The 2013 Envision Festival Recap

In the wake of what has undoubtedly been one of the most interesting festival experiences that I’ve had to date, I find myself struggling with how t

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Complex Original

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In the wake of what has undoubtedly been one of the most interesting festival experiences that I’ve had to date, I find myself struggling with how to fully summarize what it is to be a part of the Envision Festival in Costa Rica. To say there is a complex, beautiful, and expansive ecosystem that surrounds this five-day cultural immersion is to undercut what that natural beauty represented to the people in attendance, as well as the music itself. To say that the environmental initiatives, guest speakers, and yoga workshops were merely a compliment to the outstanding collection of music and performance art that took place when the sun went down would be to discredit those who made the festival such an existential experience.

Yet somehow, even with this mass divergence of cultural, musical, and artistic expression coming together on the beaches of Uvitas, there is a defining theme throughout that I’ve only recently found myself able to retrospectively place my muddied finger on with some degree of confidence in my actions.

I once read that the feeling of pura vida can only be compared to the feeling one would get if they allowed their soul to take a much-needed shower. The feeling of removing the hassles, hashtags, obligations, and itineraries and truly being where you are with the people you’ve found is what truly stuck out to me about this festival, and while I’m here to discuss the music, it’s that defining connection that was present to guide us throughout it all.

Wednesday [Day 1]

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Thursday [Day 2]

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Friday [Day 3]

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Saturday [Day 4]

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If there’s one thing that really stood out to me about the crowd at Envision Fest, it’s that they continually and consistently surprise you with how nicer they are – rather than the all too familiar other way around. So, as with many of the people in attendance, my day and trip were brightened and a stop at the US Embassy was avoided when my wallet turned up at lost and found (cash accounted for).

Saturday started off huge, with one of the best deep house sets of the weekend coming from the one half of DJ set, Traveler, that could swing a ticket, and, umm, travel down from Santa Barbara, CA for the weekend. With funky undertones and subtle kicks, and a vibe that made me feel like I was binging on Gotta Dance Dirty tunes all afternoon, Traveler made me a fan right off the bat.

Gaudi’s set kicked in several hours later with the versatility that can only be expected from the uncategroizable UK dub artist. It may have been the vibe of the festival, or Gaudi may have been dropping some tunes from his new album, but the reggae vibe was hot Saturday night and Gaudi hit it on point. Halfway through Gaudi’s set I headed over to the live music stage for a set by String Cheese Incident members Michael Travis and Jason Hann of EOTO. The combination of live jam, and electronic undertones made for a pretty unbelievable performance from these seasoned veterans. While it was my first time catching EOTO, I was informed by some Colorado locals that this was a pretty uncharacteristic, down-tempo set and usually EOTO is known for conducting all-out ragers. With nothing to compare it to, however, I thought their set was an impressive fusion and, as a closet jam-band fan, I was really psyched to see and meet two members of String Cheese.

jOBOT put on next with an extra crunchy set from front to back. With eccentric overtones to string together basslines for days, his set popped as one that left me thinking, “Why wasn’t I listening to this guy before?” Well the mystery is over, and his Soundcloud is bookmarked.

Saturday night closed out with the latest night yet, as Random Rab took the graveyard 6:00 AM to 7:30 AM shift, to what was still a pretty substantial crowd. I guess it speaks his ability to control an audience, or maybe that he was one of the more recognizable names on the line-up, but the crowd stuck around and Rab delivered.

Sunday [Day 5]

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