ARISE Music Festival celebrated its 7th year at Loveland, CO’s Sunrise Ranch on August 2nd-4th with a gathering 13,000 people, learners, teachers, artists, thought leaders, and creators from around the world to take part in the three-day transformational event.
With it being so much more than a music festival, ARISE is now Colorado’s biggest camping festival. The annual event is hosted at the core belief of fostering a community and experience of positivity, joy, and active engagement through music, wisdom, and healing. This year’s festival saw its sacred grounds on Sunrise Ranch being enjoyed to its fullest potential, equipped with a wisdom village, children’s village, healing village, yoga sanctuary, and workshop tent all within its grounds surrounding five stages.
Elephant Revival and Tierro Band‘s Bridget Law spoke about the event:
“ARISE is so much more than a music festival. It’s like a summit of expression and colors, one of the most colorful expressions of humanity I’ve ever witnessed. But then we get to witness it every year. And I love that, especially with Colorado. It’s especially indicative of the consciousness in Colorado. It’s a great place for us all to intersect our colors and create the most beautiful rainbow you can.”
Along with over 450 pieces of programming for attendees to experience, the five stages hosted music throughout the weekend consisting of sets by Tipper, Beats Antique, Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, SunSquabi, Clozee, Rising Appalachia, Voodoo Dead, Satsang, Tierro Band with Bridget Law, and more.
Friday, August 2nd
Friday kicked off under Colorado’s hot sun as thousands of people trekked to Sunrise Ranch and cell phone service became a thing of the past. Entering the festival through two totems designed by Colorado-based artist Phil Lewis, attendees greeted the first day at the opening fire ceremony, blessing the grounds with Grandfather Little Thunder to ignite the sacred fireplace for the weekend. Friday morning saw musical acts Bella Duro, Banshee Tree, and Project 432 rotate onto the various stages. The mid-day sun shone on Tenth Mountain Divison’s set on the Eagle Stage which featured covers of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and The Doors’ “Break On Through” as the festival grounds started to fill up with more friendly strangers.
Fort Collins’ Graham Good & The Painters brought their positive energy to the Salt Stage at 4:30 p.m., getting their crowd loosey-goosey for the early evening vibe. Comprised of frontman Graham Good (guitar/vocals), Adam Wissman (lead guitar), Cameron Collums (bass), Zach Rich (trombone/trumpet), Joe LeClerc (sax), Daniel Thompson (keys), and Kai Wijitwechakarn (drums), the seven-piece won the festival’s “Rock The Vote” competition out of 300 other bands to earn a set at this year’s festival. Representing the local music scene, the band played their danceable “Grow” sing-a-long in sync with the festival theme.
Good recounts on the band’s set at ARISE, stating “It’s been so cool to have these people say that our music has touched their life. To get to this point with this festival, it’s a huge thing for us because it’s now Colorado’s biggest camping festival. We only hope to play more shows and bring positivity and spread light. We feel extremely blessed and grateful and excited for the future. I think this was a big stepping stone for us. The other six musicians in my band all have jazz degrees. This is the dream, the more specific that you can get with what you want out of this life, and the more you can visualize it in your own mind, the stronger it’s power to potentialize in the real world becomes.”
As the sun began to dip close to the horizon, singer-songwriter John Craigie sang folk music over the festival on the Eagle Stage before Beats Antique took the stage at the peak of dusk. Performing a 75-minute set on the first night’s crowd, Beats Antique swooned the audience with their experimental electro-dance sounds. Head dancer Zoe Jakes owned the main stage as she danced at eight months pregnant to the thousands of people in the crowd, gracing across the stage in trancing moments to the music. The trio played hits off their nine albums, including their 2019 collaboration with The String Cheese Incident “Bhangra Saanj” and their popular “Beauty Beats”.
Bridget Law reflected on her own expecting motherhood and how women and music align together, mentioning “Feminine energy is really beautifully collaborative when given the opportunity to be. There’s a lot of beautiful ways to channel that, and I feel very creatively full. She reminds me why I’m here doing what I’m doing. It’s a celebration of femininity.”
