Serenity Gathering once again kicked the West Coast transformational festival season off with— well, not a bang… more like a subtle howl at the moon, and this time in beautiful Joshua Tree. It was the festival’s third venue change in as many years, but the last-minute change was seemingly a blessing in disguise. The desert is such a perfect environment for Serenity Gathering. Any problems that would naturally arise from a sudden, drastic venue change just a month before a festival were totally overpowered by the absolute positivity of this community that we are so lucky to be a part of. In short, Serenity Gathering 2016 was a peaceful, pleasant, and perfect way to start off the festival season.
There’s a reason that every GA wristband at Serenity Gathering says “Family” on it. People who go to this festival aren’t just attendees. They are family. As such, Serenity Gathering acts as a true family gathering. Not just some party, but a reunion of sorts. Welcome back to festival season. Here we go again.
This family vibe, to me, is Serenity Gathering’s most admirable characteristic. The people Serenity Gathering attracts are the best part of this festival. And it’s not that the people are bringing epic art installations or setting up extravagant theme camps (although there were a few awesome theme camps and renegade stages) or doing anything crazy or contributing something significant to the festival’s visual aesthetic. Let’s face it, it’s still too early in the year for people to be bringing out the big guns. But just by being there, these people are great. The friendliness and smiles were in full force. This year’s Serenity Gathering provided one of the most mellow and relaxing festival environments I’ve ever experienced, and that’s exactly what I wanted out of my first festival of the year. It never seemed chaotic or overwhelming. Instead, it was intimate and slow-paced, and that had a lot to do with the gentle nature of the people in attendance.
Undoubtedly, this peaceful, slow pace also had something to do with the environment we were in. The beautiful deserts of Joshua Tree gave way to a stunningly serene festival atmosphere. Camping amongst the Joshua Trees, dodging cacti, exploring the open desert, watching the sun set behind the main stage from a hilltop, trekking to the New Moon stage in the middle of nowhere at night while the near-full moon illuminates the way– these all contributed to a meditative atmosphere. For a bass music festival, this was about as calm as it gets. And boy oh boy did we luck out with some weather that was as close to perfect as can be by desert standards. This really was the perfect setting for this year’s Serenity Gathering. The festival also happened to utilize this land wonderfully. The main stage and vendors comprised a courtyard of sorts, just a short walk along a path from the campgrounds. The other two stages, Bridge Family and New Moon, were tucked away, off the main path and out in the open a bit. Behind those stages was a vast expanse of open desert, well-populated by Joshua Trees, begging for exploration. I actually spent a lot of time wandering around this area, and it was exactly the kind of festival experience that only Joshua Tree can offer. In truth, the venue change to Joshua Tree is what solidified my decision to attend.
On that note, let’s talk music. Talent-wise, Serenity Gathering featured a superb music lineup, with a heavy focus on bass music and plenty of live music as well. Artists such as ill.Gates, Phutureprimitive, Thriftworks, Mr. Bill, Stickybuds, and many more provided the low-end mayhem in support of headliners Shpongle, Emancipator, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Nahko. Overall, the music all weekend was on point, especially the acts that played the main stage at night. Shpongle, Phutureprimitive, and the new Desert Dwellers Live Experience take the cake as my favorite sets of the weekend. The main stage ran until about midnight each night, and the Bridge Family and New Moon stages kept things going late into the night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very loud at night due to restrictive noise ordinances at the venue. The noise restrictions, while unfortunate, were totally understandable considering that the venue was very close to town. Despite being in the expanses of the desert, the festival grounds were right off the highway, with the main stage really only a few hundred feet away from the main road. This wasn’t some hidden spot in the deep desert. This was right in somebody’s neighborhood. I even met a few people who lived less than a mile away and just walked on over to the venue because they wanted to see Shpongle. As such, the late-night sets were rather quiet, but it didn’t detract from the overall festival experience. Again, this venue was secured very last-minute, and I’m still glad that this was where Serenity Gathering took place.
Emancipator
Phutureprimitive
From a production standpoint, things seemed to operate very smoothly for the most part. Until Sunday, that is. On Sunday, things got a little messy. Set times started to get moved around, and word of mouth was the main way to find out about such reschedulings. This became reminiscent of last year’s Serenity, when artists weren’t on when they were supposed to be, and the schedule meant absolutely nothing eventually. I kind of liked it. At this point, it’s like a trademark characteristic of Serenity Gathering. Thriftworks, one of the higher-billed acts on the lineup, was scheduled to play at the main stage around 8pm. Eventually, he popped up at the Bridge Family stage around 4:30am. Yikes.
And then there was Nahko. Oh man… What happened there? I don’t know what happened or why, but I’m pretty sure Nahko and Medicine for the People was doing a soundcheck on the main stage for 2 hours. TWO HOURS! Don’t quote me on that as I didn’t look at a clock once during the weekend. Needless to say, this severely delayed the remainder of the main stage programming for the night. This is why Thriftworks played at 4:30am instead of 8pm. I don’t know what happened, but by the time Nahko finally took the stage, I already decided to go back to camp. This delay also bumped Random Rab from the main stage, who was scheduled to headline the stage on Sunday night. Instead, the amazing Pumpkin offered his late-night timeslot at the New Moon stage to Random Rab. Pumpkin played after.
Pumpkin at the New Moon stage
On that note, I must dedicate a few words to the wonderful Nicholas Alvarado aka Pumpkin. Shortly after departing from Serenity Gathering, Nick’s life was taken from him in a tragic car accident as he was on his way to perform at another festival in Texas. This was as untimely and unexpected as it gets. The festival community will never be the same without you, Pumpkin. Never. Thank you for the years of good vibes and for showing us all the incredible power of good music. You always have been and always will be an integral part of this scene. You really were the MVP of the festival circuit. He even played a 6-hour set at the dumpsters at Serenity on Monday while the Trash Pirates and volunteer Green Team sorted through all of the waste produced during the festival. What an absolute champion and an inspirational personality. RIP Pumpkin.
Despite the scheduling issues on Sunday at Serenity, it still happened to be my favorite night of the festival. The energy in the air late-night was just in a perfect place. So what if the schedule was off? Like I said, it’s a signature characteristic of Serenity at this point! And for the most part, everyone was down with it. We weren’t here for the artists. We weren’t here to be on anybody else’s schedule. We were here to be with family, and that was as evident as ever on that late Sunday night as we smiled and danced to Pumpkin and Thriftworks and Random Rab and more, quiet as their sets may have been.
Serenity Gathering 2016 was exactly what I wanted it to be– a mellow, beautiful return to festival season. A celebration of the start of Spring. A gathering of art, music, people, and life. I don’t mind the production issues and the lack of a reliable schedule. This festival is young, and what they were able to pull off in gorgeous Joshua Tree with a last-minute venue change is nothing short of amazing. Serenity Gathering has something special going for it. It’s super under the radar, yet it books one of the most well-rounded bass music lineups of the year. More importantly, the festival crafts a wholly pleasant, family-oriented vibe and atmosphere. It’s not called Serenity Music Festival. It’s not about the music. It’s about the people. It’s called Serenity Gathering, and it’s as serene a gathering as one could attend to ring in Spring.
All words and photos by Babak Haghighi (aka Spirit Shutter)
