Camp Bisco X Final Wrap-Up

by | Jul 22, 2011 | Concerts & Festivals, Reviews

The Disco Biscuits must be proud of themselves; Camp Bisco X brought out the largest crowd the festival has ever seen, selling out all three days.  On Thursday, festival-goers waited as long as 4 hours in line to get to campsites, but once inside the anxiety that was built up quickly dissipated.  Looking around it was easy to notice how young the crowd seemed, a good guess might be 17-20 years old. This might seem shocking to most seasoned festival-goers, but a closer look truly reveals what an incredible thing it is.  For the industry, the young crowd is a glowing sign of resilience. It is an indication of the music’s immortality and its constant evolution.

Fans not only danced to their favorite hip-hop artists and DJ’s, but they raged right alongside 10-year old funk outfits like Lettuce that, in a majority of cases, they would never otherwise listen to.

With five stages, the festival’s schedule was packed tight.  The bulk of the line-up focused on the hottest established and up-and-coming electronic musicians, with a profusion of electronic hybrids – genre bending bands that add elements of pop-rock, jam, tribal, metal, dub, trip-hop and more.  There were also acts that classified, almost exclusively, as hip-hop, funk, and reggae.

In fact, the notorious hip-hop artist Redman was booked to collaborate with trip-hop duo Break Science and acclaimed DJ RJD2. In true hip-hop fashion, Redman never showed, and Break Science played with RJD2 until Camp Bisco shut them off. We caught up with drummer Adam Deitch backstage and asked him what happened with the no-show. Apparently, although everything was done through contracts, Redman managed to give CBX the wrong home address, and when Deitch received a phone call at 1pm from the rapper exclaiming that his car service had never showed up, it was too late for anything to be done.

Break Science’s set with RJD2 was, essentially, somewhat of a failure. The problem is that the crowd had waited in eager anticipation for a climax that was never met – they were always expecting more, forever left wanting. For that reason, or maybe for another, Deitch didn’t seem too thrilled about his set with Break Science. He said that he loves RJD2’s music and working with the DJ, but mentioned that Performer Magazine should make it out to a real Break Science show.

Our opinion was that the band mixed well with RJD2’s material, adding elements of their style to his tracks. It left us feeling a bit flat. Deitch played with at least 3 outfits. We’re anxious to see another Break Science performance, with all confirmed players, and see what this duo is really all about.

Other acts that left our ears perked were the screamo-inspired electronic sound waves emanating from Skrillex’s system. If the DJ isn’t taking dubstep’s newest faction, Brostep, to the next level, he’s pushing electronic music into its next phase – Moombahton, always tuned in and ahead of the curb of his genre. The Grooveshark Tent was completely packed the night Skrillex played. As soon as you walked into you were hit by a wall of moisture, the flesh and movement of everyone around you dripping over your lips and chin. It was a moment with enough intensity to hit anyone like a ton of bricks. We were paralyzed, and overcome all at once.

Another CBX act that left crowds breathless, but in a different way, was Shpongle live. Forming the most passionate, theatrical, colorful, and musically intoxicating set of CBX history. Shpongle’s music is unreal live. When you listen to Shpongle as a recording, it doesn’t seem like it could possibly be translated into a live setting. The cast, the communication, and the bright, playful sights and costumes helped manifest that their sound into something visually stunning and truly brilliant.

Some other outfits we enjoyed were Thomas Fec of Black Moth Super Rainbow’s band Tobacco, who’s synth-garage rock sound and vocoder essence worked perfectly under the canopy of the Dance Tent. The metropolitan infused rage-funk of Lettuce came a little too early in the evening for our liking, but the audience responded beautifully to their music and Lettuce’s proclivity to party furiously merged wonderfully with the youthful, glowing crowd before them.

All in all, Camp Bisco X was crowded and young, which just proves that the festival is indisputably innovative and can throw one major party. From disco-dance ragers on top of vendors and campsite color wars, Camp Bisco is one musically and experientially mind-blowing getaway.

Photos provided by jamforums.com by Keith and Dan Foote.

journalism by M E G A L O M A N D E E