In its second year, Elements Lakewood Festival reignited its elemental theme at a summer camp among the luscious scenery of PA. The Fire Stage held steady house music late night equipped with fire dancers and loud blazes shooting into the air. The Water Stage was set with the lake glistening in the backdrop and an occasional pirate ship setting sail. The Air Stage nestled in a multi-colored woods exuberated good vibes, and the Earth Stage held host to the largest array of electronic music styles.
The alchemy of an electronic music festival energy mixed in with the homey closeness of a niche-festival, made Elements Lakewood Festival a truly unique experience. It is a rare occurrence to see such big names on a stage that feels as if it’s in your friend’s backyard – take Troyboi on the Earth Stage, for example. What leant this festival to offer this type of environment is the community that the foundation of the event is based on.
Eleven years ago,BangOn!NYC production company – now led by Brooklyn-based key players Timothy Monkiewicz, Brett Herman, and Kelly Smith – grew from a love of underground music and local artists with a mission to wow people with never-been-done-before elements. Through collaborative efforts, their team built up organically with stage designers, visual artists, builders, performers, DJs, and other talents to alter the warehouse party scene and redefine what an “underground” event culture was.
After years of building their name and reputation while continuing to keep their core offerings, the team can now bring top name DJs to their followers and offer festivalgoers a weekend long event.
At every turn on the summer camp grounds there was something to interact with, including the comical roaming performers – clowns, stilt wakers, and bubble-blowing avant-garde dancers – who offered their own show within a show. If you didn’t hop on the pirate ship or view the dreamy scene of the Air Stage from the tree house… you did Elements Lakewood wrong.
To put the festival into perspective, we asked multiple festivalgoers what their favorite moments were and curated the top list of what everyone could agree on:
Highlights:
Fisher lighting up the fire stage.
Grooving to the elevated beats on the Earth Stage from Troyboi that ultimately stood out from the rest of the sound bumping from the Air, Water, and Fire stages.
Shpongle bringing his psychedelic-cultural fusion to the party.
Pregaming and prepping for the night in custom vans and cabins.
Dancing in the rain to the uplifting spirts of City of the Sun who fuse electronic sounds with live instruments – guitars and percussion.
Getting hypnotized by the heavy energy and dark imagery of REZZ.
Taking a breather in the Wellnest.
Tapping into our inner child with games led by the Director of Fun, Camp Counselor Rawb Lane.
Congregating with fellow festivalgoers under a disco ball at the Air Stage.
Of course, the many memorable moments in-between kept us going all weekend long, but we are excited to have shared these aforementioned lasting experiences with the colorful campers.
Photos: Courtesy of Elements Lakewood, Alive Coverage
