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Burning Man '05: Long Review
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| tmft |
This is a crosspost of my review from the West Coast forum.
So much electronic music crammed into 4 days, more than I hear in a month in Texas.
Thursday night: Scrumfrog at Opulent Temple. Opulent temple had a great setup--big flat dance floor, black lights, excellent sound system. My favorite was the propane fired spotlights. Periodically, in a build, the flashpots would flame up, igniting the entire area, lending a sudden flash of recognition to the partiers around.
The Scumfrog gave "a shogutout to all 20 people who were here last year, when it was freezing cold", & I was happy. Burning Man 2004 had reawakened my interest in electronic music--hearing all the great DJs (in particular Scumfrog) had made me want to hear it again. & the weather this year was so much better--at night it was only in the high 50s, with a warm light breeze. The dust stayed down.
Friday night: Oakenfold at Opulent Temple. Sure, everyone says he's a sellout. Sure, I haven't liked the last 2 shows of his I've seen. I was still there, & it was INCREDIBLE. Oakie went on right at 1 AM. & the crowd went INSANE. I was hanging out with some people from the Opulent Temple camp, so we were dancing in the back wings, then we went out into the crowd.
Nothing can compare to the vibe of dancing to great music, under the stars, as everyone forgets everything but enjoying the music. I got boosted up & surveyed the crowd--it went back for forever, creative costumes & smiles everywhere. My favorite song was "Prophet", which I hadn't heard Oakie play in a live set before. I got better & better at anticipating when the flames would shoot up, & could see the incredible costumes around.
Later, people said that Oakie played too much old stuff & they were disappointed. I certainly wasn't. I stayed dancing til dawn at 5:30 AM hearing Billy Cassaza (Excellent) & Nathan Vain. Nathan Vain started out downtempo, then picked it up. Sorry, my trainspotting is all forgotten. All I remember is dancing.
All day, even aside from the big evening shows, electronica was a constant from the camps & art cars. Whatever kind of electronica you might like, there was someone there spinning it.
Saturday night: I had been tipped off by the 3-8 Am DJ set being called "In Search of Sunrise". When I walked by at 11 pm it was confirmed as Tiesto. Hot damn. I had to get myself into shape, after only sleeping about 2 hours that morning--from 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM when it got too hot to sleep.
I danced with my friends at Trancendance http://www.soularrecords.com/BM2005/ for an hour. The camp was set up at the edge of the open desert, with green lasers shooting out. I just wasn't quite in the mood for psyctrance.
To prep for Tiesto, I chugged a whole RockStar, chased with a Frappucino doubleshot.
Tiesto started slow, then started building up. I got more & more into it. Around 5 am he really started hitting his stride. I popped my Red Bull & settled in for 3 more hours of musical mayhem, as he unloaded "Silence". G had been trying for an hour to remember the name of the song he really wanted Tiesto to play.
"ba bum ba bum...it starts classical, then gets faster".
"Adagio?"
"no...ba bum bum bum bum ba".
"March of the Athletes".
"No."
Tiesto played the song! then a rough trainwreck as someone else took the decks. We knew Tiesto would play til 8 AM, so we were hoping he was taking a 5:30-6 AM bio break. Nope. Tiesto was done. What a disappointment. Oakenfold had played a 2 hour set, but that was all I'd expected. I'd revved myself up for a 5 hour set, & felt shortchanged. Plus superwired from all that caffiene.
G & I walked out to Dis, then further to Orient, then to the camps on the other side of the desert, as the sun rose. It was awesome to think I'd been awake for a whole day, from sun up yesterday to sun up today. Finally we stumbled on a camp playing the intro to Ministry's "Everyday is Halloween" (long version), & I did some frantic robot dancing.
The final highlight was going back to Trancendance later on Sunday. They had an incredible psytrance mix of Soft Cell "Tainted Love". Nothing like the contrast between the black night & the hot sun, & dancing under both. I danced as the sun went down, watching my shadowdancer lengthen across the ground.
You can call burning man a refuge for washed up hippies, a rich kids drug playground, a naked sex & E orgy, a fools paradise. Or you can call it a really good time, if you're willing to let yourself have a good time & listen to the music. I've left out so many random other good shows, like the Deep End all day dance party. |
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| Raze1 |
| good post, pics of costumes would be cool. :) |
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| Rememberence_ |
| Always a pleasure reading your reviews E. Sounds like an incredible time... |
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| Dirk W. |
| thats really neat. you always go the cool shows.... good review e! and just to clarify... it was an "E orgy"???? |
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| Rememberence_ |
| *pays attention* |
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| tmft |
I would not be surprised if some of the people at Burning Man were indulging in illicit substances.
The closest I came to an orgy was watching our neighbors having sex on the roof of their shack. It was surprisingly rote & unerotic. |
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| Zeonfiend |
| quote: | Originally posted by tmft
The closest I came to an orgy was watching our neighbors having sex on the roof of their shack. It was surprisingly rote & unerotic. |
Sorry, had to post it. It triggered a memory. :D |
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