This past weekend, Lost Lands Music Festival was held in Thornville, Ohio. Thousands upon thousands of attendees gathered for a weekend filled with bass music, featuring headlining artists Excision, Sullivan King, Svdden Death, Rezz, Illenium, Maurada, and countless other marquee names. The festival itself was one for the ages, with memorable performances, surprise guest appearances, and lots of headbanging. Now let's talk about the festival more in-depth. The good, the bad, and the absolute crazy.
The Good
Attendees as a whole enjoyed the music, with each stage featuring both bass music legends, as well as rising stars in the electronic scene. A highlight of the festival was the Excision B2B Sullivan King set that rocked the crowd to its' core. The set was everything that you'd imagine and then some. Some say this was a long time coming, and they delivered on all ends of the spectrum. Another highlight was having artists of different sub-genres within electronic music on the lineup, something they have started doing as of last year. Artists within House, Hard Dance, and other styles of Electronic Dance Music got their time to shine, and they did not fail to amaze. Each stage had countless performers that brought their very best during their sets, as well as some unforgettable moments that had festival goers in complete awe. Lastly, the stage production was nothing short of awesomeness. What is underrated about this festival, is that every year the production gets better and better. From the lasers, pyro, and visuals, the stage production seems to be something that everyone talks about the most (outside of the music of course). The totems at the festival? Absolutely creative and hilarious. The food? Dank and delicious? And the vibes? absolutely proper. It was a good weekend indeed for many bassheads in attendance.
The Bad
Now when it comes to music festivals, there will always be a fair share of negatives or drawbacks. While there wasn't a whole lot from the festival itself, most of the complaints came from the festival attendees themselves. One of the most echoed concerns from the festival were sexual misconduct. There seemed to be a lot of inappropriate touching, and unwanted advances between men and women throughout the festival weekend. Music festivals area a safe haven from our everyday life, and are a place we spread endless amounts of PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, & Respect), but should not be a playground for unwanted touching or harassment. This goes for any festival or music event of any kind for that matter. Now we talk about the amount of laced drugs/substances. While I do support the right to "party" at these type of events, I also support safety of our fellow humans. At the end of the day, festivals such as these keep us safe and do their part to ensure no harm is done to their attendees. So with that being said, shame on anyone who goes to these events with harmful substances. Anyone who has the intent of harming another person for profit or for some sort of sick pleasure, are the most vile type of human on this planet. Do better, be better, and strive to live better. We all are here to have fun, so don't ruin it for the rest of us. Now, to the final part...
The Ugly
The ugly? Well I guess it depends on who you ask. But for us, we have to say that there was a lot of crazy activities going on during Lost Lands weekend. One of which were attendees trying to jump barricades and fences to get into certain areas of the fest. It was reported by many that there was a vast amount of people trying to either hop in the stage pit, sneak into VIP, or sneak into the artist areas of the fest. While this is not uncommon for people to do that, it's still pretty hilarious, yet dangerous (be careful out there ravers). One mind-boggling thing that has circulated around social media was sexual activity at the campsites of the festival. Apparently (well, actually confirmed) there was a sex worker who attended the festival and performed sexual acts in several areas of the campgrounds (literally). One user on Twitter was in awe of the experience, and stated that the young lady was "filming content for her OnlyFans". I have to say, I would be caught off guard and flabbergasted too if I saw people at my campsite having sex in the wide open for the public to see (you dirty little scoundrels lol). Also, did you know that there were people there in a complete trance? No, not the sub-genre that I know some of you love, but like literally in a trance. I'm not sure what these people were taking specifically, but people were coming out of their "State of Trance" (hello Armin Van Buuren) and were randomly running around the festival site. I don't know where to, or where from, but they were running with so much joy. One user on Twitter had mentioned that they had experienced "the best trip of their life" at Lost Lands, and I think that's magical. Something was certainly in the water, but I can't pinpoint what it was. Hmmm...
Overall, the weekend was filled with joy, bass-faces, laughs, cries, and everything in between. Most importantly, the bass music community, and electronic community as a whole shined bright. It was a 5 year anniversary like no other, and they executed in high fashion. Lost Lands Music Festival has without a doubt, made a well-known presence in the world of music festivals. I'm curious to see what the future holds for this beloved fest, but only time will tell.
Oh and one last thing, can we please get Skrillex on the lineup for 2023? I think the scene would love an OG Skrillex set with all of his classics!
Photo Credit: Excision Presents Team
