It all began with a dusty drive down a long, sleepy stretch of unpaved road. In an effort to both rebrand and expand, Backwoods Music Festival brought music, art and general awesomeness to Tatanka Ranch in Stroud, Oklahoma this previous Labor Day weekend and the The Festivall was there to capture the three day stretch of mad magic.
Having taken place on over 1,000 acres of remote central Oklahoma grassland the festival name is anything but hyperbole. Once the tent is up with the first beer cracked open you get a chance to take in the seemingly endless, sparsely populated midwestern plains surrounding the festival grounds and a genuine sense of disconnection from civilized life seeps in. It truly is backwoods territory and there is no better place to connect with the primal party monster inside. When we initially entered the grounds on Friday it was quite obvious that the Backwoods organizers went all out. The medieval castle themed main stage, better known as Motherland, was equipped with state of the art audio and visual technology. From the corner of the grounds Motherland overlooked a large, centrally located lake around which were five other stages hosting various genres of music as well as a colorfully lit, ascendable fire tower and a ferris wheel. The venue is gorgeous and the deep orange Oklahoma sunset over the lake every evening was something special.
From a musical standpoint the schedule was a tad lop-sided and it's clear that Backwoods leaned on some heavy hitting artists of the electronic realm to draw fans. Major headliner Infected Mushroom didn't perform until Saturday night while Porter Robinson and Odesza played back to back on Sunday night. Fortunately, all of the lesser-known acts were fantastic so quality music could be found at every turn. While the headliners drew the biggest crowds it was not abnormal to see younger fans in rave gear meandering over to the Kumbaya or Globe stages to hear smaller rock acts like The Young Vines or Brooklyn-based Meridian Lights. It's a beautiful thing when artists of different genres are all playing in one place at one time. Hopefully the future years of Backwoods will bring more fans so the smaller acts have a larger crowd to play to.
The Backwoods engine had kicked into higher gear by the arrival of the second night. At Motherland were Lettuce, Papadosio, DJ-drummer duo Break Science, and the face melting sounds of Infected Mushroom. We had a chance to talk to some of the artists to get a general idea of what the musical talent thought of the event. Their initial response was always, "Fucking big", and they weren't lying. The Friday crowd was the smallest of the weekend and when spread across six different stages it made Tatanka Ranch feel that much more vast. More people came in for Saturday and by sundown, when guitar licks and high-pitch synth began mingling with the ever-present green lasers cutting through the air above, it was clear that the party had begun. Rather than feeling as if you were aimlessly wandering a psychedelic ranch in the middle of nowhere, that warm fuzzy feeling of community set in. It's a mandatory sentiment that plays into the success of any festival and it was most certainly present here.
Sunday brought some of the most memorable performances of the weekend. The electronic-focused Meadow stage saw artists like Kinetik Groove and Manic Focus feed listeners soulful bass while CBDB shredded through a set complete with Zeppelin and Bob Marley covers across the lake at the Kumbaya stage. When 10 o'clock hit there occurred a mass migration from all areas to Motherland for the biggest one-two-three of the festival: Porter Robinson, Odesza, and The Floozies. Epic, airy sounds combined with anime-inspired visuals in a set that felt like the final boss showdown from a CAPCOM game and solidified Porter Robinson as our favorite act of the evening. ODESZA went through their set in full force playing their crunchy, heavy-hitting Zhu cover along with a new track that nearly blew the heads off fans in the front row. Once The Floozies finished their performance everyone gravitated to the smaller Globe stage like moths to the only light and sound left on the ranch. Andy Frasco and the U.N. were there to top off the weekend with one of the grittiest, high-energy live performances I've ever seen. It was the most appropriate ending. After three days of expensive production, major electronic acts, and high-cost attractions, Backwoods culminated to a mob of people dancing barefoot in the dirt to a bluesy cover of Rage Against the Machine.
As an attempt to shift away from a primarily jam-band focused event to a multi-genre, all-encompassing festival experience Backwoods succeeded. With that said, the weekend saw issues any newer festival would encounter. The lack of crowds on the initial day is an inevitability that comes along with a new festival that has hardly any reputation and shares a weekend with mega-festivals like Burning Man and Electric Zoo. Location-wise it isn't the easiest to get to if you're not from the surrounding area, but neither is Bonnaroo. Incidents related to the organization that was hired to provide security also spread throughout the festival, but Backwoods has since released a statement that they are no longer using said organization moving forward. We can see the vision that the Backwoods team has, but it's mainly about what can be done in the next few years to achieve it. Electric Forest started as a small no-name festival in the woods of Michigan (Rothbury for those that might know) and these days many fans are complaining that it's actually too crowded. Backwoods has both a venue and team that can support large growth, but they should remain cognizant of the fine line that divides appropriately full and overly packed as they move forward.
The most important feedback is always from the fans and artists. When asked, "Would you come back?" just about everyone gave a resounding, "Hell yes". Bumping down that dusty road on our way out, we could feel the potential at Tatanka Ranch. The world of music needs events like this. As Yohimbe from Meridian Lights put it, "These festivals are like biospheres of positive vibes and they add merit to all those people in the garage, in the basement, or spending $50 an hour to rehearse in some warehouse. This stuff says, 'Yeah it matters'." With so many possibilities, we'll see what the festival organizers bring to the table next year. As long as they don't lose the Backwoods spirit there is nowhere to go but up.
