“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson || Bear Swing Swag + more on my INSTAGRAM: @jess_aka_poots

In 2014, Mysteryland, the longest running electronic music festival in the world, decided to give our country a taste of what this amazing European festival is all about! They decided to locate the festival conveniently an hour and a half from my home base in New Jersey, on the legendary Woodstock “Holy Grounds”, and hold it over Memorial Day Weekend! Memorial Day, is a federal holiday in the United States to remember our fallen soldiers, but the weekend leading up to the holiday (MDW), also serves as the starting point for the summer and “festival season.”  If you know me, you know I’m a firm believer that festival season is year round, you just need to know where to go, and you need to travel outside of your comfort zone. For most though, this weekend holds true to those terms and does in fact start the madness of the most festivals held each weekend in the northern hemisphere of the world.

Some pictures from Mysteryland USA 2014! INSTAGRAM: @jess_aka_poots

So last year in 2014,  I bought my tickets, camped out with friends, made new ones, smiled through my massive hangover I had the entire weekend, tried to not die from hypothermia and although almost impossible, I really, really tried to make the best of the mud and shitty weather mother nature so graciously threw at us. In all honesty, I didn’t have the best time, and I’m not going to lie about it. It’s not like it was the festivals fault either, but my experience just kinda sucked. It was a combo of going too hard the first night (for a festival pro, this was the worst rookie mistake I’ve made), the weather, I also had high expectations for the production and art (that I thought would be a little better), and there were some other little things not worth mentioning, that the festival ultimately couldn’t control, that just, hate to say it, killed my vibe. Let me put it to you this way, even though the festival itself was pretty good, I really didn’t think I’d be going back to Mysteryland. I kid you not, I have maybe five pictures from that entire weekend, and I might be in one of them. In fact, I think the only documentation I have of epic stuff that happened last year, was the massive slip n’ slide I brought and started with my friends on the camping grounds the last day, when we finally got some good weather! It was fully equipped with a bubble machine and shots being poured into your mouth if you reached the end. That madness easily drew a crowd of probably 50+ people and was definitely fucking awesome and a blast!

OK, let me take a step back and focus on the positive. The main reason I’m writing this post, is to share with you how I got a chance to turn my mediocre experience into a positive one this year, a super wonderful one at that! MDW crept up on me, and I started to get a bunch of people asking me if I’d be attending any of the major festivals held on this weekend, including of course my local festival, Mysteryland. I hadn’t bought tickets for the above reasons, I was scheduled for work (the joys of the restaurant industry), and I really didn’t have the money to go. So the answer to everyone was “No, no, no.” A big whomp, whomp, whomp, eating me away on the inside. Well that all changed in the matter of a few hours, a couple of days before the festival…

mys·ter·y¹

Remember how I said Mysteryland was a pleasant gift? Well I’m serious when I say that. I actually was gifted tickets, tickets I didn’t even win! How the fuck does that actually happen? Well my friend Dave entered a contest to win tickets but they didn’t announce that he had won until maybe a week before the event. He lives in Tampa, FL and already had tickets to Sunset Music Festival and he didn’t want the Mysteryland tickets to go to waste. He said he had so many people asking him for the tickets, and nothing personal against them, but he just wanted someone who he knew would get full use of them and someone he knew that could party just as hard as he could. That’s when he asked me if I could take the tickets off his hands. I was the chosen one. That was something really special to me, that he reached out to me, wanting to give ME the tickets over everyone else that wanted to go and was begging him for them! I didn’t even ask! That my friends, is the power of The Groove Cruise family! The amount of love and opportunities I’ve received because of that festival, is seriously almost indescribable!

Raymond, myself, and Dave circa 8am, Groove Cruise Miami 2015!

What is The Groove Cruise? If you want to see what other festivals and topics I plan on writing about by the end of this year click here! You can also check out my Groove Cruise Xi Miami after movie by clicking here!

Now, I feel like things happen for a reason, and I really think I was meant to go back and get a fresh perspective, new experience, and most importantly, gain some fulfillment from the joy and happiness this event really does bring people. I also think I was meant to bring the friends I brought, so they could see the imagination, fun, and beauty that the venue, art, attendees, and artists bring to our festival community, so very close to home! So, by some strange, almost unbelievable miracle, I got three different co-workers of mine to help out, switch some shifts around and most importantly, I got two different shifts of mine covered, on the biggest holiday weekend, that no one ever wants to work on in America. Now this could be enough to make you all want to, I don’t know, hate me?… but as if this crazy turn of events couldn’t get any better, that’s exactly what happened, things got even better!

