This was my second year attending Shambhala and every year gets better and better.

In particular, this time 'round was especially enjoyable as I camped with the rest of the Hotbox editorial staff (Unfortunately excluding CA Editor Xander Harding, who was stuck in Calgary due to work) and knew twice as many people as I did last year. We ran a tight ship up in Camp Hotbox and talked to many of you while there; thanks to everyone who dropped by!

The weekend started out with myself, two friends and Lifestyle Editor Janus Jones (Who disappeared into the woods shortly upon arrival to do god-only-knows-what) heading south from Calgary in my trusty VW Golf, packed to the brim with camping gear. A short six hours and several mashup albums later, we arrived at the entrance to Shambhala and began our way over the rocky trail into the farm. Luckily, there was only a tiny line at the entrance to the site, and after a quick vehicle check, we rolled into the biggest party of the summer.

Before setting up our camp and meeting up with Entertainment Editor Johnny Elbow and writer/photographer M.D. Shorter, we did a quick recon of the area and decided the best spot was where we initially parked our vehicles. The two friends I drove up eventually made their way to their respective camps and we planned for the evening ahead.

Given as we were there a day early, the only stages open were the Living Room and Rock Pit. The Living Room is located next to the Salmo River and has a beach that is packed with topless sunbathers, hula-hoopers and people dancing during the day. At night, it's filled with lots of fun people dancing barefoot in the sand to an ecclectic assortment of excellent music. The Rock Pit generally showcases hip-hop, rock and other non-electronic sounds for people getting a tad tired of 4:4 timing and warble-bass; however, on the first night, the heavy sounds of dubstep and drum and bass dominated these stages and gave people a really good taste of what lie in store.

I woke up early the next day to smoke a quick bowl and check out what was going on around the festival. None of the forest stages (Fractal Forest, the Village, the Labyrinth) nor the Pagoda stage opened until the evening, so I spent the morning mostly hanging out on the beach, taking in rays and enjoying a lot of good reggae. During the evening, we wandered between the newly opened stages and the Living Room while occasionally returning to camp to grab water and to chill out for a bit. The Fractal Forest and the Pagoda stages were particularly spectacular, with their megawatt lasers piercing the sky with brilliant green light. The shimmering trees of the Fractal Forest surround a large tree stump, atop of which DJs such as AC Slater slam down wicked house and hardcore tracks at night, and funkier stuff during the day. The Pagoda tends towards all varieties of music (Though especially house and techno), yet despite being one of the main stages, we actually found ourselves there the least.

The other newly-opened stages included the Village, which has hip-hop during the day and usually either dubstep or drum and bass during the night, and the Labyrinth, which is a psytrance fan's wet-dream. The Village is surrounded by a set of wooden stairways for people to watch and was absolutely packed most nights, with a random things (Speakers, lights, projection screens, laser, random plants) hanging from a huge geodesic dome towering atop. It was probably my favourite stage because I'm a huge DnB nerd and spent many a good hour ripping the shit out of its dance floor. I also really like the Labyrinth's sand floor and excellent ambient sounds during the day, as well as the cheap $2 chai tea available at a vendor near it.

The Labyrinth, Village and Fractal Forest stages are inside a large group of trees, connected by a series of twisty hiking paths. One of these leads to the beach and provides a convenient short-cut for those camping in the "No Vehicle" zone. Behind the Labyrinth stage is the namesake labyrinth itself, with lots of interesting blacklight paintings, spots to sit and smoke a bowl, and a nice laid-back mini-stage playing chill beats. Just skirting the group of trees is the Pagoda stage, next to which is the food court, vendor areas and Rock Pit. Near that is the Living Room stage and beach, with the parking lots and camping areas lying on the higher ground surrounding the perimeter (Though people camp just about everywhere at Shambhala).

 On Saturday, we once again hung out at the beach during the day and went to the Village to watch Excision's absolutely epic set at 11. Calgary's own Nokturnal belted out a crazy full-on psytrance set earlier in the evening, while the Village was rocked by Spor's insane DnB beats at 2 in the morning. At 4, we headed down to the beach to watch Benga's set get practically ruined by some asshole DJ who kept rewinded the records just before the break-down, though it still ruled something awesome because I had only started listening to Benga about a week prior to Shambhala and had no idea he was playing.

Johnny Elbow and M.D. Shorter headed back to Calgary on Sunday morning, leaving me to enjoy more reggae on the beach, meet even more cool and interesting people, and jam out to Bassnectar and others early into the wee hours of Monday.  I ended up sleeping until lunch, found my friends around 2, and began the long trek back to Calgary around 4 p.m., arriving back around midnight.

All-in-all, it was a most fantastic experience, both meeting people and hearing some of the best music I've been exposed to this summer. Expect some set reviews from our staff, as well as some essays on the big ideas circulating around the festival.

Did you enjoy your Shambhala? Meet some interesting people? Have a good story or some photos to share? Please, create an account and upload them to the site! We also have a new Shambhala discussion forum to talk about experiences, find lost friends and plan for next year; come check it out! 

Festivals like Shambhala are changing culture in North America at a pace you wouldn't believe. Let's talk about what we like and the kinds of music we won't be embarrassed to show to our kids a generation or two from now. 

Namaste,

-æ.