Easily a highlight of the Living Room this year was Tipper’s downtempo set that took place Sunday night. The Living Room filled to capacity with people sitting down to enjoy Tipper’s otherworldly sounds. No visuals or light shows necessary, the natural beauty of the setting sun exploding in oranges, pinks and reds, was enough. With plumes of fire exploding from pyrotechnics along the river for added effect, it was one of the most magical moments of the entire weekend.

Shambhala is special because it is a completely family owned festival. What does that mean? No corporate sponsors, no big company owners, and an awesome tight knit family vibe! After 18 years of running strong, the festival has managed to stay below 12,000 attendees annually, keeping the feeling of the festival very intimate. Many of the people working with the festival have been involved for years, either as staff team members or as festival attendees. A tone is set by the people dedicated to the festival, as if to say “this is home to me, you should treat it as home too.” What does that mean, treating a festival like home? To me, treating a festival like home means a lot of things. It means to treat everyone around you as you would in your own home, be welcoming and kind! See someone in need? Be as good of a host as you would at home, and help them out! Keep the area clean, meaning clean up after yourself and respect the land. Be comfortable being yourself! At home you should be able to be whoever you want to be, Shambhala is the same way, you are free to be who you truly are! Home, in the most important sense, is a place where you create some of your best memories, do the same at Shambhala!



Shambhala is unique in a few other ways as well. Shambhala is a completely dry festival, meaning there is absolutely no alcohol allowed. There is no alcohol sold onsite and alcohol is not allowed in from outside of the festival. This may be shocking to many regular festival attendees, who know alcohol is usually a large part of the festival scene. It is my firm belief that Shambhala's choice to run a dry festival changes the experience for the better. Alcohol changes the way people act, and not always positively. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be standing in a crowd where some drunk ass hole isn’t spilling their drink all over you every time the bass drops or have someone falling into you instead of dancing an entire set. Shambhala has one of the best crowds I have ever been in, and I think the dry policy plays a large part in that.

The people of Shambhala are quite possibly the thing that caused me to fall in love with the festival above all else. Everyone is extremely nice, and granted, there are bad seeds everywhere, but at Shambhala it’s extra hard to find them. People get DOWN at Shambhala. A lot of times you will go to a festival and only the first couple rows will be into the music, while the rest of the crowd will be awkwardly standing near the back swaying from side to side waiting for another DJ to come on. This wasn’t the case at Shambs, if you were at a stage, you were dancing, and dancing HARD. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that more than any festival I had ever been to, people went to Shambhala for Shambhala, not for any one artist more than another. Many people I talked to throughout the weekend claimed they didn’t even know who was on the lineup, that they just went for the Shambhala experience. How cool is that?

The crowd at Shambhala is a beautiful breed with an affiliation for the weird. Costumes are a necessity for the festival, and as far as clothing is concerned, anything--- or nothing, goes. Walking the grounds of Shambhala you will definitely see people decked to the nines in extravagant costumes and people fully nude. Part of the beauty of Shambs is that anything goes, and seeing everyone’s outfits is one of the most exciting parts of the festival. I spent the better part of my Friday talking to Snow White and Chewbacca, while wearing a full Mad Hatter costume complete with a hat and a tutu. One of the most popular traditions at Shambs is wearing a onesie for the first day of the festival, “Day Onesie.” See our full gallery of “Day Onesie Onesies” here!

There were also other themed events throughout the weekend, including an epic pillow fight, pancake breakfast, hoop jams, and my personal favorite, a dance battle between the Pirates and The Lost Boys at the Village Stage, you just had to be dressed as a Peter Pan Character to participate!