Lost Lands Music Festival
Lost Lands took place in Legend Valley, Ohio on September 29th – October 1st. At this festival, 27,000 dubstep and bass lovers came together as one to shake the earth with ear-shattering music. Excision went all out with this festival and brought together giants of the bass community including Illenium, Zeds Dead, Figure, Slander, Seven Lions, and more. Every detail from the lineup and set times to the staff was carefully put together and executed in the most professional way possible, allowing the festival to go off without a hitch and blow the minds of every person who attended.
This festival had one of the largest will call areas we have ever seen to make sure everyone got into the camping areas as quickly as possible. Security was getting cars through quickly and the general consensus was pure excitement. Staff at Lost Lands was extremely helpful and professional throughout the whole festival. Camping was arranged with street numbers and avenues to make things as easy as possible for people to find their way back to camp. After camps started being built you could hear the rumbling of bass in the distance. Without notice, a pre-party stage came alive in the woods by GA camping.
Early Access Pre-Party
On Thursday, thousands of fans who purchased the early access into Lost Lands started pouring in. After a few hours, fans could be seen walking deep into the GA camping section, where loud bass music could be heard from the Dino Dens. Upon approaching the forest, lights of all colors lit the trees and ground. Without any announcement prior, there was Excision’s first surprise. An entire stage lit up with projections and clouded with smoke. Within the first ten minutes, music started to play. Music from artists such as Figure, Space Laces, Dion Timmer, and Excision himself poured from the stage. Tons of artists went back to back to back without any plan, but it seemed like this was meant to happen. The entire crowd was headbanging till the end and it was hard to believe this alone was just the pre-party.
Grounds Walk-through
On Friday morning, a media walk-through showed the grounds, props, and stages, along with a story about the production and what truly went into building Lost Lands. First things first, we all knew there was going to be dinosaurs. Staff went on to say that they had 24 of them shipped over from China, along with three builders to help set them up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t speak English, but that didn’t slow them down as they were built within four days. As fans entered through the main gates, they were instantly greeted by two head-butting dinosaurs with a sign above it that says, “Welcome Headbangers”. Once through the gates, Excision had his massive merchandise tent set up with an animated (to-scale) T-rex roaring away. At night, the entire festival grounds would light the way. Everywhere we looked, dinosaurs were spread throughout, moving, blinking, roaring, and screeching. The largest dinosaur was the (six feet shorter than actual size) Brontosaurus, which was set a distance from the Prehistoric Paradox stage. All fences were wrapped in ivy, which staff said they had to buy an entire inventory.
Excision also made sure to have every piece of PK sound in North America at the festival to blow everyone away. The grounds were arranged in a way that made it easy to navigate between stages, keep everyone safe, and was loaded with plenty of vendors & bathrooms. Everything about these festival grounds was executed to perfection and it surprised a lot of people due to this being its inaugural year. The knowledge that Excision had collected from years of being in the festival scene showed in how well everything went from day one till it was time to pack up camp.
Stages
There were two stages at Lost Lands – the Prehistoric Paradox and The Cave of Souls. The Prehistoric Paradox, which served as the main stage, wowed everyone as they walked into the festival grounds. The stage had two life-sized T-Rexes, monstrous volcanoes on each side of the stage, Excision’s signature paradox visuals, and sub-woofers as far as the eye could see. Bass could be heard and felt whether you were standing up front or further back in the crowd. At night the stage came alive with tons of lights and flames shooting out from the front of the stage, and from the volcanoes, which had the capability to shoot 60-foot flames into the sky in a variety of colors.
The Cave of Souls, a gargantuan hangar filled with rock formations hanging from the ceiling and coming out of the ground, was built from the ground up. The stage was set up with CO2 cannons and huge screens for visuals. As the sun set, and the moon came out, the entire outside of the hangar was animated with projections of dinosaurs roaming, lava erupting, and a map of “Lost Lands” where “X” marked the spot. At all times both stages were filled to the brim with fans, so, considering the amount of ticket sales, it really puts into perspective how massive and impressive these stages were to see.