You know how Dave said he wanted someone who would be getting “full use” of the tickets? Well, I certainly know how to make the most of the best situations, so I did just that. A few days, I mean literally probably two days before the event, I sent out an email requesting a media pass, thinking that there would be no fucking way I’d be granted one on such short notice. I really wanted to film and make an after movie for Mysteryland this year and snap some sick photos. To my surprise, I got a response almost immediately, confirming that I was approved media for the event. Fuck yes, Mysteryland! Happiness overload! You know, I think Mysteryland has its name for a reason, and it’s still a mystery to me how this whole turn of events unfolded. I just want to say, Dave, I love you! To the ladies at Plexi PR, thank you for helping me out while you were already on site, and especially for being so quick, professional, and helpful. Definitely one of the best PR’s I’ve dealt with for media inquires, so thank you! You all fucking rule!

At the NYC Groove Cruise Reunion with Dave!

Now don’t get me wrong, the combination of all that awesome shit happening to me, obviously made me extremely happy, and of course made me appreciate being at the event no matter what! But hands down, I gotta give credit when it’s deserved, and the real reason I had such a great time this year is because Mysteryland stepped their game up, and truly worked on improving their festival to make it even better for round two. They brought some old elements back, but also brought a lot of new fresh ideas in, to enhance the experience for all us nomads. Keep in mind, I didn’t camp this year, so I can’t vogue if the campgrounds muddy conditions improved, if the check in process was a mess or not, how bathroom lines we’re, or if the BangOn! bus kept it real again during after hours (I’m sure they did). I can’t say how the pre-party was, but I’m sure I can just go ahead and say it was fucking amaze-balls with, Richie Hawtin, Maceo Plex, Josh Wink, and GTA, just to name a few that were on the bill. My boy and fellow Groove Cruiser, Kip Chapman, won the THUMP and Wavo contest (click here to listen to his winning mix) and got to open the party up for them! So, yeah, I’ll just go ahead and say that was a really epic party, with out even being there! With ALL of that being said, this is why I love Mysteryland…

THE CULTURE

Nomads rest on the hill by “The Boat” as the sun sets.

Bethel Woods, New York, is a gorgeous site to see, I mean it really is. It still kind of amazes me how people think New York City is the only part of New York, and you have to give them a geographical lesson about New York STATE. I know, mind-blowing, kind of sad, but it’s true. Well I’ll just let you know that this venue is one of my favorites! It’s the perfect size, easy to navigate, and you often find yourself staring at the hundreds of flowing green, thick, grassy hills and wooded lands that over lap each other for miles. It’s great scenery and the perfect backdrop that works with the theme for this festival, something I personally enjoy because well, “it’s home.”

Loved the tie-dye American Flag my friends made for Mysteryland!

Mysteryland does a great job of allowing a lot of different cultures be present at their festival with drink selection, stage themes, and art, which I’ll get to later. One of it’s biggest culture influences are the sacred “Holy Grounds,” and they’re called that for a good reason. It’s location is the same as the 1969 Woodstock Festival, which was originally advertised as “Three Days of Peace & Music.” At the Bethel Woods Center For the Arts Museum, you can learn about the entire decade that represented Woodstock. They host various programs with vibrant, interactive exhibits that celebrate the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Woodstock was a cultural movement in popular music history, that drew over 400,000 attendees to the event. You see a lot of that era’s impact being prominent around this festival and with the people who attend. Knowing that Mysteryland is the first festival to be held on the grounds since that time, makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Now we’re creating something special and making history!

THE ART

Graffiti art by Mastro found on the information stands. INSTAGRAM: @mastronyc

Art, man! Quite honestly my favorite part of any music festival! I really love the little things, super sized things, and unimaginable things we were given to look at here. After all, this is the land of mystery right? This festival is known for blending music with art, that’s what Mysteryland is all about, and they do a wonderful job with it!

Got mail?