Around the same time, the Terrapin Stage showcased a collaboration of Jay Cobb Anderson, John Craigie, and members of Fruition for a Tom Petty Tribute, featuring the famous late songwriter’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. Leftover Salmon followed, keeping up the Friday night folk vibe going strong with an unplugged, acoustic set before world-renowned live producer Tipper closed off the Eagle Stage for the night and left the crowd into a mindless abyss of space and sound.
Tom Petty Tribute, Ft. Jay Cobb Anderson, John Craigie, & Members Of Fruition
[Video: Live For Live Music]
For the attendees who wanted more of the traditional bluegrass folk for their Friday evening, Fruition kept up the Terrapin Stage for 75-minutes of Americana tunes, inviting Bridget Law to sit-in for a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Hey Hey What Can I Do?” and closing with their fiery “Fire”, ignited by Silas Herman and Leftover Salmon friends Vince Herman, Andy Thorn, and Erik Deustch. Leftover Salmon took the Terrapin stage at 11:45 p.m., and started their electric set with plenty of fast-pickin and mandolin playin’. The band welcomed Fruition’s Mimi Naja, Law, and Colorado singer-songwriter Daniel Rodriguez for some late-night collaborations on “What Is Time?” and Janis Joplin’s “Piece Of My Heart”, closing out with a four-song encore.
Leftover Salmon, Ft. Fruition’s Mimi Naja, Bridget Law, & Daniel Rodriguez
[Video: Live For Live Music]
With both the Eagle and Terrapin Stage closed for the night, attendees had the choice to dance under the night’s stars to a bass battle at the late-night silent disco with Mikey Thunder and SunDragon or jam to the Pirate Stage’s Acoustic Pick. The latter featured Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman along with members of Tenth Mountain Divison and Avenhart. A Friday night fire scene emerged in front of the Eagle Stage, with dazzling fire dancers and performers in The ARISE Fire & Performance Spectacle to sail through the late night and into early morning hours.
Saturday, August 3rd
ARISE Festival woke up Saturday morning to the clear, blue sky and beaming sun on Sunrise Ranch. Early morning Prana Vinyasa yoga was led at the yoga sanctuary as the wisdom and healing villages arose to a full day of inspiring, experiential learning workshops. Holistic health and fitness guide Rainbeau Mars led “Breathe Yourself Awake” in the workshop tent mid-morning, allowing attendees to get comfortable with their bodies and breathe their way into a state of rising consciousness in the morning sun.
Mars said, “Be the change. We are all working on each of our parts of one other. What we love about each other and when we don’t love is just a reflection. We can move into this connection, this resurrection of reflection where there isn’t division and we can live and really be the change. That’s how we will and can affect the world. It’s such big work to be able to understand how to use the platform of coming together, but having an opportunity to make a shift and work everyday for Mother Earth. Of all the places that I have been in the world, I feel like I’m now at a place where we’re getting to work for the truth.”
As late-morning peaked, Rhythm Sanctuary opened up Friday’s Eagle Stage, bestowing tribal, wild beats upon the festival. Early afternoon saw rotating sets on the Starwater Stage, Salt Stage, and Pirate Stage by Pamela Symphony, Fierce IecFey, Meander Cat, and Dirt Nap before Oakland folk-world artist Mikey Pauker took to the Eagle Stage. His “medicine music” sang to Saturday’s crowd, serenading with his mystical teachings and spiritual explorations with underlying reggae, rock beats.
A parade of people adorned in psychedelic colors, masks, decorations, and some on stilts strode through the festival to spread some mid-day Saturday vibes as the festival continued to welcome second-day arrivers to celebrate in the festivities of growth and spiritualism throughout the grounds. Social and political activist Apollo Poetry performed his insightful remix of The Beatles’ “Imagine” at the Sunrise Dome, projecting the new lyrics of striving for a better world.
