A Camp Bisco 2016 Festival Review: “Ground Zero for Misfits”
This past weekend Montage Mountain hosted Camp Bisco for yet another year of music and unfiltered debauchery. For yet another year, Camp Bisco succeeded in culminating a year of breakout artists, veteran musicians, and simply good people. For yet another year, Camp Bisco was our home for a weekend.
Montage Mountain became ground zero for misfits. People who want to let loose without crippling judgment of normies or their everyday responsibilities. If the good citizens of Bisco know anything, it’s how to let their freak flag fly. We came, we saw, we conquered and we got down to the latest in electronic music and the absolute greatest of jam/jamtronica.
SECURITY/ORGANIZATION: 9/10
Wednesday night attendees slowly began to trickle in. Event staff knew the correct information this go around, which is a huge improvement from last year when my crew, as well as many others, were stuck waiting 11+ hours in line on foot just to enter the festival.
Shuttles carried anxious attendees and their gear into the fest. The mountain became a colorful sea of tents, tapestries, and hammocks.
Lucky campers scored spots closer to the base of the mountain, with a short walk to the water park and stages. Some had to trek their camping gear all the way up the massive rocky incline, which would be a challenge even for the stone cold sober. So, before deciding Camp Bisco is on your agenda for next year, make sure you’ve got a wagon, a few good leg work outs in, or a six pack of brew.
VIBES: 8/10
Friendships I’ll always hold close were formed because of Camp Bisco, so this festival has a permanent number one spot on my summer agenda. There’s nothing that will bring you closer with someone than lounging in the lazy river listening to your favorite DJ play the Above The Waves stage or perhaps the teamwork it takes lugging gear up the mountain.
People come to Camp Bisco for a short escape, a sense of community, and of course to vibe out to live music. But for whatever reason the people of Bisco get grungy. I fully support a good time, however, it’s a bit disconcerting when someone is so messed up they try to crawl into your tent at 7:00am to sleep off the night before. (Yes, this really happened to me. It was mortifying).
MUSIC: 10/10
NIGHT ONE
The lineup for night one was truly a thing of beauty. Just one day before the release of their new album, Lotus put on a show at Electric City, the main stage, full of crowd favorites and a never heard before song, “Sleep When We Are Dead”. It was one of those Lotus sets where you look over at your friend standing on the seats, grooving their body to the sultry bass line with the biggest smile lighting up their face when all of sudden in classic Lotus fashion the music is brought somewhere entirely different. You lock eyes and bust your funkiest dance move because although you didn’t realize it beforehand, it’s exactly the sound you’d been craving.
Right when the crowd was convinced their sprawling jam session had come to a close, the lights flashed back on and we were given one more song! They so graciously played “Eats The Light”, the first single off their new album. A large number of spectators filed out of the amphitheater to have a seat on the lawn and contemplate the overwhelming Lotus vibes and of course, to wait for The Disco Biscuits first set of the weekend.
The Biscuits pleased the crowd with an upbeat cover of “Saftey Dance” by Men Without Hats and an iridescent light show packed with lasers. No one stood still. The energy was too high because directly after this set, on the same stage, Big GRiZMatik would make their long awaited appearance on the East Coast this summer.
Unfortunately, Big GRiZMatik was a disappointment. You can tell just from watching the supergroup had fun performing but effort to put on an unforgettable show was simply not present. The set included lazy mixing by Gramatik paired with uninteresting guitar rifts by Muzzy Bearr and I’m not necessarily positive what Big Gigantic contributed aside from drummer, Jeremy Salken, carrying the percussion flawlessly for the entire set (seriously, this dude is unbelievable). If you’ve seen any of these musicians before this set, you know they’re all extremely talented. But what they gave the crowd was basically a repeat of every collaboration or single they’ve already released extended into longer jam sessions. With that much music at their disposable, why not switch it up? Why not drop new material to produce a really mind blowing set? They were headliners, after all.
NIGHT TWO
GRiZ proved himself the king of future funk while simultaneously melting faces during night two. The sax solos were undeniably sexy and the crowd responded accordingly so, especially when a James Blake cover of ‘The Wilheim Scream” dropped. Grant’s cover of “Kung Fu Fighting” had us karate chopping whoever happened to be next to us while belting lyrics in unison. This performance was the most fluid of the weekend and proved how much Grant cares about putting on an interesting set for his audience.
When the set came to an end, we were nowhere near done with the grimy funk we were just gifted. Luckily, we were in the know about a secret GRiZ DJ set in RV camping. The journey over was a long one, but it was absolutely worth it. We watched Grant DJ out of the renovated “Jaenga” bus, who partnered with Camp Disco Taco and Good Looks collective to make our Friday night bleed into the early hours of Saturday morning. People danced wildly on the roof, mass amounts of sparklers were passed out in the crowd, and we listened as heavy bass and bizarre remixes one might never expect in a GRiZ set dropped.
51 Likes, 11 Comments - The Musies (@themusies) on Instagram: "When the king of funk, @mynameisgriz, decides to drop some grime at his secret DJ set ... Full..."
NIGHT THREE
As the final day loomed over the crowd, the venue was filled with people wrapped in pashminas, covered in glitter and decked out in their very best tie dye by 1:30pm. Just in time for Colorado natives SunSquabi to serve up some of their mellow hyrdo-funk on Above the Waves stage.
The madness began later during 12th Planet. Splashing and flailing their bodies in the wave pool, the crowd was totally captivated by filthy dubstep.
The final stretch of night three called for squadding up around our hammocks set up in the venue, which we ended up sleeping in one of the three nights, to join in some light yoga. We had to be assured we were nimble and ready for RL Grime into Zeds Dead, straight into STS9 and The Disco Biscuits to close out the festival. No amount of stretching could have prepared us.
Both RL Grime and Zeds Dead played fan favorites and kept the crowd moving for hours on end. Out of the four, STS9 played the most unforgettable set. When the opening of “Totem” began time stood still. Those sitting on the lawn, watching the light show in all it’s glory were drawn closer to the music. Dancing came to an abrupt halt and we listened as we were called to do the one thing that Camp Bisco allows us to do best; express ourselves.
Group hugs formed and chills went down my spine. The same feelings of satisfaction carried straight over into The Disco Biscuits.
I wasn’t entirely sure if everyone was so astounded with jams that just would not quit, even for lightning and rain, or a light show so beautiful it could steal souls. Nothing stopped The Biscuits from delivering the jam-hungry crowd what we came for.
All in all, camping at this venue is a bit of a challenge. The stages are unmatched by any you will experience at another fest. The line up consistently holds the best talent in both jam and electronic scenes to create a mashup that will please the most intense ravers to the biggest jam enthusiasts. People drawn to this festival are some of the most open minded, interesting individuals you could ever hope to meet. It’s impossible to have a bad time at a place like Camp Bisco.
I said this after my first Bisco and I will say it again, Camp Bisco is a beautiful mess. But it’s home.
Photos taken by our friend Silky Shots.
