUTH and Opiuo when your mind is full of the purest thoughts and feelings you’ve experienced, you’re able to take a third person perspective on yourself and learn and grow within yourself. With no outside influence but the music and yourself.
Not all festivals have the power to do this, to immerse their attendees so thoroughly that they become a different (hopefully better) version of themselves for a couple days. The afterglow of Infrasound has me illuminated from the inside out and I feel inspired, motivated, and ready to get back into the flow of my every day life with the thoughts and perspectives I experienced at Camp NCN.
Huge thanks to Alex, Taylor, David, Beefcake, Arlene, Marv, the whole staff at NCN, the amazing community, and everyone involved with Infrasound 2015. I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to be in attendance this year and it’s something I’ll never forget. Much love fam.
Tipper Sunrise Set to end the weekend.
Photo cred: Spectral Productions, Joe Albers aka Peak Vibrations, Infrasound Family.
Bonus Pics 🙂
Aaron Brooks live drawing on the Beach Stage
Even the moths at Infrasound are heady af
Special Guest and festival celebrity Truman
Psychedelic Indian captured this beautiful engagement moment 🙂
Connect with Infrasound:
https://www.facebook.com/InfrasoundFestival
http://infrasoundfestival.com/
Infrasound Family Page
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