Review #4: Bass Canyon 2022

BASS CANYON REVIEW:

Holy shit, what a fest! I had an incredible time besides the heat lol.

Let’s start off with the venue! This was my first time attending this festival and The Gorge was absolutely astonishing. Behind main stage was the most incredible view of these canyons with a river or lake (I’m not sure) in them. It was so beautiful and the layout is everything. It’s like Red Rocks on steroids. I will say it’s very hilly and steep and what goes down must come up lol. That walk up from the pit is no joke. It was absolutely gorgeous I was in awe when I saw it for the first time. From the campsite even, it was so pretty.

The Gorge is around 2 hours to get to from Seattle. The drive is super amusing, there’s a ton of pretty scenes you pass so you are always entertained by the beauty. It is, however, in the middle of absolute nowhere lol.

The heat was miserable. There was nothing you could do to escape it during the day. They didn’t have any cooling options for you in the camp grounds. One vendor put out a sprinkler and someone had a hose lol. They did however set up a couple mist sprays inside but still it sucked.

Moving on to camping, we had premier camping. I would NOT have went GA. We were a little closer than GA was and the walk from our campsite to the venue was 30 minutes (I timed it thanks to my Apple Watch lol) and a mile away. I can’t even fathom GA. Premier was cool because they included shuttles but the shuttle lines were long if you didn’t leave early.

The walk back took us an hour when we stayed for a whole ending set. Terrace camping was a little closer and had less people and then Gold was right next to the venue. I enjoy walking, but the heat was absolutely horrid lol. The sun was beating on us for 2 days straight. The first day was hot but at least we had clouds lol.

Moving on to production, I was immensely blown away by the level at which the production was at for main stage. It was MAGICAL. The sound was fantastic, the visuals were awesome, the lighting was breathtaking! The lasers were some of the best I’ve seen. So freaking stunning. We were sitting in lawn chairs day 2 just watching the show. I felt like I was watching a movie on a plane in the sky lol.

The pit was great too! Everywhere you were was awesome.

The other stages were great! I felt the Starlight stage could have been a little cooler and louder but the energy over there was always great.

So, medical, I give extreme props to for the weekend. Those people were ON it. It was so hot, and people were super fucked up and they definitely were walking around making sure people were good and making sure the people that weren’t were getting help.

The thing with Bass Canyon is it’s 40 minutes away from the closest hospital. This means if you absolutely need to go to a hospital they would have to air lift you out of the festival by helicopter. We saw about 2 go out each night.

It is SO important to take care of yourself, and so important to make sure you understand the climate in which you are forced to survive in for these days.

There wasn’t much in The Pivot, which was a bummer because it was basically the main area for GA, Premier, and Terrace Camping. The food lines were long as fuck. There was no shade. They did have a stage though which was cool.

Thank god we had our own showers in premier (even though there were only two trailers for like 10,000 people lol) because the GA showers were SO SO SO LONG. The longest shower line I’ve ever seen ever. Premier btw is free showers and so is terrace. The showers in premier were always clean and nice.

The bathrooms were kept up very well. There was always toilet paper and they were always clean both in the campsite and in the venue.

The vendors were great but they were the same inside and outside the festival which had its pros and cons. The general store was further away from the pivot but was like an actual store and had a lot of stuff which was handy.

Okay so the water was gross at some stations and decent at others. I’m a huge water snob and usually bring gallons of my alkaline water when we drive to festivals but this time I flew so I was drinking plastic bottled water 🥲. I was chugging water all day every day and still was so dehydrated from the heat. They had souvenir like cups that you could use but most of the staff wouldnt fill them with water which was so stupid. They did have a good amount of free water stations as they should.

The food was not impressive and of course expensive lol. It wasn’t the worst and I got some pretty good stuff while I was there but it wasn’t the best either. It’s always overpriced too, of course.

The wristbands were so nice! Very comfortable and great material.

The staff and security was great. Night one, a guy was outside being weird and asking “where the exit was” and “where do people come out of” and people reported it. The cops went right over to him and found 2 loaded 9 mm pistols on him and ended up arresting him. Thank god nothing happened. He wasn’t attending the festival and wasn’t camping. The next two days they had cops everywhere and K9 as well. I felt very safe the whole time I was there.

Security was quick and smooth everyday, the lines went by fast.

West coast vibes are definitely different than east coast lol. Not in a bad way but I feel that everyone is very chill out there. Kandi is a big thing I learned and I thought that was so cute lol. I helped this girl that was throwing up and right after she was done she goes “I know I just threw up but do you want to trade?” It was so cute and she gave me one that said “fried” and it had fries on it!

We heard from some people that have been before that stealing is a big thing out there. GA apparently was worse than the others but I didn’t witness anything like that so I was grateful for that. I found someone’s phone on the ground and returned it to lost and found so I’m hoping most people did the same for everyone. Everyone I met was super nice and such good vibes.

The Ferris wheel and the drop tower were free which was awesome. They also had this free dome experience that projected visuals on the ceiling above you. I loved it!

The music was awesome! I was blown away by Riot Ten, Boogie T, LSDream, and Subtronics. Probably my favorite Subtronics set to date besides Okee 2020. I was so happy for him, he truly deserved to close Bass Canyon on Saturday night. Svdden Death was SO GOOD and Boombox cartel made me so happy. The nostalgia was real for sure for them, I haven’t seen them in like 5 years. Excisions visuals were marvelous. His team 100% knows what they are doing.

Overall I really loved the energy that this festival encapsulated. I would without a doubt go back to this festival as long as another heat wave isn’t passing through lol. I applaud Excision and Live Nation for keeping it organized and for great execution.

Thanks for reading! Next up I’ll be returning home to LOST LANDS 🥹🖤