Elements Music and Arts Festival 2022
Elements Music and Arts Festival hosted over 8,000 daily attendees, who gathered from 34 states and 24 countries for its fifth installment this past August Aug 18-22. For three days, four nights and over 72 hours, Elements transformed the woodlands adjacent to the Poconos Raceway in Long Pond, PA into a veritable playground filled with transformative performance stages that all acted as centerpieces to each Element of life. Each was its own destination for festival dwellers of all sorts who camped, glamped, sound-bathed, ninja-flipped, downward-dogged and danced to over 100+ musical acts across a myriad of genres with surprise sets including the b2bs with Gene Farris and Sacha Robotti, Dr. Fresch and Sohmi. Plus Sonny Fodera b2b with Chapter & Verse, who confessed, ”I didn’t quite know what to expect with this one but absolutely loved the vibe here. Organization was really on point and the crowd were absolutely sick. Definitely a new experience for me after playing a lot of commercial festivals but loved every minute. 30 hour trip, definitely worth the effort. Lost Village U.K. meets Electric Forest meets Burning Man!”
Labeling it a “Burning Man meets Berlin meets Bushwick” (VICE) offers a functional description, albeit has yet to arrive at the crux of what truly sets Elements apart. First time player Nicole Moudabar, might’ve just got it right – “It is the closest experience to what it was like in Ibiza’s early days, even before Burning Man. This is what Burning Man was. I came all the way here from Ibiza via Germany to Texas and today I’m here just for my set at Elements and I’m flying back in a few hours. I have to say, I haven’t slept more than six hours in four days, but it was all worth it! Elements was worthy, It was magical!” Kaskade couldn’t agree more, “This is my first experience at Elements, it was amazing! I traveled all day to get here and I think that’s part of the uniqueness – we’re out here in the middle of the forest, trees all around us, incredible stage, what a vibe! Nothing quite like it.”
A WORD FROM THE FOUNDING FATHERS: A locale five times the size coupled with a fresh blank canvas to create magic, Co-Founder, visual and performing artist Timothy Monkiewicz finds the most rewarding part is filling the event with technicolor. He comments, “We first saw our new home outside of Pocono Raceway in 2016 when we were scoping the location for our first Elements campout. We instantly fell in love with the site, but it was way too big for a first year festival on a shoestring budget. Out of the 40+ locations we visited, it was by far the best, and we always knew that this would be the perfect home for Elements. We are beyond grateful that 6 years later we were able to move here!”“This year’s festival has been the culmination of everything we’ve worked for over the years, every victory, every loss, every joy, every heartache, to form a more perfect venue, and a most excellent party. Elements will become the jewel of the Northeast, with an unstoppable combination of participatory Burner-esque culture, creature comforts, mind blowing art installations and performers, and the finest musicians on the planet.” – Co-Founder Brett HermanDr Fresch backs these statements up –”These dudes man, they brought me into this vision they were building in NY,” as he reminisces about his first experience with Bangon!NYC. “I saw the seed for what we’re experiencing today. And to be part of this journey, I’m blown away, to witness this come to fruition. The stages are awesome, the people, and on top of that you end up in niche spaces like what we’re in right now – this does not exist at so many festival environments, but here it does.” It’s weird man, and that’s why I love it”!
FIRE STAGEThe Fire stage ignited the party and kept it blazing ALL WEEKEND LONG – Monkiewicz says, “It was so amazing to see my Fire stage goddess come to life! From a napkin sketch I did 5 years ago to today, there have been so many who collaborated to bring this beauty to life, and I am so grateful for all their creative input and help!”
Lighting up all cylinders was J. Worra who said, “I just played. It was epic! Omg I didn’t lose any of my brows, I think I’m good still. Yeah we’re good!” She raved, “ I want to come back every year! Every year on the Fire Stage – just mark that down for me alright?” Although Blunts and Blondes reverberated from the Earth stage, he shared that “My favorite Element …is fire”, and one can only wonder why. Light it up!
Speaking of the EARTH STAGE– Shaking things up to earthquake proportions was Liquid Stranger who brought their unique brand of psychedelic dub reggae grooves, plus TroyBoi and bass queen Rezz who claimed that “Elements is powerful” true words as she slayed fans throughout her hour and a half set. While returning favorites, the electrifying funky duo Big Gigantic couldn’t agree more – “We love the new spot. It’s beautiful out here and it’s a great vibe, so it’s cool to be back.” Kicking things off in the new location, Dominic and Jeremy took over the Sunday evening slot and shared their excitement right before their set warning fans, “We’re going to bring a heavy set tonight! We’re playing a lot of new music – So yeah, we’re bringing on the craziness and it’s gonna be fun!”
On the AIR STAGE newly made friends assembled their crews and whirled like the wind onto the dance floor to the sounds of Seth Troxler, Luttrell, Francis Mercier and Lauren Flax who says of her experience, “It’s great! Honestly, festivals have been really good since the pandemic, and here, I feel very taken care of and cared for! I’m just in awe of all of it… like LOOK at the crazy massive mushroom right there! It’s definitely a beautiful thing!” With regards to her performance she adds, “ It was cool because honestly, I had to do a hard reset. Performing before me was KOOP who was playing nice, beautiful house music and I can parley off that, but I only had an hour and a half to play, so I just decided that I’m gonna clear the dance floor, and start over and I’m just gonna go hard! And that is what I did, and it ended up with a full dance floor when I finished!”