“Imagine” – Apollo Poetry
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Saturday saw the most programming of the weekend, consisting of mindfulness, sacred energies, meditations, chanting, and organic permaculture workshops, such as “Organic Harmony,” led by the ladies of Upstate, as well as a showing of the inspirational “WeRiseUP” movie and moderated dialogue for open discussion. Friday’s music was jam-packed by sets of Krushendo, CASTANEA, Ghost Tapes, The Sweet Beets, WE DREAM DAWN, Hindsight, and Lesley Kernochan throughout the festival, and the mid-day sun greeted partners Tubby Love & Amber Lily on the Eagle Stage. The two performed songs digging into the roots of the soul through their harmonic vocals and uplifting songs before n’goni and balafon player Arouna Diarra took to the Terrapin Stage. Biko Casini joined Diarra for the set, bringing their spark of West African heritage and culture to the day’s musical rhythm.
A live improvisation and interaction among members of The Main Squeeze and Ghost Tapes closed out the Big Sunrise Dome as SunSquabi rocked out the Eagle Stage with their electro-funk tunes, treating attendees to a performance of their recent remix of Lettuce‘s “The Love You Left Behind”.
Happening at the same time on the Terrapin Stage, Americana quintet Upstate opened up their set with an acapella harmony among the band’s fronted women: Mary Kenney, Melanie Glenn, and Allison Olender. Playing in Colorado for the first time ever, the female-powered group led the crowd into danceable depths through their mandolin, guitar, saxophone, and harmonic scapes.
Interlocking the weekend’s musical sets was Pneumatic Arts Flying Trapeze, which brought the first-ever flying trapeze to ARISE festival. Adorned with a glittering disco ball, the flying trapeze was set in the middle of the festival grounds with several performance sets scheduled throughout the weekend. Attendees were awe-struck as the performers flipped and caught each other in the air for a truly spectacular show.
Flying trapeze performer Blair Aud remarked on her experience of the weekend, “This is my first time attending a festival like this. We were trying to tie our performance in with the concept of ARISE, elevating your consciousness, and lifting others up. Between the attendees, the people working here, and all the artists, the collective consciousness here is really, really beautiful. And to be here on the land, to have the trapeze set up in this amazing scenery with a gorgeous sunset, we’re just so happy to be here and be a part of it. You really feel the energy from everybody. Its this balance of your nerves growing, but being able to channel that and put it into your flying in a way that’s powerful.”
Pneumatic Arts Flying Trapeze
[Video: Live For Live Music]
As the sun began to set and a warm breeze cooled down Sunrise Ranch from the day’s 90-degree dry heat, Tipper took back the Eagle Stage from his prior day’s performance for a twilight “journey set”. The producer showed no visuals onstage for the first 15-minutes, allowing attendees to fully take in the beauty of the changing sunset surrounding the stage. A moon crescent followed the summoning darkness, as the British composer rotated ambient ballads and uptempo trip-hop beats into the early evening.
Tipper – ARISE Music Festival – 8/3/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
The high-energy didn’t leave the air, as The Main Squeeze brought their funk-filled set to the Terrapin Stage, and Denver four-piece Autonomix took to the Starwater Stage for some psychedelic jamtronica improvisation. Closing out the Eagle Stage at 9:45 p.m., French producer Clozee brought her female-dominated electronic party anthems, equipped with circulating Android Jones visuals. CloZee brought out her fierce energy onstage, debuting two new songs, performing her new collaboration with Opiuo, and bridging her organic sounds with melodic soundscapes and deep bass.
CloZee – ARISE Music Festival – 8/3/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Friday night saw two sets by Voodoo Dead on the Terrapin Stage, with Buffalo-based jam-fusion Aqueous interlocking the two sets at the Starwater Stage, adorned with a huge sparkly-starred whale hanging above the tent. Originally comprised of Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti, Jackie Greene, and John Kimock, Voodoo Dead’s two sets saw a missing Burbridge but was not missing the epic jams, as Steve Kimock and George Porter Jr. joined the group onstage for good ole’ fashioned funk and blues. The group also delivered Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias” and a tribute to the late Art Neville.
Voodoo Dead – ARISE Music Festival – 8/3/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Aqueous and Casual Commander traded over-lapping set times to Voodoo Dead’s second set, and attendees drifted off into the early morning of Sunrise Ranch with a silent disco of Lucid Vision and Mikey Thunder, as well as an acoustic jam featuring members of The Copper Children, and Upstate’s Cajon players Dean Mahoney and Dylan Mckinstry.