Walk through trees and you’ll find tiny mailboxes dangling from the branches. Maybe you’ll pass a table to sit at where you can get an origami lesson, and as you look around, the surrounding trees are covered with the tiny paper creations made by some fellow nomads. A giant plush teddy bear with a swing made entirely out of cute, squishy bear friends, with ivory and flowers all around the frame, really makes you feel like a kid again! (If you saw the first picture at the top of this post, I’m sitting on it. I like to call it the “Bear Swing Swag” pic!) Or how about when you walk past that giant TV and see the channels change as people switch in and out for pictures? I also loved the graffiti by Mastro found on information stands, it brought a little bit of the New York City street art to the New York country side.

The giant TV is a perfect photo-opt for nomads, with the festival, campgrounds and scenery as the backdrop!

My favorite addition of art this year by far was the Toad! Probably one of the best ideas the event organizers could have had, was bringing an art cart to this festival, especially this particular one! If you don’t know what an art cart it, they are becoming increasingly popular at festivals because they are super interactive, providing portable music, art, and transportation for the community. They are especially big on the West Coast, at festivals like Burning Man and EDC Las Vegas. Toad, an amazing work of art with LED swirled eyes, fuzzy lounge bed, and giant mouth that opened, came along with his toad friends that were blasting sick beats, providing some sing-a-long karaoke, and added some serious creative flow and flavor to the whole weekend! It was, in my opinion, the perfect addition and party on-the-go to have at Mysteryland! I’m happy I bumped into him a few times, absolutely loved it!!

Toad and Friends throw down some sick beats!

Lots of new things we’re added this year, besides, “Toad” there was a swing set, twirling people around all day and a fun little ball pit to play in! In addition, they had a “Life Size Mouse Trap” Game. The engineering behind this blew my mind, um, yes, this actually worked! The fun thing about it was the live band and performance show of the game, they got some chosen nomads involved to play and make this 1963 board game come to life!

Nomads turn the crank of the “Life Size Mouse Trap” Game.

This year they also added some super hot, amazing, what I like to call, “fire domes” to the venue by Incendia. The company specializes in creating theatrical fire shows and artistic installations at events and festivals! I loved hanging out on the couches in there during the day, it created a nice atmosphere when you wanted to chill out and drink some beer. At night it was mesmerizing watching the different fire spinners, hoopers and live performers! Added bonus was being able to warm up from the chilly weather at night as the fire spread across the ceilings!

Crowds turn massive at night when temperatures plummet!

It’s a staple to have interactive, creative art for your attendees! If you want to learn more about why art is a super important and a fundamental part to make or break your festival experience, you can read my write-up on what I learned about visual arts at festivals in my IMFCON 2014 recap post!

THE MUSIC

When you get those feels…

Culture + Art + Music= Mysteryland! Obviously the music and line-up is a major part of any festival, we all know this! For a festival that is the longest running in the world, solely for electronic music, but has a significantly smaller scaled event in the US, they still crush it, bringing big names, and music everyone can get in to! Techno, House, Progressive, Hard Style, Trap, Nu-Disco, you name it, there is a home for it at Mysteryland.

Team Techno, gets down to Nicole Moudaber!

It’s one of those festivals, for me at least, where I get to see artists I love, but more importantly, check out and hear new music and artists I’ve never heard before. I mean there really isn’t much more to elaborate on here besides, I love it! Leave me a comment below and let me know who some of your favorite sets were this year!

THE STAGES

Tent curated by Webster Hall, NYC.

By far one of my favorite things about Mysteryland are the stages and the intimacy at them. Small, intimate stages at festivals are my absolute fucking favorite, and all though the attendance nearly doubled in size this year, I still felt that the stages had this special feeling and quality to them. As mentioned, there is a home for all types of electronic music at Mysteryland, and each of these homes are the stages with very unique vibes and atmosphere they create. Here are some of my favorites:

Owari No Nai by Sin Salida is by far my favorite stage and where I closed out Mysteryland this year! It’s a super tiny stage, that’s kind of hidden up a little hill at the back of the festival grounds. In 2014, they called it “Sin Salida” which translates to ‘no exit’. The theme of the stage was ‘day of the dead’ and they had ladies serving tequila sunrises, while bumping some deep house or sometimes some spanish salsa music. Very strange but in a good way. From what I’ve researched, Alter Ego, the stage curators, felt that it was a party that can not be repeated, so for this year they dubbed their party ‘Owari No Nai’ which still means ‘no exit’ but in Japanese. This year’s concept was absolutely beautiful! You know how Japan is always on top of their game, doing awesome, creative, weird, shit? Well that’s what this stage felt like, a Japanese fantasy land, filled with topless geisha girls wearing oriental robes, handing out free sake shots, with confetti being blasted out of canons to amazing, groovy, electro house beats… Sounds incredible right? Well it was.

