The rolling hills of Bethel Woods, New York, sprang to life last weekend when more than 25,000 eager festival-goers came together for the third installment of Mysteryland USA, the stateside offshoot of ID&T’s Belgium-based megafest. Organizers spared no expense booking one of festival season’s most impressive lineups with names like Skrillex, Bassnectar and ODESZA, in headlining slots. Other acts, like the funkmaster himself, GRiZ, the bass-blasting genre-benders, Zeds Dead, and, Parisian techno god (and cigarette enthusiast), Gesaffelstein, round-out Mysteryland’s most explosive artist roster to-date.
When it comes to décor at Mysteryland USA, this year’s event was as colorful as ever! From non-stop pyrotechnics to a sea monster-inspired Boat Stage sounding off an earthshaking “welcome” as festival-goers entered the main venue, to a giant inflatable art installation created by the Architects of Air, all of which added a new dynamic to the festival interiors. Once again, however, the festival grounds were littered with giant teddy bears, human carwashes, secret hideaways and art installations galore for festival-goers to enjoy.
So, with that much wattage and star power in the cannon, why did I feel like the event seemed to fall flat compared to prior years?
Mysteryland USA saw a lot of changes in 2016, namely new dates, an extra official festival day and a looser age restriction, allowing those 19+ attendees to finally join in on the madness. Many assumed that the new dates were selected to combat the prior years’ unsatisfactory weather (AKA “holy f*ck this is the coldest f*cking festival I’ve ever attended”) or perhaps to eliminate the competition with EDC New York, which ran on the same weekend in 2014 and 2015.
Despite valiant efforts to create a more comfortable environment for their loyal nomads, the weather was still extreme, with temperatures dipping into the low 40s on Friday night and high winds on Sunday that contributed to death of many a canopies, and, consequently, the birth of a spectacular, twisted metal sculpture that grew throughout the day as Friendship Campers and other passersby added the remnants of their demolished campsites to the expanding pile of debris.
Our tent was one of those casualties, forcing our otherwise resilient squad of five to duck out shortly after Bassnectar’s closing set on Sunday night–bummer.
On a positive note, for the first time in the festival’s three-year history, Friday became an official festival day! In the past, Friday featured a somewhat limited Mysteryland lineup marketed as a pre-party, exclusive only to campers, but this year’s Friday came on in full force. Mau5trap fledging and dope bass-ette, REZZ, gave people a reason to hit the hills early, as the ever-so-versatile Mysteryland 2016 lineup started the festival off in style.
Unfortunately, traffic delays and the ungodly amount of chaos that is often synonymous with no-car camping had us in a sticky predicament, and, we were still setting up camp in the dark as the dark and booming beats of Gessaffelstein’s “Pursuit” echoed into the night and had us feeling major FOMO.
After scaling ‘Mt. Buzzkill,’ the steep hill leading in and out of the campgrounds, we headed straight to the Big Top stage for Joris Voorn, whose upbeat brand of tech-house helped us dance our post-travel blues away. ODESZA closed out Friday night with their signature live set on the giant vagina–eh, I mean, main stage. Despite the fact that the main stage looked like a birth canal, it really was beautiful. ODESZA’s “Say My Name” turned the hills into a contained and elated dance party as the first night of Mysteryland came to a close.
Walking back from night one, I noticed a number of things. The paths were extremely well-lit, which was a welcome improvement in functionality. However, I was extremely disappointed to see a total lack of after parties inside the campsites. Mysteryland 2.0 (2015) featured what my friends lovingly referred to as BangOn!NYC’s “not so silent” disco, but that entire set-up was erected inside the festival grounds this year, which meant, no pineapple paradise, no 90s brunch, no reason to stay up much past when the music ends at 1 AM. This, in my opinion, was a huge downgrade from last year’s schedule.
If Mysteryland USA returns they need to consider some alternative options for entertaining campers after 1 AM. One dimly lit, open-air silent disco just isn’t going to cut it. People want to talk about sets. They want to socialize with their festi-besties and catch-up over late-night beats. Unfortunately these kinds of hangs were reserved for under the canopies. I hope your campmates were cool, because you probably spent a lot of time with them. Mine were dope. <3
After my morning defrosting session, I was ready to take Saturday by storm. Thankfully, the weather was incredible, and the music brought all of the good vibes I needed. While I wasn’t particularly excited for Saturday’s lineup, there were plenty of surprises. I got a healthy dose of dad rock at Penguin Prison’s live set, as the New York-based synth band wailed through their collection of 80s-infused hits, closing out with my personal favorite, “Don’t Fuck With My Money”.