Sunday, August 4th
ARISE festival arose Sunday morning to mild temperatures, showing promises of a break from the Colorado mile-high sun. Sunrise Ranch greeted the last day’s morning with a Sunday Service in the Big Sunrise Dome with Sunrise Ranch Spiritual community leader, David Karchere.
Karchere shared his reflection on the sacred grounds in saying, “Sunrise Ranch Community is here to hold you and be here for you to love your life. Make a place on you to keep you safe. Keep a bio that you could connect with. Create a situation where all the geniuses, all the people who come here just lay out this place. It’s creating powerful experiences for people, so that they were so changed that they would not tolerate what they tolerated before so that they be inspired to create a different world than the one definitive. We’re here to let a change happen for ourselves.”
With the third day full of growth and prosperity among the grounds, the Starwater staged lit up with creative children’s energy at the peak of noon. Sunrise Ranch believes in the core values that the reality of the Divine lives within all people. The world is at a crucial time in history, needing people to showcase a creative path forward into what is next for humanity. The expansion of growth really emanated throughout the grounds all weekend, not excluding the children, and inspired each’s soul to leave a better version of themselves.
“This valley and this place is profoundly special. This place is only this place, and there is a fire that is intact here. It has a lot to do with the beautiful loving community that has been here for 74 years. That vibe is also elevated by all the people that come here. There’s core values that are expressed through this festival that I believe resonates with many of the people that come here. Children 12 and under being free is a core value. Children are such a vital energy, and they should not ignore nor be deprived of this kind of community building and experience that is ARISE,” ARISE festival founder and producer, Paul Bassis said.
Speaking about growing, Sunrise Ranch contributed to a lot of the festival’s food source with a Sunday brunch at the farmers market. Grown just a couple of hundred yards away from the camping area, the farmer’s market featured organic produce grown with no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or hormones to ensure the highest quality empowering food. Bringing an influx of thousands of people to sacred lands, the question of sustainability arises. Conscious of Mother Nature’s work, ARISE festival looked at sustainability in every aspect of the festival, including planting a tree for every ticket purchase. That’s 13,000 new trees planted throughout the world!
Mo Hnatiuk, an executive assistant to the producers, talked about ARISE festival’s sustainability efforts and it’s no-waste practices, “We really work to dial in every possible way that we can be more sustainable of. It’s like the pillar of ARISE! We love this planet. We’re grateful for this planet. We get to be here and share this experience here, let’s take care of it.”
After a flood of creative expression, the ARISE Pick was goin’ down in the Big Sunrise Dome a little after the peak of noon’s sun. Featuring members of Railroad Earth, Meadow Mountain, and Bridget Law, the group jammed for a good ole’ fashioned bluegrass pick, swirling about in the dome highlighting some fast-pickin’ fiddle and guitar playing by the collaboration of members.
The ARISE Pick, Ft. Members of Railroad Earth, Meadow Mountain, & Bridget Law
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Occurring within the Wisdom Village at the same time, Sunday’s workshops focused on one’s inner energy and Mother Earth, with scheduled immersive experiences for ARISE festival attendees to get involved in and awaken their souls. “Sacred Earth Chant”, “Singing Over Your Bones The Story Of The WolfWoman”, and “Order Of The Sacred Earth” was on the lineup for the day to inspire and prosper those who took part. Wisdom Village Coordinator, Ahva Lenay led the village into the fifth “Healing The History” with Grandfather Little Thunder and Paul Stover-Soderman to call out to our ancestors and heal the past lineage between the spirit and the Earth throughout the generations. With the sacred fire placed in the middle of the village to encompass purification, generations of varying cultures gathered together to heal each’s sacred ancestry.