Sun, saki, and geisha girls at Owari No Nai Stage!

During the day there was a table near by where you could learn how to make origami (mentioned earlier in the art section above). The design of the stage is another major reason why I love being there. The stage is a semi-circle shape, which I think helps bring the crowd together in a different way than the other stages. Vibrate colors, hanging paper lanterns and some koi can be found looking around here, but my absolute favorite part, is the smoke that blows out into the crowd. If you look closely (at the picture below), the smoke is created by a beautifully painted animé girl, exhaling smoke, in the center of the stage. The design of the stage is just fucking brilliant!! It’s hard to leave here, which is probably why the stage’s name means “no exit.” The possibilities for this stage in future years are endless, as a different culture can be represented each year. Bravo. Or should I say, Burabō!

ブラボー!

Closing party at Owari No Nai!

Zeitgeist is another small gem this festival has. I really enjoyed my time here, again! The stage is named after the indie dance/nu-disco party that is hosted weekly at Verboten, located in Brooklyn, NY. Zeitgeist is German and translates as “spirit of the times.” I honestly just loved the music at this stage, it’s so funky, and everyone was always dancing because of it!

Fog fills the Zeitgeist Stage at night.

Above the dance floor is a transparent netted ceiling filled with a ton of balloons floating around it. During the day it was really pretty when the rays of sun beams peaked through. Along the sides of the stage you can find trees with some vintage couches that people would sit in creating a lounge like feel. The near-by path had giant lamps to light the way for those walking.

Taking a break on some couches near Zeitgeist stage.

The Boat gets pretty rowdy, not gonna lie. I’m pretty sure this is majority of the festival attendees favorite stage and for a good reason, it’s a fucking boat! Like the other two stages I’ve mentioned, the design changed again from the first year. This is something I like a lot about this festival. They aren’t just changing the appearance of the main stage to please us, they are changing it all up, to give us something to look forward too at all the stages, year after year. This year, the boat had a vintage, rustic, metal, steam punk type look to it, and I was digging it a lot.

“The Boat”

Home of the trap, funk, and electro soul music, you have plenty of room to dance if you want to since it’s one of the larger stages. Or if you want, you can just sit and chill out on the hill here too. Did anyone else love watching some super sick sun sets here as the days would come to an end? I was also happy to find out that you could go on the top deck of the boat and check out the view from up there, with the crowd on one side, and the camping area in the far distance on the other. Last year I thought it was VIP only, so I’m happy I figured out that anyone is welcome on board.

The boat had some serious sun set swag!

Spiegeltent has a kind of dark twisted appeal to it. It’s a circus tent with lots of beautiful drapery along the sides flowing all the way to the ceilings center point, and somehow its been transformed into a night club with real stain glass windows along the top of it. How those things don’t shatter from the bass that’s blasted in there, is a mystery in itself! As you walk in to the circular structure, mirrors lined the walls on both the right or left sides of entry, placed around the bar they had for hand crafted cocktails. In the center was a large dance floor and around the perimeter of it were large semi-circle booths with tables to sit down at if you wanted to take a break.

The Martinez Brothers were amazing at the Flying Circus party inside Spiegeltent!

Curated by Verboten (hosted by THUMP), who’s been known for decades for throwing some wild parties around New York City. They’re known most for their love of underground music, art exhibits, and in my opinion one of the best sound systems and clubs in NYC nightlife. They brought all these features and more along with a killer line-up to two separate parties they hosted over the weekend.

THE MYSTERY

A bouncer holds the line to get into “Club ML”

There were a few things I was really happy I found this year that I had missed the first year attending. Anyone else get a chance to see the “Ice Cream Disco?” It had the longest line of all the food and beverages stands in its area! Dance, yes, dance in line for some delicious ice cream, as you listen to some records being spun on vinyl turntables! Of course there is a disco ball too! Fellow Groove Cruiser (I know, we’re everywhere) Eric, owns the sweet treat ice cream truck, and my friends, also fellow Groove Cruisers, were dropping tunes there all weekend!

