Lost Lands Music Festival was held at Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio on September 29 to October 1, 2017. Since this year marked the inauguration of Lost Lands, everyone was stoked to uncover what Excision and his crew planned. There was an aura of mystery and anticipation that flooded each individual that entered Legend Valley, feelings of uncertainty and excitement were overwhelming!
Even though there were a few bumps in the road, there was one thing that was for certain: Excision cultivated a historically groundbreaking event that would significantly impact bass music. Coming from a source that has been to festivals across the nation, I can confidently say that Lost Lands was one of the best music festivals I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Jeff Abel (Excision) spared no expense when considering the interests of his festival attendees: ventilated porta-potties, silicone ear plugs, and fresh water bottles were just some of the amenities provided. Additionally, campgrounds, vendors, information booths, medical tents, and stage/production was all laid out in a very conveniently organized manner.
Attendees who purchased Early Entry passes started flooding into Thornville on Thursday morning. Although many seemed to have less than favorable opinions about the initial security searches when entering the venue, Abel was personally interacting with attendees via online outlets, taking their feedback, and worked to immediately remedy situations that were being brought to his attention. This proved that he was hosting this event for his fans. Abel even extended the operating hours for Shower Facilities after hearing that the lines were incredibly long and tedious. Somehow, even though Excision played sets every single day and oversaw all festival operations, he still made a genuine effort out of his busy schedule to show that he cared about attendees and their individual interests. This was spectacular. Fans were in store for plenty of surprises over the weekend too, as Early Entry pass holders were able to witness Excision’s old Executioner stage getting pulled out of retirement for a secret b2b set featuring Crizzly, Dion Timmer, Downlink, Excision, Figure, Protohype, Space Laces, Terravita, and Wooli. Everyone at the festival was totally caught off guard as part of the main stage caught fire during Destroid’s set on Saturday night too!
As soon as head-bangers entered the festival grounds, they were instantaneously immersed in a world that, to me, was a cross of Disney World and Jurassic Park…with a ton of added PK bass. Animatronic dinosaurs with leather-soft skin were scattered across the whole festival, projecting life-like uproars at passersby. Beautifully colored lights bordered the tree-lines across the grounds, giving the area a mystifying feeling. Projectors beamed dinosaur-inspired video clips onto various surfaces around the festival. One of my favorite aspects of the event was that there were only two stages, Pre-historic Paradox and Cave of Souls, both of which had outstanding sound quality. This made it very convenient to stagger each act and catch all the sets I wanted to see since I was spending less time walking from stage to stage constantly.
On most days, we entered the festival grounds around 2pm – 3pm. To be honest, I was surprised at the thousands upon thousands of fans who were already head-banging at the mainstage that early…that’s true dedication! All weekend, we experienced nothing but kindness and consideration from all attendees. The vibes were so positive and uplifting, it was truly a great feeling. We are happy to note that Excision announced that there were no drug-related medical transports all weekend, and that the venue was left pretty clean condition after attendees left on Monday morning. All in all, this was a fantastic festival and we can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store.
Our Top 10 Performances of the Weekend:
Liquid Stranger
Downlink
Excision B2B Datsik
Excision (Friday solo set)
Seven Lions
Zeds Dead
Destroid
KJ Sawka [Live]
REZZ
Boogie T.
Honorable Mentions:
The Frim
Black Tiger Sex Machine
Snails
Ganja White Night
Cookie Monsta
Dion Timmer
Dubloadz
Krimer
Phiso
Space Jesus
Kompany
Monxx
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