Moonrise 2017 Recap: Rain, Mud and PLUR

Moonrise Festival was one of the most highly anticipated festivals on the east coast, following the cancellations of EDC New York and Mysteryland. With an incredibly stacked lineup, re-imagined stages and a sold-out Sunday, Moonrise had a lot of hype to live up to. Despite torrential rain, thunder, lightning, a mandatory evacuation and the inches-deep mud the next day, Mooncrew still managed to have the time of their lives. 

Saturday

1:00 PM- Got to the venue, security was relatively quick and painless. 

3:40 PM- RL Grime drops Scylla and everyone goes crazy. 

5:45 PM- Snails plays his signature vomit-step, his drops are insane. 

6:25 PM- In the middle of an interview with Morgan Page, music cuts off. 

6:27 PM- There's a garbled announcement about weather. Apparently there's a major storm less than four miles away. Uh oh. 

6:32 PM- Everyone is (reluctantly) moving to the stands. No one knows if the festival is cancelled or not yet. Storm clouds are rolling in, no rain yet. 

6:55 PM- Still no word from organizers, rain has started. Attendees are on the track in front of the stands running sprints. Others are in the stands are cheering them on.  

7:30 PM- It's pouring rain, lots of thunder and lightning. No word yet. 

8:25 PM- Lightning graduated from flashes to forked lightning. The rain might be letting up? 

8:50 PM- Moonrise announces that the music will begin again at 9:05! But the sets that got missed...well they got missed. 

9:01 PM- Artists that will play are Madeon, Rezz, Flux Pavilion, Carnage, Zeds Dead, Big Gigantic, Seven Lions and Lee Foss. Cancelled artists include Kaskade, Migos, Getter and Afrojack. 

9:05 PM- Gates re-open, you can hear attendees cheering as they rush in. 

9:12 PM- Mudrise 2017 has begun, the mud is inches thick. I sloshed my way over to Stellar Stage to catch Madeon's set. 

9:25 PM- Technical difficulties at Stellar Stage, Madeon's set delayed. 

9:55 PM- Went to Solar Tent for Flux Pavilion's set. Bass is going hard, people are partying despite the mud, water and mess. 

10:15 PM- Seven Lions is melting hearts with his signature combination of melodies and wobbling bass lines. 

11:05 PM- Everyone is trying to leave the venue. Mud splattered, rain-soaked, but had the time of their lives. 

12:30 AM- Still waiting in the parking lot. A guy is standing on the roof of his car and dancing, waiting for the other cars to leave. 

1:00 AM- Freedom! 

Sunday

12:15 PM- Got to the venue early for an interview, still lots of mud from the day before. 

2:45 PM- Solar Tent's schedule is slightly changed. Getter is coming on at 3 to make up for his missed Saturday set. 

3:30 PM- The crowd for Getter can't fit under the Solar Tent, people are spilling out around all sides. The bass can be felt from twenty feet away from the tent. 

4:15 PM- Ookay is throwing down incredibly hard, from remixes of Thief to wobbling bass. One of the best sets from Ookay that I've seen. 

6:50 PM- I almost fall into a mud puddle trying to run over to Ganja White Night. There's a huge mud puddle in the middle of the tent, people are still headbanging and dancing in and around the mud. 

8:00 PM- The Porter call is unreal. The Moonrise crowd is bigger than the crowd at cosmicMEADOW when Porter played at EDC. I haven't seen this many totems, signs and flags since EDC. 

9:03 PM- Porter is closing out his Worlds set with Language. I'm not crying, you are. 

9:45 PM- After some technical difficulties, Pretty Lights comes on. Pretty Lights is playing their hard to catch live set, it's a perfect complement to Porter's emotive Worlds set. 

10:15 PM- Ran over to Stellar Stage to catch Dillstradamus, the duo are throwing down and the crowd at Stellar is massive. 

11:00 PM- Thank you Moonrise!

Despite the rain, the mud and the complications with sets, Moonrise was still an amazing event in its own way. For me personally, the PLUR at Moonrise was unreal. People looked out for one another at the festival, sharing sunscreen, gum, fans and water. I headbanged and danced with people I didn't know, gave kandi and received hugs. Thank you Moonrise for a weekend of music, magic and PLUR! 

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