NPG and Kip Chapman (Thump & Wavo pre-party contest winner) go B2B at the Ice Cream Disco!

I think what is amazing about any festival after you get home from it, is when you see pictures of things you didn’t see at all. Huh? How did I miss that? Considering the size of Mysteryland is on such a smaller scale compared to other festivals I’ve been to, but this still somehow happens, is pretty impressive! There are still mysterious things to be discovered next year!

ALWAYS ROOM FOR LOVE & IMPROVEMENT

Some sky porn at “Life Size Mouse Trap” Game

Finishing up I want to mention some things about this year as some of my favorite things and not so favorite things about Mysteryland USA 2015:

WHAT I LOVED…

1. The Swings! Thought it was a great addition, and something fun for people to take a ride on while listening to music coming from the big top tent or main stage! However, I was waiting in line on Sunday to ride them and they shut down kind of early (before it got dark).

2. The healing garden and speakers series stage. So, OK, I actually missed this again, which is a big disappointment to me because I think it is an amazing feature that this festival has, that more festivals need to bring to their event for a learning and networking experience. Still wanted to mention this and give it a thumbs up! If you attended anything here please comment and let me know what you thought!

3. Loved the various stage make-overs (The Boat and Zeitgeist for example)! I think this will be a great feature to keep switching it up for people just as you do the main stage. When you keep things familiar but give it a new look, people will be excited to see what it looks like year after year.

4. Same thoughts apply for the stage hosted by “Sin Salida”. As mentioned above, it’s translation means “no exit” and it can not be repeated. This is BRILLIANT, adds a variety of culture, and needs to keep happening! Plus they have some of the best music, vibes, and people at their stages. Keep bringing them back!

5. Loved seeing so many Groove Cruisers, Forest Fam, Mysteryland peeps, and friends from college and high school this year! Mysteryland brings a lot of different festival families together for me!

LOVED NOT SO MUCH…

1. Birdy Bucks, damn you! They are such a rip off!! We get it, European festival, you want your Euro and not our US dollar, but really it ends up being extremely expensive for us! Beer and food is significantly more pricey compared to other US festivals (by $2-$4 some items)! I wish you would take this into consideration…

2. The food? Maybe it was just where I ate though? Maybe someone could give me a recommendation for next year, so I can eat something better than what I had: a pretty lame cheeseburger, also a rip off.

3. Water stations. My suggestion is to make them a separate station from where people wash their hands inside the porta-potty area. It’s just gross and skeeves me out a lot.

4. Kind of a stupid complaint and more of a personal issue, out of the organizers control (well sort of… they could switch dates)….but…the weather! Daytime, absolutely gorgeous, but by night way too fucking cold! Can’t deal, even if I have the proper clothing. This might be the one thing that keeps me from coming back, 30 degrees is just too fucking cold! Unless they add more fire domes, or have fire shooting out over the paths (like they have at Tomorrowland) to give people a burst of heat, I don’t know about a festival in the North East with low temps anymore (at least for me). My suggestion would be to have a booth where you could rent a warm fuzzy blanket! Since I wasn’t camping this year, I had to carry everything I needed in for the day in, and carrying big bulky, warm clothing isn’t really ideal. Like-wise if you are camping on site, you still need to walk all the way back (up and down that dreaded hill) to get changed if you’re cold. If Mysteryland had some type of blanket rental with the Mysteryland logo on it, people could put a deposit down for the blanket, and once returned get their deposit money back. If they don’t return the blanket, they money is profit. I really think this is one area of focus the organizers must work on, is coming up with more ways for people to stay warm at night!

Below is my full album of pictures from the 2nd edition of Mysteryland USA! You also can check them out of my Facebook page by clicking here! And yes, I know you’re probably wondering, after movie? Didn’t you say you wanted to film Mysteryland? Where is it? I’ll be editing a bunch of videos after I finish getting some more travel and festival experiences down in writing…thanks for being patient! It’ll be a pleasant surprise when I do get around to it, and I’ll be sure to post it in all the MLUSA groups and pages on line. I have some amazing footage! Drop me a comment below and let me know what you loved or didn’t love about the festival this year, especially if you camped or think I missed something!