Camp Bisco 9 – Day 3 – EPIC

By dizzurt at August 2, 2010 | 10:56 pm | Print

Saturday is a day of culmination. The pinnacle of raging. The daytime was a time for everyone to gather their thoughts, leg strength and unused party gear for one last hoorah. With the bikers telling us the morning before that The Dome couldn’t rage past the music of the dance tent, the crew knew we had to let it all out at the evening Biscuits sets and Rusko late-night. (It all wound up being a non-issue anyways, due to severe lightning storms). With all that aside, the one thing that was absolutely certain was Tipper‘s 5:30 set in the tent, not to be missed. I started my day off with Nobody Beats the Drum, an electronic trio hailing from the Netherlands, that had gained notoriety at Ultra. They were clearly electronic/computer whizzes, easily crafting tracks and beats from their many workstations. The amount of wires and mixers was intimidating. This seemed like the type of set where, had it been 12 hours later, the tent would have been packed with a shit-ton of kids E’ing face & getting down. It reminded me why I love Camp Bisco so much: Top Notch Electronic Music.

Nobody Beats the Drum

Up next was a block chock filled with great beats. Telepath (who weren’t dressed in their usual suits, with a set that seemed too slow and not gripping enough), MiMosa (keep an eye out for OhWerd’s upcoming review), and Grimace Federation. I was looking forward to going from straight electronica to the Local Stage, which featured more traditional bands. At first, without their second drummer, Grimace seemed slim on stage, yet still far from ordinary (keys/vibraphone, bass, guitarist, and one NASTY, NASTY drummer). The drummer’s style was so unique and so quick, his sticks seemed a blur during the fills and rolls. He is one of those drummers that utilizes a basic kit setup, but knows exactly how to hit every drum and cymbal. (Last time I saw him, he stood on top of his kit and used trash cans and a variety of aluminums/tins). There was a wide array of influences creeping into the intricate music: jazz, hip-hop, math rock, all coming together, forming layers of rhythmic textures. It was literally mind-blowing, and people left amazed that they had never heard of this band before.

Grimace Federation

Hoping to continue on the wave I was riding and see more intense percussion, I made my way to the Main Stage for Adam Deitch (of Break Science) accompanied by Talib Kweli. What didn’t come as a surprise was hearing the news that Talib Kweli had not yet shown, thus delaying their set. Needless to say, I didn’t wait around; ensuring that I caught every second of Tipper‘s masterpiece- a highlight for any music lover’s festival. His auditory revelations were topped off with live floral arrangements, courtesy of Anthony Ward. Incredible and unreal is all I can say about this, for now. An LiS exclusive interview and feature, along with an all inclusive review of Tipper‘s set at Camp Bisco, will be launched shortly.

Tipper

My ears perked up with interest. From a distance, I could hear Shpongle’s “Divine Moments of Truth” and as I got closer and closer, I could tell it was a live band rendition. Ahh, the talented Papadosio. I immediately thought “these guys are my heroes, and truly know what greatness is all about” – entering Shpongolia, without Simon or the Twisted crew actually being there. Enjoyable and talented jams made things feel like they were picking up right where the band left off, when I last saw them a few weeks prior at Desiderata. Each jam accentuated a different band member’s instrument and talent, without becoming too spacey. What was an all day, slow building epic lightning/rain storm decided to finally hit at 8:30. Unfortunately, Papadosio (along with Brothers Past & Kill the Noise) saw the negative effects of this. Mid-song, the volume was reduced to 50% and soon after they shut down the music completely. Looking at the sky for more than 30 seconds let the crowd know that this was not a storm to be messing around with. Giant lightning bolts fractured the sky, and bolts would split off of bolts, creating what looked like an electrical storm in a mad scientist’s laboratory. The squall completely wiped out the first of two Biscuits sets, and pushed Girl Talk to late-night. At this point, The Dome was rendered pointless because nobody wanted to test their Ben Franklin skills.

Nobody does it better. Yes, I am referring to the Bisco crowd: their rage gear and flashing colors. Rage ESSENTIALS is what I like to call them, because it seems as though nobody is walking around empty handed. As the weekend progressed, things started to pile on and attach like lint on a roller. Rusko’s crowd was spot on. That late-night was unlike it had ever been before. If Bassnectar was a high energy crowd, this gave it a run for it’s money. His track selection was a bit mainstream, with song remixes like “Day n Night”, but there were some heavy hitters in there as well. The blowup animals were enjoying crowd surfing mania, while long poles swung deep, almost touching heads 5 rows in front. As you can see in the video, Rusko had to beg the crowd to accept the fact that he was only allowed to play one more track. From what I hear, this set was similar to Ultra‘s and better than Starscape‘s, although I hadn’t attended either. I’ll tell you this much, it was one helluva closing set for Camp Bisco 9 (for myself and many others, it seemed as though the sweat had drained out of us and dance we could no more). No offense to Aeroplane, but I’d rather my last memory of “Bis-Co!” be “Rus-Ko!”

Rusko

The sheer happiness Camp Bisco created is what makes life worth it. Hearing screams like “Ohhhh Yeahhh” bellowing from the top of people’s lungs really get you excited and chanting in unison. Signs that read “This is really really good!” verify the fact that yes, we are supposed to be doing this. While you are dancing in the crowd and raging your face off, you can look around at any time, and find multiple people doing the exact same thing you are- with as big of a smile on their face as you. Every time I think back to moments like that, I get chills up and down my body, and goosebumps on my arms. Everybody is so happy, the world is carefree, and music- not oil- is our energy. I can’t get over how many people can gather in one spot and be relatively problem free. (Out of 15,000 attendees, there were only 15 arrests, all drug related- no violence). And while everybody is in their own world, they are sharing the experience with 15,000 others. That smile and scream can go a long way- especially with vuvuzelas, birthday horns, and decorated rage branches. The wind flowing through these trees possesses a special power on these weekends. One that is not to be repeated, until another year later.

Photos courtesy of Jay Rogovin & Chris Bee:

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Color Wars – Tug of War – Yellow vs. Purple

Color Wars – Tug of War – Yellow vs. Orange

Related posts:

1. Camp Bisco 9 – Day 1 – ohhhYEAHHH!
2. Camp Bisco 9 – Day 2 – Keepin’ it Mooovin
3. Camp Bisco X Review (Part 1)
4. Bisco WarZ: The Tronce-Formation of America’s Favorite Electronic Music Festival
5. Camp Bisco 8-Dizzurt’s Take

2010 Dizzurt Festie Life Live Multimedia Coverage Photos Show Reviews The Dome Use Your Eyes Videos camp bisco, camp bisco day 3, grimace federation, Rusko, Tipper