Thursday, January 14, 2016

Alex's Corner presents Camp Bisco 2015 Montage Mountain July 16-18

Wednesday July 15

Bisco
announced that campers could start arriving Wednesday July 15. The
gates opened at 6, so of course we wanted to get there early. There were
so many people, all going to Bisco from around here, that a bunch of us
decided to meet at one friend’s house and car pool 13 people in 5 cars.
My boyfriend and I drove my car.
Camp-Bisco-Banner-2

We
left Glens Falls around 6 pm and headed towards Scranton, PA. We hadn’t
even left Glens Falls yet and two of our cars had almost gotten in
accidents already, but everything was all good. We drove to Albany to
get on the through way and when we passed through the toll booth we lost
sight of some of the car pool and went towards Buffalo instead of New
York City. It ended up not adding much more time to our trip and it was a
lot more scenic with less traffic.
After
about a four hour drive we arrived at Montage Mountain around 10:30. As
we pulled up we could see the line to get in wrapping around the field.
We grabbed all of our stuff and immediately got in line. We knew the
line was going to be long, but we never imagined how long. After about
three hours waiting in line everyone was starting to get a little testy.
The line turned from orderly to chaos real quick. There were people
arguing and shouting about budging. About five of our friends decided to
budge right up to the gates where you get searched, the whole crowd
started shouting “asshole” repeatedly at them. A few of us stayed back
because we didn’t want to cut the line.
After
seeing the group make it without anything happening, someone from the
group decided to budge to the searching gate. As he was walking over a
man ran out from the line and punched him in the face and tackled him.
He got back in his space in line and it was over with.
Because
they stopped sending as many shuttles to pick people up from the
parking lot we were at, we waited in that line until 7:00 am. After
finally getting all of our belongings searched we waited in line some
more for the shuttle. When that finally came, we took about a 10 minute
drive to the festival grounds. By the time we got there, they stopped
running the tractors that carried you and your stuff to the campsite.
Luckily we had friends already set up in an area, so all we had to do
was get there and set up our tent. We set up our tent in the woods and
finally got to sleep at 8 am.
Solidisco-Banner-1

Thursday July 16

We
woke up at 12 in the afternoon to a very hot tent. This is Camp Bisco’s
first year at Montage Mountain, also home to the Peach Music Festival.
Montage Mountain has a water park, so we decided to hit that up the
first day. There was a lazy river, slides with mats, a tornado, and
twisty slides. It was really cool to have that experience while at a
festival, especially because it was really hot.
After
chilling at the water park we decided to walk around the venue and
check everything out. There were food tents for almost everything,
funnel cakes, wraps, smoothies, burgers, Ben and Jerry’s, and so many
more. STS9 was the first artist we were going to see at 8:45. Five of us
went to the main stage, Electric City, a little early so we could get
close. We were walking around just trying to find a good spot and we
somehow ended up in the VIP Section without knowing, We didn’t think it
was VIP because I went to the bathroom and came back and no one said
anything to me. My boyfriend wanted to go to the bathroom before STS9
started so he went and when he came back they wouldn’t let him I because
he wasn’t VIP. So he had to jump over one of the fences to get back in.
STS9
put on a really good show, I’ve always enjoyed their music but
experiencing them live definitely made me want to listen to more of
their music. After STS9 ended at 10:15 we went to the Second Stage,
Above The Waves, to watch Flatbush Zombies. I do not listen to Flatbush
Zombies so it was very interesting. I don’t really know how to describe
their kind of music, but it’s some sort of rap. I was enjoying the show
until they screamed for everybody to start a mosh pit, and a crowd
always listens to the artist. Being 4’11”, I decided to get out of there
before I got some elbows to the face.
After
Flatbush Zombies, I got to see one of the main reasons why I came to
Camp Bisco, Pretty Lights. We watched most of Pretty Lights from the
back but towards the end we went to the bathroom and on our way back
noticed that the VIP Section was open so we got to see the end of Pretty
Lights in the VIP Section. I loved watching Pretty Lights; they live up
to their name for sure. They ended sometime after 2 and we headed back
to camp to pass out for the night.


Friday July 17

After
only getting 4 hours of sleep the first “night” I was not expecting to
sleep till 12 on Friday, but we slept until the tent got too hot to stay
in. We decided to go get some smoothies; they were so good and
refreshing. While we were out by all the vendors we decided to look for
some cool pins to remember Bisco by. We looked through almost every
vendor tent before we found this guy walking around selling his own pins
from a piece of cardboard. We checked them out and instantly found a
cool headliner pin that we scored, 2 pins for $25, not a bad deal.
daily-steps-07-17
We
chilled at the campsite until HeRobust started at 7:15. I had never
listened to him before this and he blew me away. He had a lot of remixes
for popular songs but he put a really unique twist on them. It was
pretty heavy at some points but also wicked easy to dance to.
We
were really stoked to see Mr. Carmack at 10pm. They put him on the
third stage, Steamtown, not knowing how many people actually wanted to
see him. The entire field in front of the stage was packed with people.
There were people standing behind the fences, standing on tables,
everywhere. The music is playing and all of a sudden it sounds really
quiet. Carmack blew the speakers out first song, and the worst part, he
has no idea. We couldn’t hear any music and he was still on stage
slamming to his music. The crowd started chanting “we can’t hear you!”
and finally someone went up there and told him. They ended up not being
able to fix the problem for his set and it really sucked. I’ll just have
to see Mr. Carmack another time to make up for it.
We
left early to go to the Above the Waves stage to see Snails at 11:30
and the main stage at 1:15 to see the Headliner for the night, Big
Gigantic. We met up with some friends that were there and stood in the
front and jammed to Big Gigantic. They had Snails join them on stage,
which was pretty cool. I had a good time at their show; I think they
were more into it when I saw them at Mountain Jam, but still a good
performance.
Walking
back to camp from the main stage we passed the second stage and caught
the end of Kill the Noise, and they killed it. We were beat though so we
went back to camp to go to bed.

