Focus on quality indie acts at 4-day music festival near Princeton
It’s shaping up to be a musicfest of notable proportions.
The bands are stellar, the setting unique and the musical lineup promises to draw an eclectic, discerning crowd.
Nestled nicely in the mountains just a short ride out of Princeton, Snug Lake is home base for the fledgling Element Music Festival, offering its second annual event.
The three amigos who launched the idea did a “soft opening” last summer to “test the waters and do things right”, says Keith Duggan, of the newest Okanagan concert venue that hopes to attract a mix of music-lovers, dance-lovers and musicians.
“You’re not gonna get any heavy metal, no rap or hip-hop, no electronic stuff and no country,” Duggan said. “What you are getting is three days of easy living with fantastic music,” he said.
“There’ll be jazz, funk, bluegrass, roots and folk,” he added. “All in one area, all easy-going. We start at 3 (p.m.) so families can enjoy where they are. Sleep in, explore the hiking and biking trails, swim in the lake, hang out with the kids at the beach, take your time to relax and then take in the great artists who are going to light up the amphitheatre.”
The artistic line-up for the fourday gig includes top-notch Indie artists from the United States and Canada.
“We’re definitely shooting for quality, not quantity,” Duggan stressed. “We want the audience and the artists to mingle, to be able to connect. So there’s just
one location for the bands, no need to wander around looking for stages, it’s all right there and very accessible.”
The list includes The String Cheese Incident, an American group used to attracting 30,000 revellers, who play a collection of rock, funk, Celtic and bluegrass; the return of Garaj Mahal; Steve Kimock & Friends; Genetics; Five Alarm Funk; Brickhouse and Big Easy Funk Ensemble.
Added to the overall appeal of four days and nights of music, there will be “artists at large” plying the 160-acre site, which includes a established lodge, main house and campground, who are ready to “drop in and jam with any of the bands,” Duggan said.
Among those “free agent” artists are master bassist Oteil Burgridge (of the Allman Brothers Band and Dead & Co.), steel guitar virtuoso Roosevelt Collier and sitarist Naryan Padmanabha.
The site was “stumbled across” a few years back and intrigued the Robert Christy, Bob Macaulay and Justin Picard, who along with Duggan have amassed some 30 years experience in the music industry at various levels of expertise.
“We were ready to break out on our own and do something this exciting, this big,” Duggan added. “It’s a beautiful permanent venue, which when the festival is done, will be a place where artists can get together to stay, to write, to record. There are 100-plus beds.
“Overall, we’re just limited by our imaginations, as to what can be done in this setting, with all of the talent that we have.
“There just seemed to be a hole, a need for this kind of focus on a music festival.”
An attractive feature to the festival is the easy-going on-site old school camping popular with families with kids. Not to mention some eight other lakes in the area with mountain and dirt biking, as well as fishing.
“The lake, the beach, bike trails and then kid activities like stilt walkers, face-painting and other activities will keep them busy,” Duggan said.
“We want it to be a fun circus, and attractive to the 30-something to 60-something age group. It’s for music lovers.”
Proudly, Duggan can boast the second annual festival has had ticket interest from six provinces, 22 states and seven countries.
“We’ve had people from England, Austria, Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand asking,” he said.
Tickets include camping. Food venders will be on site, and an old-fashioned general store is also available. For more ticket and site information, go to elementfestival.info.