Standout Performances
Every artist threw down that weekend, but some performances stood out from the rest that blew everyone away. With such an impressive lineup, anything was possible.
Destroid
Destroid is a combination of three music giants including Excision, Downlink, and Kj Sawka. The group wore their alien-like robotic space suits. The suits were complex with buckles, straps, and wires; the suits could also light up in several different colors. Throughout the entire set, fans were absolutely ballistic. Destroid put to work the 500,000 watts of bass to give us the show of a lifetime. Towards the end of their set, the volcanoes were erupting with flames. No one could’ve anticipated one of the volcanoes catching fire, which put a halt to their set. Staff and security both cleared the stage and the surrounding area of the volcano quickly and safely. After about 30 minutes the flames were out and staff allowed fans to fill back into the rails. This set will go down in history as one of the craziest of all time.
Excision
Excision exceeded all expectations, which really made this something special. Not just anyone can organize an entire first festival while also playing not just one, but four sets. Each set was entirely different as well. Starting off with his main set, Excision threw down heavy bass with intense visuals and fire for two hours which was the longest set of the festival. He was sure to get the fans blood pumping for the days to come. The next day he performed a “Detox” set, which had the loudest bass we heard during the daytime, while everyone got their daily dose of dubstep. Excision’s sets were all spectacular. His Paradox stage, plus the added dinosaurs and volcanoes, blew us away with life-like animated visuals, and the most flames on a stage we’ve ever seen. Next up was the back to back we were all waiting for. Excision and Datsik took over the show with their high energy, and the more the set went on, the more intense it got. It peaked the entire way through, creating an audience of headbangers losing their minds.
Rezz
Rezz put everyone in the crowd into a trance of vibrations. From the moment she took the stage, a video counted down to her emerging from below the paradox screen. Everyone went absolutely crazy for this set and turned into a flowing ocean of dance. She managed to incorporate everything from her signature sounds to Rage Against The Machine flawlessly. This set will go down as one of Rezz’s most memorable and epic sets she has ever performed.
Seven Lions
Seven Lions was a special guest at Lost Lands and there was nothing about his set that was anything less than special. During his set, he was able to play multiple genres of EDM, ranging from trance to super heavy dubstep, showcasing his versatility as an artist. As the fans went wild, we all watched in awe as the stage lit up with intense visuals to go along with his music. From start to finish, this was one of the best sets of the weekend, leaving fans and DJ’s alike wishing it would never end.
Sullivan King
Sullivan King threw down one of the most memorable sets in the Cave of Souls over the weekend with his mix of samples and guitar shredding skills. He managed to create a sound that set himself apart from the rest of the lineup. As he made his way around the stage headbanging with his guitar, the crowd went crazy. This set was very engaging for the audience and everyone who was there became glued to their spot in the crowd. When a DJ performs live with an instrument there is no room for mistakes and Sullivan King was no exception – he nailed every chord like a rock star.
Illenium
Ask anyone at Lost Lands this year and they would say Illenium played one of his best sets ever. It ranged from older tracks to new releases off his “Ashes” album such as “Crawl Outta Love”, and an unreleased collaboration with Kill The Noise. Illenium performed with his mixer and live drum pads that added an extra punch to the bass. He really played with the crowd’s emotions during his set as he went from a transcendent sound to heavy dubstep. We even got a chance to meet him backstage after his set, and he was absolutely humbled by the support and love he felt from everyone.
Closing Thoughts
The inaugural Lost Lands Music Festival will go down in history as one of the most epic festivals that has ever been thrown. We did not meet a single person or DJ that was disappointed with anything. Excision executed everything he planned and we all reaped the benefits. Memories were made that will never be forgotten and the bass community was brought together for four days of pure excitement and entertainment. From the camping, stages, props, vendors, and everything else involved, this festival went off without a hitch. Many of the DJ’s that played the festival said that it was one of the best that they had ever been to. We don’t know what is in store for 2018 yet but as of now we just want to thank Excision for making this happen and giving us the opportunity to experience the unimaginable.
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