Colorado's Arise Music Festival 2017

On the smaller scale of Colorado fests, Arise Music Festival, was a delightful surprise. This family-owned festival celebrated a diverse lineup of music and welcomed people of all ages to experience music, yoga, and a handful of separate ‘villages’. These villages focused on environmental solutions, herbs & arts, healing, a yoga sanctuary, and children’s activities. There was an abundance of activities to do at any given moment in addition to four stages of diverse music.

Notably the Green Tree Stage boasted most of the electronic production performances and included producers and bands like Evanoff, Maddy O’neal,Dirtwire, Desert Dwellers, Templo, Bass Physics, Break Science, Skydyed, Late Night Radio, Unlimited Gravity, Project Aspect, Lunar Fire, Calvin Hobbes and more. Outside of a short-lived thunderstorm that cancelled kLL sMth and cut Evanoff short, the weather throughout the weekend was mostly beautiful, a few sprinkles here and there. At the tented Starwater stage, Adam Deitch played a DJ set on Friday night and Dopapod played a 1am set on sunday closing out the fest. A few electronic acts headlined at the main stage which included Tipper, Beats Antique, Wookiefoot, and Sunsquabi & Friends.

I spoke to some festival veterans and they mentioned how Arise started mostly as a bluegrass festival and has grown to include more electronic acts every year. In previous years, Arise would have around 8,000 to 10,000 people however, this year the attendance has grown to 13,000 people. It seems as though the more musically-varied lineup brings in more attendees each year. What a beautiful thing it is for festival-goers to have the freedom to enjoy their favorite type of music as well as experience something new, whether that’s bluegrass, funk, hip hop, or electronic music. On top of an eclectic plate of music, Arise had amazing workshops and yoga classes for people of all skill levels that were occasionally accompanied by bands and DJs. It was great for people like me that have FOMO (fear of missing out) for music at festivals. Overall, Arise was a success and to think they planted a tree for each festival-goer…that's 13,000 trees! Luckily, the future of Arise Music Festival is bright. Anyone who wants to support a forward-thinking inclusive green initiative and get down to a variety of electronic headliners and insanely talented local acts in the foothills of beautiful Colorado mountains are invited to Arise Music Fest 2018. See you there! Scroll down to check out the rest of the photos from the festival! 

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