My Soul Shined At Solshine Reverie
I’m going to be completely honest- I did not know what to expect at Solshine Reverie. I knew that it was going to be similar to SCamp but with some changes, I was filled with some apprehension about the situation. Change can be scary but I knew that Solshine Reverie had our best interests at heart- so I knew I would have fun! All photos taken by Savannah Rae.
The weekend started off stormy, to say the least! As I arrived, it started to storm and they shut down all entry for about 2 hours. MEH. So I missed Phyphr, who was the first set I wanted to see (and I later interviewed) but by the time the rain let up and we were let into car camping, I had to miss the set. But anyway, it dried up real quick and we were able to set up camp in a breeze. I LOVE car camping because I don’t have to drag all of my stuff inside. It is WELL worth it. If you aren’t familiar, Solshine Reverie has you walk quite a ways with all your gear, so it is worth it to me to get that car camping pass!
One unique thing- I have a crazy disco tent. It was a one-off purchase a few years ago off Kickstarter and it’s a solid tent. When I go to festivals, I see one or two of them. But the neighbor actually had one! I couldn’t believe it because this was such a chance occurrence. I knew the weekend was going to be great just because of that. Solshine Reverie for the WIN!
First thing first, I want to talk about the stage design. This year, they had 5 stages. The main stage was The Moonshine stage and it was normal. I did like that they were closer together so there wasn’t as much of a walk, but some people complained about noise bleed. I didn’t personally experience that, but some people did.
Anyway, we set up camp and headed out to see Maddy O’Neal for a bit and I snagged a few pictures. After that, we went into the magical forest and spent some time at Josh Teed. I had never seen him before but was very impressed with his ability to play the violin and intermix it into his sets. It was great to see such a unique and impressive set.
I had to put my camera away for the night because it began to rain. With that, we went into the Illumination Woods to hide a bit from the rain. We grooved and had a blast- although we were soaked! But after a long day of work (because I had to go to work all day before I could arrive), I decided I was wet, cold, and tired.
I will say, I think that the schedule was the worst part of the event, in my opinion. It was only midnight but I was exhausted. And because of the late sets, I found myself missing all of the headliners. Last year, the music went on until 2 and then you could vibe in the woods. By 1 am this year, I found it hard to stay motivated to stay up for another 3 hours. I could probably have stretched it for another hour… but I was exhausted. This is something that I was not a fan of, to be honest. Back when I was younger, I could totally stay up until 4, no problem. 30 is hitting me HARD!
Anyway, the next day we slept in and finally got up for the day before wandering around for some adventures! I was sent some free samples of Electrolit– and I loved them! Check out my full review HERE! I was awake and alert so my adventures were near perfect! I loved checking out Yoga with Payton in the Illumination Woods. It was so much fun to see everyone doing their own adventures throughout the day. There was so much going on including people slack lining, checking out some smaller stages, checking out the vendors, checking out yoga, drum circles, hammocking with their pals, and so much more. The sun was shining and we were feeling all right!
Next, I went to interview Gaspar Benejas and the L.A. Argentinians as well as Phyphr. It was great to chat with them- check out their interviews linked at their names.
Of course, I make an effort to check out all of the acts I interview. As mentioned earlier, I was unable to hit Phyphr because of the rain, however, I was able to check out Gaspar Benejas and the L.A. Argentinians and take some pictures of the band. They were doing a pretty great job up there and the people in attendance were vibing!
After that, we ventured back into camp to grab a quick dinner before making it back out for Dogma! In my opinion, this was the absolute BEST set of the weekend. Dogma SLAYED with the dubstep. I’m a huge fan of him after discovering him at Summer Camp a few years ago as I was wandering around the festival. I’ve made it a point to see him every time I’ve been at SCamp and this set did NOT disappoint! It was the perfect time as it was the Golden Hour and the sun was setting.
Following that, we ran back to camp again to change because it was starting to get chilly. One thing I love about this festival is that camp is so close and I don’t have to go through a line or security to get back in. I could run back “home”, change, and get back out there!
It isn’t a SCamp without Umphrey’s McGee (or moe., but that’s a different story!). We went over to the Moonshine to jam to some Umph for a bit before heading to Manic Focus to jam. And of course, we had to check out some Kill Safari! I discovered Bro Safari at EDC 2013 and I’m a huge Kill the Noise fan, so of course, they did NOT disappoint!
We wandered into the forest for some late night sets before heading back to bed. I would have really liked to hit the late night sets, but again, making it until 4 am for me was going to mean a bad, bad day the next day. It’s different when you’re able to go back to your hotel room and sleep, when compared to camping in a tent that gets hot starting at 8 am.
And then oh man, that storm! It was WILD! At about 5:30, I was woken up to a raging storm but thankfully, we had taken care of our campsite the day before so most things were put in the car. Our tent didn’t take on any water and we used the expensive stakes (Pro tip- always use the expensive ones, they’re really only a little over a dollar and will save you hundreds when your canopy survives the storms!) so everything survived the storm. We were lucky because so many canopies were destroyed after this storm.
But the rain pushed down the dust and Sunday funday was almost about perfect. There were a few mix-ups on interview times so I went in and hit up Bad Snacks for a quick interview before heading out to take more pictures of the daytime adventures. I really loved that change about Solshine compared to SCamp- there were less sets happening during the day so we had more time to check out the rest of the activities going on. At about 5:30, however, a friend of mine wanted to check out Armchair Boogie, so we got our groove on!
Finally, the surprise of the day, I was asked last minute to interview Dogma, which was an absolute DREAM. Check out that interview HERE!
The rest of the day was spent checking out sets around the festival, but especially in the Illumination Woods. Artifakts, Bad Snacks, Night Tales, and Esseks rocked my Sunday Funday before I retired to bed. And the next day was a breeze because we had chosen car camping.
Overall, Solshine Reverie was such a fun time. I liked the new locations of the stages because it meant less walking. I also liked that the vendors were mostly concentrated in that area instead of spread all across the festival. I really enjoyed the Illumination Woods and spent most of my time there. We also checked out Frick Frack Casino.
My least favorite aspects of the festival included the late night sets that I missed. That was a huge letdown for me but I didn’t let it put a damper on the weekend because I knew I could still have fun at one of my favorite places on the planet. In addition, the bathrooms needed to be more strategically placed. They were generally cleaned, which I appreciated, but last year there were a few stalls in the car camping and in more areas. I saw many jokes on social media about BYOB (Bring your own bathroom) and many attendees complained about the location of the bathrooms. Walking 10+ minutes to use the bathroom is not ideal, especially when last year, I camped near the same spot and the bathrooms were about a 2 minute walk.
Would I go back? Absolutley! Most of the changes to Solshine Reverie were positive and it still kept the same vibes as SCamp. I felt like I was home again this year and I can’t wait to check it out next year. Solshine Reverie made my soul SHINE!
Check out all of the photos HERE!