The masked trio of Black Tiger Sex Machine brought a sinister bass-assault to The Boat stage, another stage which I noticed that had been scaled down significantly compared to last year’s two-level, dance party. In fact, no one except for the artists and a few select crew members were allowed onboard this year. What gives?
Perhaps the most surprising set of the night came from NYC-based Top 40s slingers, The Chainsmokers, who impressed me on a number of levels. Not only were they seamlessly weaving hits like “#Selfie,” “Dreaming” and “Roses” with old school favorites, they were integrating festival bangers like Flux Pavilion’s “Gold Dust” to create a layered set that was as lovely as it was f*cking fun to get down to. Touché, Chainsmokers** (** I am aware that this makes me sound basic).
Perhaps the real Saturday night party was turning down at BangOn!NYC as resident DJ’s like The Golden Pony blasted house music through the immersive, multi-level stage which featured painted school buses, Burning Man-inspired art cars and plenty of open flames. For a completely unique experience, BangOn!NYC’s hangout was the place to be.
I could only spend so much time in BangOn!NYC’s crazy circus before heading back to the main stage for Skrillex, who started strong but eventually lost me in sea of DJ Mustard-riddled tracks that just weren’t scratching my bass itch. Sonny Moore (AKA Skrillex) is always fantastic, so I’ll blame my mood on this one, but after about 40 minutes of ‘Skrilldawg’s half-turnt’ up mic time and disjointed bangers, I trudged back to BangOn! to end my night on a housey note.
Sunday I woke up Titanic-style, clutching my boyfriend as our tent caved in on us. Intense gusts had not only left our tent disheveled, but completely broken and susceptible to the elements. Thankfully the weather held out, but it could have been disastrous. Cleaning up camp and discarding broken equipment took priority to having fun, causing yet again another late start to the day. The cold weather required some extra planning, but it also resulted in unprecedented adorableness as onesie-clad nomads dominated the hills for one last snuggle-fest.
Sunday night was officially lit when OWSLA (Skrillex’s label) starlet, Mija, brought an energetic vibe to The Boat stage, dropping label-mate tracks like it was no one’s business, but my eyes were set on that main stage arsenal, as Sunday’s lineup offered my favorite variety of beats. Keys N Krates’ live set offered a touch of melodic trap that was hard to find elsewhere last weekend and served as a worthy appetizer to GRiZ’s funky throw-down that popped off with Montel Jordan’s “This is How We Do It” before he barreled into the feel good anthem, “Good Times Roll” ft. Big Gigantic.
The next three and a half hours were a master class in how to play festival sets. GRiZ did an incredible job working the crowd, while still laying down the sax like a first chair champ. He played covers, kept the party amped with tracks from the ultra-groovy “Say It Loud,” integrated those smooth jazz vibes we grew to love from his newest release Chasing the Golden Hour Pt. 1, and even slipped in a few GRiZMatik favorites. GRiZ has truly come into his own as a young DJ and performer, and quite possibly had the best set of the weekend. Zeds Dead continued with the crushing, but I opted not to blow my ZD load as I’ll be seeing them at Dead Rocks for my dirty 30. Even so, tracks like “Collapse” (within which they mixed BOTH versions), “Where Are You Now” and “Bustamove” had me wigglin’ like there was no tomorrow.
Based on the amount of hat pins and drug rugs I saw folks sporting on the hill that day, it was clear that the main event for most of Sunday’s attendees (or as my friends called them “,” carpet people) was Bassnectar, and Lorin (AKA Bassnectar) did not disappoint. ‘Bassheads’ were thrilled as the festival favorite came on strong, bringing his expansive ‘bass-laden’ soundscapes to Bethel Woods. I enjoyed his heavy reliance on tracks from Into the Sun, and was happy to own some of the first ears to hear tracks from his upcoming release Unlimited (due to release June 17th—today!). The last blasts settled over the main stage as we awaited a “closing ceremony” that, well, never really happened.
A weak send-off from the Mysteryland host, followed by an even weaker crowd response to the question “Will we see you guys next year?” had me wondering, is Mysteryland actually coming back next year? It’s no secret that the company who acquire ID&T is broke, and, the cutbacks at this year’s event were apparent. The Mysteryland 2016 lineup may have been stellar, but that only goes so far when you are competing with literally hundreds of other festivals over the course of a summer season. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if Bethel Woods (btw, it’s the original home of Woodstock 1969) is on my list of festival destinations next year. After all, tomorrow is always a mystery.