Event Review by: Michelle Yampolsky
Photography by: David Costantini
BangOn! NYC has the company motto “performance art & booze bacchanalias like you've never seen before,” and Elements Music Festival is advertised as a combination of Berlin, Burning Man and Bushwick. After attending this year, we won’t argue with either of those descriptions. All hail BangOn! NYC.
Overwhelming temperatures last weekend didn’t stop music lovers from making their way to Red Hook’s abandoned boat yards for the third annual BangOn! Elements Music Festival. Revelers danced their way through five different stages and countless artistic set ups and displays. Red Bull Athlete Steel Lafferty even showed off his daredevil talents later in the day by taking off a ramp and landing, without success, in the beloved (just kidding) Gowanus Canal.
In traditional BangOn! fashion, the outdoor space featured a little bit of everything in it’s ultra gritty urban set up, with the city skyline framing views from some stages. The daylong event also featured various dancers, tightrope walkers, a bounce house, giant skeleton marionette and a stage hidden behind walls of used tires. Tying in with the name of the festival, each stage was named after an Element: Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, and Fifth Element.
Brooklyn’s own producer and DJ Gramatik headlined the entire day, which featured a total of 37 international artists, by closing out the Earth stage. Water Stage favorites, facing the Gowanus, included French DJ and tropical house producer Klingande and a live saxophone, and Berlin-based Claptone, who managed to keep his entire outfit of all black and his infamous beak Mask on despite the scorching sun hitting during his mid-day set.
Over at the Fifth Elements, inside of a warehouse, The Desert Hearts Crew entertained audiences for a six-hour set. Back outside at the ZERO Air Stage, aptly set up between a massive ship and houseboat, artists like Rachel Torro and Blond:ish lead the crowds towards breezes coming off the water. For those looking to get back into a little more action in between old construction machinery and stacks of tires, and to be cooled down by hoses, The Fire Stage provided action with DJ’s like Pierre-Estienne.
Expect us to be back next year. With so much to do, see, and listen to – the day flew by. We can’t wait to see what BangOn! puts together for Elements next year.
Elements Music Festival Photo Gallery:
