A Kindred Quest: Lucidity 2015

Nestled in a grove of oak trees and a basin of snow white sandstone, the fourth installment of Lucidity Festival transported us to a magical temporary village, filled with loving individuals who embodied and enacted the organizer’s vision of this Kindred Quest.

With each section and camp serving as its own unique nation of sound, color, and experience, the festival grounds were nothing short of a playground where one could fulfill his or her every desire and fantasy without walking for longer than fifteen minutes. From the bumping sets of The Polish Ambassador and Dirtybird’s Christian Martin to the intimate, beautiful midnight cuddle sessions at Lover’s Nest, Lucidity gave us all we could ever ask for — and then some. It gave us chance encounters with fascinating strangers, foam parties in the communal showers, and community building exercises in breathing, movement, and spirituality. We grew together over the course of three days and were both reluctant and grateful to see the sun rise on Monday morning. But when that fateful moment did come, we stood in loving gratitude for the life that we shared together and the love that was grown.

Highlights from the festivities included a sunset set from Pumpkin that had the smaller Nomad Stage swarming with party people as covers of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” had the crowd up in arms. A heartfelt and exciting performance by Colorado-based folk group Elephant Revival was a welcome break from Saturday night’s electronic stylings and included live acrobatics from various performing groups. Dirtwire’s fusion of live Asian instrumentation and banjo with electronic overdubs proved the perfect fit for the crowd’s appetite and, accompanied by a massive illuminated mechanical puppet, conjured a surreal atmosphere. The Human Experience provided us with an exhilarating array of visuals; hints of sounds from around the world merged to construct a temple of diversity in movement and appearance on the dance floor. A back-to-back succession of sets from musical partners Ayla Nereo and David Sugalski (The Polish Ambassador) ended the festival with a bang and showed us all how the union of lyrical depth and captivating beats can evoke both trance and reflection in the bodies and souls of faithful listeners.

Apart from the music, sound healing sessions, locally-sourced vegan food trucks, innumerable smaller themed camps, and Burning Man art cars all played into the living spirit of this temporary community. Another addition to the transformational festival movement, Lucidity sets itself apart as an unparalleled experience where, with an open attitude, one can find anything he or she is looking for and so much more. With only two more installments of this production to be played out, we turn our eyes and hearts toward the sky as we wait in great anticipation to see what is in store for all of us to come.