Saturday July 18

We
woke up again at 12 getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. It was the last
day and we were pretty beat from the last 2 days. We decided to chill at
the campsite until the main acts we wanted to see were on. I met our
neighbors who were tenting next to us and hung out with them for a
little bit and took a nap in a hammock.
We
were getting ready to leave to go post up at the main stage for
Bassnectar, when our friends came back and said they evacuated the venue
grounds because a storm was coming. We made sure all of our belongings
were secure and waited for the storm to come. It started down pouring
and there was thunder and lightning for about 20 minutes. Then all of a
sudden it got a little brighter out, the sun was shining and a full
double rainbow was cast over Montage Mountain. Everyone throughout the
campsite was cheering and shouting. We decided to head out at 8:30 in
case it started to rain again, we’d be under the main stage which had a
roof.
bn-1

We
watched the Disco Biscuits perform while we waited for Bassnectar. I
was happy to see Disco Biscuits at least once, I mean; it is their
festival after all. Their light show is mesmerizing. It flows so nicely
with their music and there are always new things to see. I enjoyed Disco
Biscuits was I was getting so antsy to see Bassnectar. It’s what we’ve
been waiting for all weekend, why we came.
Lorin
Ashton came out on stage and the entire crowd went insane. We watched
the first few songs from the front and got to rage to his new song
Speakerbox. It was really cool to be up front and experience Bassnectar
that close, but we were pretty burnt out from the rest of the weekend
and went to sit on the lawn and enjoy the show from there. While we were
watching the show from up on the lawn, looking up at the sky we noticed
an orange orb floating around. We saw the orb almost hovering at an odd
speed. The orb switched directions and it started to go away from us,
it got smaller and smaller until we could no longer see it. We looked it
up after getting back home and U.F.O. sightings were reported on that
exact date in and around Scranton, PA, 10 years ago, 6 years ago, 5
years ago and 1 year ago. Perhaps we saw a U.F.O. but I guess we’ll
never know.
tipper-2
After
we finished watching Nectar kill it on the main stage we decided to hit
up the vendors for some fried bread dough. We looked at so many places
and could not find anywhere advertising fried bread dough, so we decided
to ask some of the people working. We asked a girl working at a stand
that sells funnel cakes if she sold or knew anywhere that we could buy
fried bread dough. She looked at us very lost and asked “fried bread
dough?” She then asked one of her co-workers if they knew and they were
just as confused, asking us “why would you want fried bread?” We gave up
on our search for some fried bread dough and settled for some French
toast with sliced banana. It was no fried bread dough, but it was quite
delicious.
We
went to the second stage at 12:40 and stayed there watching Jauz and
Tipper. Both threw out some crazy sounds and were really interesting to
watch. We left during the middle of Tipper deciding we were going to
sleep in the car to avoid the long lines the next morning. We took a
tractor to a shuttle around 3 and headed back to the parking lot. While
walking to our car we met a couple from Schenectady who have been
traveling the country in their van. This was their 10th Camp Bisco and
they were able to score some free tickets. We met their pet ferret that
travels with them and traded some Pogs for Herkimer diamonds. (If you
don’t know what Pogs and Slammer Whammers are, look them up, we also
discovered them at Bisco).
Camp-Bisco-Banner-4
We
went to sleep in my car and slept until 11 the next day. We immediately
started driving and journeyed back home. Camp Bisco was an amazing
experience and I plan on attending next year as well. Everyone there was
so welcoming and friendly; I met a lot of really cool people. Going to
festivals opens your eyes to new things and shows you that there still
are good people out there. There’s always going to be those people that
are there just to get messed up and party, but when it comes down to it a
festival family is like no other. While we were there we met people who
were willing to give us their own water, share food, help set up and
take down camp stuff, and so much more. I encourage everyone to
experience at least one festival in their life time.

About Alex Greene

 
Alex-Greene-Profile-pic-630x420I’m
Alex Greene. I graduated from SUNY Adirondack with my associates in
Media Arts. I’m continuing my education at SUNY Oneonta for my
bachelor’s in Communications. I enjoy writing and have a passion for
music (listening to music that is). I listen to all different genres of
music, including, alternative, electronic, rap, funk and more. Attending
music events is one of my favorite things to do. For updates on current
concerts and festivals connect with me at Alex’s Corner.
Alex's Corner presents Camp Bisco 2015 Montage Mountain July 16-18

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