It’s Great to Be Back at Festivals! Summer Camp 2021
I can’t believe that before Summer Camp, it had been a year and a half since I’d been at a festival! Lights All Night 2019 was the last festival I experienced before everything shut down. So of course, like everyone else, I was itching to get back out there to get my dance on! I had been waiting for Summer Camp so impatiently for so long! It was so great to be back at festivals!!! (PS-If you want to see the real photos that aren’t compressed, check our album out! These photos are not of the same quality to make the loading times faster for you! If you are in any of these photos and want the higher res- email editor@thefestivalvoice.com and we’d be happy to provide them!)
So of course, I had to get my crew involved. Summer Camp is typically a big festival that my friends and I go to. It is only two hours from my house so it is the perfect getaway for my crew to go to. This is my 6th SCamp! This year’s crew was a little smaller than the past few years, but it was great to have the core group come out! I’m not in this picture because I was the one behind the camera, but I love seeing my crew altogether! Actually, the guy in the hat in the middle is our neighbor who became part of the fam almost instantly.
My two buddies got to Summer Camp on Thursday night and held down the fort for us. I work another job besides The Festival Voice and had to work until 4 pm. Bummer. But it’s all good because I was in Chillicothe by 6 and heading into the festival by 7! Bonus part- everyone in my crew was already there and so most of the heavy lifting had already been done for me. I just had to organize the camp and get the bedding set up- it was time to get out there and have a grand time!
Sadly, due to timing, I missed several sets that I wanted to see. Downside of having to work my regular job and not being able to use that vacation time! I had really wanted to check out Porn n’ Chicken, Manic Science, Here Come the Mummies, and Boogie T.rio. I wasn’t able to catch any of these sets but it’s all good- I was ready to get down for some Maddy O’Neal! It was quite the party! I didn’t have my camera Friday night because honestly, by the time I got into the festival, I was just ready to have a good time. My camera could wait until Saturday when I had all day to play around with it.
Friday night had some KILLER sets. I’m a dubstep girl for sure and I got down with Maddy O’Neal, Whipped Cream, Boogie T, Rezz, Clozee b2b LSDREAM, and Subtronics. Overall, my favorite set of the night was Subtronics but Clozee b2b LSDream Set was killer!!! After the main stages ended, the party was still going hard in the Illumination Woods at the Goodbus! Wave Point was awesome and it was great to keep the party going. I definitely didn’t make it until 4 am. I had to go back to camp around 3 because my feet were going to fall off.
One of my favorite aspects of Summer Camp is how the campgrounds and stages are interwoven together. I mean, at Forest you have to walk forever to get back to camp so once you’re in… You aren’t going back to camp often. We always camp really close to the Starshine stage because it allows us to go back to camp to grab a snack or a drink, plus we get to relax and sit down for a few. This is both a blessing and a curse as we probably spend waaaay too much time at camp. The perks of that are we met our awesome neighbors, including Travis, who joined the crew. He had a couple of friends with him but they were more into the jam bands. Travis was too but wanted to check out what the EDM portion of the festival. He had never really delved into it and was curious what all the hype was about. I think we made him a believer by the end of the weekend!!
Saturday was an awesome day! I handed out a ton of The Festival Voice stickers and talked to people all day long. We wanted to find out what people really thought about the festival, but I’ll talk about that information later. People really loved our concept and how we wanted to make their voices heard! It was great talking to people and really sharing The Festival Voice’s message. I was a little bummed I couldn’t check out all the SoulShine activities but as I was media, I had to work.
Saturday evening, I really wanted to get out there with my camera! I had my camera out and felt like it was the perfect time to take pictures. Of course, I was too busy exploring around that it was nearly dark. I told myself that Sunday I would spend some daytime taking pictures. That night, I spent time taking pictures of Manic Focus, LSDream, Clozee, and Filibusta. Personally, I am super pumped with how some of those photos turned out, especially this one of LSDream.
LSDream
Clozee
I’m a huge Filibusta fan and know him personally, so I was hoping to get some great shots. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn’t ideal at the Illumination Woods Stage so I was able to get some but not as great as the LSDream one! I got a few awesome shots of the other artists as well. It was great to work with Anthony, one of our TFV photographers as well.
Filibusta
Sunday rolled around and I was really feeling the heat. If I had to pick my biggest complaint about SCamp- it was the heat! I know they can’t control that but UGH. It was so hot. Gotta shower off and get to feeling good! Honestly, I kind of hid under my canopy being a baby most of the day. It was terrible out there so I didn’t get out there much until dusk. The heat was going down so I went out to the woods.
As I explored the Illumination Woods, I found tons of great shots. People were in their own element. Many of them were candid shots where people were just chilling. I loved getting pictures of the slack lines and the cool structures. The Illumination Woods was a GREAT addition to this year’s SCamp. The GoodBus was there last time, but it was awesome to see the expansion. Plus, it was a great way to cool off from the heat. We wandered around and I took pictures of so many cool things.
My friends wanted to go see Three6Mafia, but I’m not a huge fan of rap (plus the crowd was INSANE) so I only checked out the set for a bit before going off exploring to take more pictures and make new friends! It was awesome to truly take the time to notice things. I’ve been at SCamp for many years but loved exploring the festival in this whole new way.
I was able to check out a few sets before I had to go home. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough vacation time to take off time for SCamp so I had to be to work by 8 am Monday morning. I made it a goal to get home by midnight- which meant leaving at 10 (Spoiler- I got home at 1:30 and was asleep by 2:30 so I got a solid 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep. WORTH IT!) So I made the most of my time and checked out Ween for a bit before heading to Dogma. To be honest, I had NEVER heard of Dogma. I had initially planned to go to Tipper but after I read his description- I was sold. And what a relief that I went there. Dogma was by far my FAVORITE set of the weekend. I was so glad to have made this discovery.
Dogma
I did talk to a lot of people about their opinions on SCamp. Overall, I found out that people love the vibe of SCamp and think it is a great festival. People love how the campgrounds are interwoven with the stages. It’s great to be able to hop from stage to stage. There is no sound bleeding, a common problem of festivals. Plus, the layout is great because you don’t have to walk too far between stages. People love their SCamp! One girl made me promise I’d put more vegan options in the comments and another said we need more water trucks for less dust.
So there’s my whole SCamp experience. I was covered in dirt and stayed up way too late on Sunday. But you know what? I’ll do it all again next year. Here’s to SCamp 2022. I hope to be able to take some awesome photos and this time- let’s hope for a bit better weather so I’m not dying the whole weekend. It’s so wonderful to be back at festivals. Se y’all next year, Summer Camp!
All photo credits go to Savannah Skidmore and Anthony Chuang of The Festival Voice.