WATER STAGE Festival attendees were torn when they discovered that Sofi Tukker’s set time was the same as Rezz on night one, and so was Sofi Tukker! “We love Rezz! They gushed, “Well, we won’t compete with the hardness, we’ll just do our thing!” Another Water stage favorite daytime set came from Sean and Devin of Poolhaus, who claimed that “Shermanology, was really getting the people going, so we wanted to keep that energy.” The sun was beating down on the water stage, and people were in need of a groove.” Sean of Poolhaus confirmed that his favorite Element is indeed “Water all the way. I’m an Aquarius and Poolhaus, come on!?” Fellow camp king and dirtybird legend, Claude VonStroke has dazzled the Elements decks multiple times, and is in agreement, Water is his favorite Element, “Because I was on the swim team growing up and my favorite animal is a dolphin.” About his set… “I just finished playing here at Elements festival, it was amazing again! Good vibes over there!”
After hours the Water Stage morphed into the Wubhub all weekend long with a wide array of genre bending artists who kept those who wanted to “keep the good times going with just that – good times,” says Banger Vance who brought on his German bass world music vibes through the wee hours of the night. He recalls his first ever Elements Fest experience on the Brooklyn waterfront in 2013.” I remember it was in this interesting shipyard kind of area and it was amazing, so fun. We always think back to that and how fun it was and to come back this year, and to really experience it in their new environment – it’s just as magical. We were expecting an amazing time and it’s been everything of that, plus more! I just love the atmosphere it’s incredible here and my set went off really great last night. The whole crowd was really vibin’.” B-Nice joined the late night party with his swing house set plus Marvel Years and Boogie Nights, a disco house trio made up of Mike Barry, who goes by “The Business” and Matt MacLaren, aka “Father Figure” and Matt Wisehop. Mike Barry comments, “It means a lot to be here with all of these great musicians and artists of various sorts. Everyone just comes together as a community and supports each other and everyone appreciates everything. It’s my first time coming here and I’m all about it!” Mclaren adds, “Me too, I am definitely overwhelmed and in the best possible way.”
The festival’s AETHER STAGE, curated by Stage Director and performing artist Joey Greiner, drew in hundreds with performances and on site activations. From the indigenous elders performing the sunset fire ceremonies each night, to the family of Aztec dancers from Mexico who performed in full traditional costume on Friday. On Saturday, a Lenape chief gave a blessing for all to be using this land. All topped off on Sunday when Snow Raven from the musical group Olox performed a traditional fire ceremony from her homeland in Arctic Siberia near the North Pole.
THE HEART At the end of the day, the heart of the festival belongs to its fans, its community, and there is no festival community quite like Elements – A melting pot brimming with futurists, purists, dreadlocked bassheads, fashionistas, technomaniacs, psych-electronic rock headbangers, funky brothers and soul vibing sisters, visionaries, butterflies, and wizards all who came together for the love of the music and experience. The community experience is a top priority for Elements, who listened to fans and brought in a new board of advisors including new Festival Director Sig Greenebaum,“I am super proud of some of our unsung heroes that made major contributions like Harm Reduction, and Green Team. Both delivered in making the site and therefore the experience safe and welcoming.” The commitment to fan experience did not go unnoticed by festival goers, one of whom appreciated “The care from everyone, staff and all! Everyone took care of one another ❤ Also the cleanest festival I’ve been to in every way!!!!!” – @yellomariah
On top of ensuring fan care and safety, the visual and production artists designed Elements as a hallmark to the fluidity of the new site that allowed the community to immerse themselves completely and be their most creative selves, a freedom as natural as the elements themselves. From the psychedelic path between the Water and Air stages, to sprawling art installations, to a neon forest lighting up the grounds and keeping the partying and adventuring going all night, every nook and cranny of the vast hand carved venue was an immersive fire-breathing dream come true. Says one festival goer of the design, “Finally rested up after @elementsfest_ & all I can say is that that was one of my most fun festivals I’ve ever been too. Running around the forest climbing on art installations and dancing on art carts is all I could ever ask for I can’t wait for next year 💗” – @Amandduhhh_
Art cars in attendance at this year’s Elements for fans to interact with and enjoy included BadMan, Scrubby Bubble, Simon Turtle, Unicorn Stallion, and JunXion. The good vibes from the community even made their way to the artists, creating a synergy between fan and performer that brought the experience to another level. “It made us comfortable walking out on stage and I think that translated to the audience. It was a really lovely experience” said Twiddle following their performance on Saturday night. Monkiewicz reflects, “We started these parties for entertainment. A lot of music festivals started just with music in mind, or some with only one genre of music. Music was always a huge part, it is what you dance to and hear all throughout the party, but that was never the only thing about it.” Elements doesn’t have an aesthetic that’s easy to pin down, nevertheless, what took place across its stages powered by an onsite solar farm—was a delicious, organic treat for lighting up the imagination with so many experiences rolled into one. It’s equal parts a production-perfect highbrow festival and psychedelic neon jungle with the sheer scale of its spectacle, like an earthier and more immersive version of the most revered sparkly electronic behemoths.
Elements has become the standout alternative cultural festival of North America. Whatever you wish to call this phenomenon, it is so much more than just a party. Elements electrified all six senses of thousands of attendees who flocked to the psychedelic, unifying, and utterly life-changing ride. Elements 2022 is proof that it has now officially become the standout alternative cultural festival of North America. “My number one goal coming into this year was to ensure confidence every step of the fan journey; from toll booths, to escorting patrons to their camp sites, blocking out their sites in advance, clear signage, convenient placement of restrooms and showers, the flow to and from stage. To me it’s kind of like a video game, each action takes you to the next level and if you fail at any point it ruins the entire experience.” Greenebaum adds, “I might be bias, but if there is an award for comeback festival of the year, I’m pretty certain Elements should be in the conversation.” Elements 2023 is the new destination festival. Ending the festival on Sunday eve, Zeds Dead closed out the Earth stage on a high note, “ That’s what’s up Elements! We love ya’ll. Through the rain and the shine – it’s been a real pleasure – peace out!”