Summer Meltdown Festival 2018 marked my first appearance at a music festival in over five years. After spending the previous four years completely engorged in music festival culture, many of the fiendish temptations that reside within the dark corners of the culture swallowed me whole, and I was forced to hang up my camelback and bandanas until further notice. Well, further notice came on the wings of a Summer Meltdown media pass that was granted to Respect My Region, and I was pleased to make my long-awaited return to the scene with the first appearance at Darrington’s Summer Meltdown Festival.
Summer Meltdown festival has a knack of winning you over from the time you start waiting in line to enter the festival grounds. Ecstatic festival goers hanging out of their cars as the cars are searched and ushered into the venue. The entire grounds are in the shadow of a great snowcapped glacier. You’re so close you can actually see the lines carved into the mountain from snowmelt runoff. You can’t help but feel insignificant as you stare up at this giant body of earth and stone.
Summer Meltdown Festival 2018 During The Day
Most of the campgrounds are enclosed in a heavily forested area. This is basically comparable to heaven if you’re used to camping in the middle of a field at the Gorge. The trees provide shade all day, especially in the morning. No blazing 5 AM wakeup calls from the sun here.
A quick walk from the grounds is a natural aquatic playland formed by the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. Hordes of people spend their days by the river, lounging in the sun, stacking rocks, exploring and testing their balance on a slackline that stretched across a portion of the river. The festival grounds are so expansive that you could spend hours each day enjoying activities that had nothing to do with the music itself.
The area will be filled with families barbequing, friends lounging and partying with their neighbors, and people slowly meandering through the grounds, recovering from last nights debauchery. Time of day matters much less and everyone seems more relaxed as they go where the wind takes them. This change of pace is a warm welcome for Americans who live in the middle of a rat race for the other 300 some odd days of the year. The number of small children who attended the festival with their parents was surprising, but a welcome addition to a festival experience. I can’t imagine a better place for little humans to get a crash course on humanity.
Summer Meltdown Festival 2018 At Night
Once the sun goes down, Summer Meltdown becomes an entirely different place. An adult playground that is illuminated by multi-colored LED lights, where the air vibrates and shivers from the bass canons kicking at the main stage. Summer Meltdown’s late night tent was one of the weirdest places I’ve ever experienced, and I wasn’t mad at it. From killer DJ’s like Maddie O’Neal to silent discos, the late night tent was a blasty blast. The beer garden was filled with people playing Jenga and beer pong all four nights and provided an awesome place to kick it and catch up with friends over drinks.
Food & Beverages At Summer Meltdown Festival 2018
The food and drink booths featured at Summer Meltdown were second to none. Whether it was CBD infused komboucha, the pork, and pickled cabbage wonton tacos, chai tea, the gyros or the dumplings, it was all reasonably priced and delicious. The beer garden’s prices were actually reasonable. No $9 tall boys and $12 mixed drinks. Try $4 beers, $5 drafts, and $8 doubles. Those prices are lit, and so was I.
People Of Summer Meltdown Festival 2018
This four day weekend was an awesome reminder of how gracious, welcoming and nice music festival crowds can be. The Summer Meltdown spirit was in full effect, from the elaborate costumes to the campsites. I met a lot of cool people, I don’t remember their names, but I hope to see them all again next year.
Music And Its Evolution At Summer Meltdown Festival 2018
The highlight of any music festival should be the music, and this event was no exception. One idea that struck me after leaving the festival wasn’t just all the different genres I saw, but how some bands were blending those genres. Electronic music is starting to be woven into other genres like alternative, psychedelic rock, and jazz. There was plenty to like for the old heads to, classic bluegrass, rock and roll, and reggae bands were all present.
Then Bassnectar bent reality in front of my very eyes with light and sound. I left Bassnectar, and I couldn’t help but think he knows something we all don’t. A Bassnectar set is so much more than loud noises and lasers, it’s more like an electronic spirit walk.
High Step Society was my surprise hit of the festival. They call themselves an American Electro Swing band. A funky and bass-laden mix of jazz and heavy electronic music. Their set opened my eyes to the possibilities of classical and electronic music being combined in extraordinary ways.
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