BangOn!NYC Elements Music and Arts Festival

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YOU KNOW YOU HAD A GREAT WEEKEND WHEN NO ONE BELIEVES YOUR STORY

WORDS BY: @brittanynofomo | PHOTOS BY: ALEX SMIRNOV, BRITTANY, NO FOMO, & JULIA ANNE HILL

Photos by: Brittany, NO FOMO

Our destination? Red Hook, to a vacant lot of abandoned buildings. Why? It’s the last-industrial waterfront venue that can also accommodate BangOn!NYC’s biggest outdoor festival, Elements. Thousands of whimsical thrill seekers walked off the beaten track eager to see how this distant pinpoint on their Google Maps would somehow transform into one of the best parties of the summer… but it certainly did.

At this Burning Man meets Bushwick style event, party buses and other painted transformed vehicles (including the iconic JunXion Quetzal Bus and BangOn!NYC Boombox Van) became stages for the rotating DJs on the lineup. Surprises presented themselves around the mounds of rubble. Every crevice was strategically utilized and adorned with vendor’s art, worked into stage designs, or made into platforms for performances. Just to add more insane layers to the bag of tricks, a bike ramp was built out of a building window fitting for bike flips over the sunrays. The biggest treat was the ‘Gaia’ psychedelic head that crowned the main stage created by Rhizome NYC as projected lights made her come alive.

Perfectly executed and designed, the rubble exuded with summer-vibe beats and flourished with life. Four stages, themed Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, hosted a variety of electronic artists from Fight Clvb kicking off the day with their high energy jungle terror and Mystereo’s, to Dirty Looks lightening the mood with disco house, into Autograf’s dreamy summer beat filled set. The sun set as Paper Diamond played his feel-good songs, blending electronic genres into uplifting beats. The finale to one of the most epic days of summer, was Simon Posord’s (aka Shpongle’s) psychedelic DJ set with his signature global sounds sending a wave of good energy through the crowd. The night exploded with a carnival of fire dancers and electric hoopers as the trippy light show brightened up the stage. It was a sight to see.

Photos by: Alex Smirnov