Lenay remarks, “In the spirit of sharing wisdom around one unity fire, there’s a lot of steering and navigation that goes into bringing people together to honor the ways from many different cultures. We’re working with the caretakers of the land who had been here for almost 80 years. New traditions are being born on the foundation, bringing the ancient wisdom with the new wisdom. It’s a big time to empower our whole community. Everyone who comes together really wants to grow themselves and evolve in a way that’s going to serve humanity and our planet.”
Sunday’s afternoon music saw sets from Kristin Hoffman, Katsuk, Meander Cat, Guerilla Fanfare, Yaima, and Pixie & The Partygrass Boys before the evening’s events kicked into high gear. As conscious music collective group Satsang graced the Eagle Stage, featured Artist-At-Large Bridget Law lit up the Starwater Stage featuring her Bridget Law & Friends set. Law and her eight friends channeled a powerful female music collaboration on stage, playing fun originals and covers including Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop”. Law brought friend her friend Lindsay onstage for an original poem reading titled “A Bird In A Chest” in the middle of the set, surging insightful energy throughout the tent before closing with two short takes with harmony vocals and fiddle playing in “A Piece Of My Heart”.
Railroad Earth kept up the bluegrass vibe throughout the early evening, playing two full sets on the Eagle Stage starting at 6:45 p.m. with special guests Matt Slocum on keys and Mike Robinson on pedal steel, guitar, and banjo. The Americana-jam group kicked off their first set with “Chasin’ A Rainbow”, and fans couldn’t help but smile as they peaked into “Like A Buddha” and their dance party “Spring-Heeled Jack”. During set break, Tubby Love & Amber Lily strode back onto the Terrapin Stage for their second set of the weekend, and Montreal producer Goopsteppa laid down some deep futuristic bass music to the Starwater Stage.
Returning for set two, Railroad started into “Bird In A House” and “Farewell To Isinglass” before transitioning into their popular “Captain Nowhere” during which the crowd sang along. Tim Carbone layed into his violin, playing off the fast-pickin’ energy of mandolinist John Skehan in “Mighty River”. Bridget Law joined the bunch for “Fisherman’s Blues”, dueting with Carbone for melodic fiddle playing that was matched by earlier’s ARISE Pick and closing out with “12 Wolves”.
“Fisherman’s Blues” – Railroad Earth, Ft. Bridget Law
[Video: Live For Live Music]
A Moment Of Unity united the festival to close off the Eagle Stage, gathering the ARISE festival team on stage for a huge thank you to everyone for celebrating the 7th-annual ARISE. A howling cheer was led for the world to hear what it sounds like to live together peacefully, harmoniously, lovingly for three beautiful days. A prayer was led for the success and future of the festival, to spread our higher conscious throughout the world and continue growing the community to make a positive impact.
David Karchere spoke onstage, “Right now is really all there is. The future is just a fantasy, what we have right here, right now is all there is. We’ve been in this for seven years. There’s so much opportunity here in Colorado, at ARISE, at Sunrise Ranch, on these sacred grounds, with all you sacred people. Let’s take it where it wants to go and change this world.”
After the embrace among the festival, the crowd had a lot of options for music for the final night, including Denver-based female producer Maddy O’Neal. Playing through the creative energy, O’Neal brought out a full live band for her usual electronic-only set, featuring a drummer, guitarist, turntablist, and violinist to the Salt Stage. Over on the Starwater Stage, hip-hop soul duo The Reminders laied down 75-minutes of soulful sounds and roots music.
Over on the Terrapin Stage, Rising Appalachia graced the night with soothing, soul music. Working through their set on the foundation of traditional roots music through storytelling, global soul sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith enchanted the crowd with their world folk harmonies and earthy percussion. The crowd was moved through their performances of “Refuge”, written with the theme that a home is a basic human right and many people have had that right taken away. Old-fashioned New Orleans roots and soul prevailed in their “Indigo Dance”, highlighting some fun swing dancing onstage.
Rising Appalachia – ARISE Music Festival – 8/4/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Song and Smith transitioned into their old favorite “Find Your Way” for some uplifting folk harmony, featuring new fiddle member Duncan Wickel. The Sunday night set was dusted with the embracing “Wider Circles”, standing as a visual for peace and leading the crowd into a two-part humbling harmony. “Resilient” surged throughout the crowd next, reminding everyone that you can bend without breaking and come back from hardship without losing your own true self.
