It’s more than an EDM festival—it’s home. And for five magical days, you live in a tightly-knit forest community with 10,000 of your new bffs.
First, watch this video cut of day one at the 2016 Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo River (about 30 minutes outside of Nelson, BC), just to get some perspective.
So, yeah, that’s what we’re up to.
It’s been a whirlwind. Being the dedicated (read, slavish) digital nomads we are, we’ve put in a few shifts at the press tent (what’s up, press pals!), where we ran into some old friends, made some new ones, and were shockingly productive. Wifi is a helluva drug.
But then we put our computers away, and dove face first into the throbbing bass along with 10,000 thousand other lovers of life, hell bent on having the very best time (and, for us, discovering just what this party in the woods is really about).
Here’s what we realized after our first 24 hours of Shambhala.
You initially feel like you have no friends…
…But then you realize you have all the friends.
You’ll dress in a kind of elevated/ulterior version of your “normal world” self.
True bass is not heard, but felt right down to your guts. And ear plugs are an absolute must.
People are good, even when they’re amped up.
A photo posted by MASS EDMC (@massedmc) on
Everyone has art within them. And sometimes on them.
There are types of bouncy, base-filled music that you didn’t even know existed—let alone liked.
A photo posted by shambhala_mf (@shambhala_mf) on
So, after getting into it on day one, we were a whole lot more prepared for day two. Happy Shambs, friends.