ARISE Music Festival returned to Loveland, Colorado for their seventh year of music, art, yoga, workshops and locally sourced food and produce. Held on Sunrise Ranch, a holistically managed ranch based on the pillars of community, enlightenment and sustainability, the entire event was geared toward creating a space that helped maintain the grounds’ pristine conditions.
This year, the event grew substantially, awarding ARISE the title of ‘largest camping festival in Colorado’ (surpassing Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Sonic Bloom). Festival planners say that the reason for this year’s success is ultimately due to the lineup, which included fan favorites such as Tipper, CloZee, Beats Antique, Sunsquabi, Defunk, and Rising Appalachia.
Dave Tipper gave two incredible performances, each displaying the artist’s widely popular blend of ambient bass music and glitchy trip-hop. His famed sound, combined with captivating visuals created by industry-favorite Steven Haman created two completely unique sets that highlighted the mountainous surroundings.
CloZee, a little bit newer to the main stage, followed Tipper’s set with a worldly instrumental bass set that kept the entire crowd on their feet. She played a mix of fan-favorites and crunchy edits of Sumthin’ Sumthin’ and Ratatat. Hailing from France and catching like wildfire over the United States, her music is quickly becoming a household name for music-lovers of all genres.
Sunsquabi gave a high-energy performance to their devoted fanbase. Walking through the crowd, there were tons of families and children having a blast dancing to their upbeat blend of improvisational jamming and electronic funk. If one Sunsquabi set wasn’t enough for fans, the electronic funk band also stepped on stage with Autonomix, a Denver-based electronica jam band. The members had a blast on stage and even ended with some unreleased music that will leave fans refreshing their music platforms for weeks to come.
Oddly enough, my favorite set of the weekend wasn’t from an artist on the lineup. On Sunday, ARISE put on an official Children’s Talent Show, which featured break dancers, singer/songwriters, hoopers and more! The turnout was huge and the cheers were loud for every performer that came out on stage. There aren’t many music festivals that are safe (or frankly, even fun) for kids to attend, but ARISE absolutely made a tremendous effort to make sure that the weekend was fun for fans of all ages.
I think that inclusivity is my favorite part of going to music festivals; it doesn’t matter what you wear, or what you do for a living. The only thing that matters is that you show up in your truest form and that you accept others for doing the same. I can’t imagine a better place to really find yourself than Sunrise Ranch. With the festivals’ impressive turnout this year, I’m hoping that next year the ARISE team works on increasing security staff for quicker entry into the grounds, as well as more elaborate stage designs. Much like the name of the event, I truly think that ARISE is on the rise.
For additional photos from the event, check out the photo album on Facebook.