After a little instrumental pickin’, a tribute to all the medicine keepers, wild water folks, stone keepers, and wild herbists shone through in “Medicine”, leading Song and Smith into a deep melodic harmony in “Caminando”. The girls lifted up into acapella vocals in “Sunny Days”, rising up to a powerful crescendo and resting the song to end in a soft whisper that ran chills up all our backs. Song and Smith highlighted some true Appalachian music in “Cuckoo”, incorporating the close relationship with West African and Irish influence, slipping into the inspirational “Make Magic” ballad of reminding us to show up in the world with protest, anger, prayer, sorrow, and empathy and cook up some magic. Song and Smith left fans with the traditional gospel “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”, with the girls acting out the playing of harmonicas and trombones in the lullaby for the week ahead.
As the night grew old, Colorado-local music flooded throughout the festival with sets from Cycles and Evanoff. Cycles closed the Starwater Stage with their psychedelic rock fusion, playing hits from their recent Selections, Vol. 1. Painting the night with colors, the trio rocked out their recent “Green”, slipping into Eiffel 65‘s “I’m Blue” for a rock-electro jam. Over at the Salt Stage, Boulder trio Evanoff played their dream rock jams, hitting the crowd with symphonic guitar melodies and groovy beats.
“I’m Blue” – Cycles – 8/4/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Live exotic dance and world improvisation Tierro Band celebrated the last night of ARISE festival in their 90-minute set on the Terrapin Stage. Under the night’s stars, ARISE festival producer Tierro Lee, Bridget Law, Charles Parker Mertens, Jonny Jyemo, Nabin Shrestha, and Bijay Shrestha performed their gypsy-funk get-down as bellydancer Kymbreanne Shingara embellished the stage with exotic dancing. Americana roots singer Lindsay Lou strode onstage to join Law onstage for mighty vocal harmony for the last song, closing out the festival in high hopes and inspiration of music, love, and continuous growth.
Tierro Band – ARISE Music Festival – 8/4/19
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Over at the Wisdom Village, Ahva Lenay led a mass gathering through the Closing Fire Ceremony. With the sacred fire placed in the middle of the village to encompass purification, the crowd poured spices and chants into the sacred fire, chanting and praying up to the celestial sky and ancestors for prosperity, peace, and everlasting love and wisdom. Co-hearts of Sunrise Ranch and cultural elders offered their language, sacred chants, drumming, and blessings as huge gusts of wind swirled through the festival and summoning the energy throughout the grounds and the world.
Sunrise Ranch woke up Monday morning with an inspired, refreshed, and renewed energy. The amount of growth and love shared throughout the weekend left with every single attendee to spread out throughout the world. ARISE 2019 summoned world-wide people, learners, teachers, artists, thought leaders, and creators together for a weekend of aligned collective consciousness, to rise to something bigger than us and incorporate that consciousness into our everyday lives.
ARISE festival founder and producer Paul Bassis said, “We named it ARISE for a reason. We didn’t name it ‘Wake Up Festival’ because we believed we would attract people who were already awake. Arise is the first thing you do once you’re awake. But once you’re ready to get up, you arise. Of course, what happens after that? So you tell me what you’re going to do. Show us what you’re going to do, what it looks like. The worst thing that happened to humanity was ‘the status quo’. We have to do better. And we will, that’s the nature of the human spirit. The concept of ARISE is the grass pushing through the concrete, reaching for the sun.”
The 7th-year celebration of beauty and wonder of life will be kept in all our spirits for the next 365 days until we get to return to the sacred lands to continue the prosperous community-building, wisdom-seeking, and spiritual-awakening among the collective conscious family that makes ARISE festival so unique.
Below, you can see how beautiful of a weekend it was with a photo gallery courtesy of Starry Eyed Creative.
The post Celebrating The 7th Annual ARISE Festival: Colorado’s Biggest Creative Expression Of Music, Love, Wisdom, & Growth [Videos/Gallery] appeared first on L4LM.
