Shambhala Music and Arts Festival is an extraordinary event and has bridged Salmo BC to New York City with new unbreakable ties. Over the last twelve months, the H<3art Beats collective from NYC has brought out numerous Shambhala DJs! Some, like SkiiTour, had never played New York before. This goodwill has created a burst of creative energy that will likely tighten the bonds further into the new year. So what was so cool about Shambhala? Let's talk about music, stage production, harm reduction and more!

Photo credit: Drew Koz

Music

The music at Shambhala was phenomenal this year. Best set awards go to Charles the First for the incredible bass he threw down at the Pagoda stage and a nod to DJ Jazzy Jeff playing sweet 90’s hip hop you didn’t even realize you needed to hear giving your ears a nice break from EDM. 

Photo credit: Drew Koze

Stage Production

Once again they prove that a compact festival can exist with little sound bleed...but how do they do it? Well, it takes 20+ years of dedicated sound engineers to get the placement just right and they have fully nailed it. Not to mention the actual stage designs themselves are always shifting and changing in looks over the years to make each stage a very special and unique experience. Ask any ten attendees what their favorite stage is any very likely you will get a variety of answers because there truly is something for everyone. 

Harm Reduction

Every year the harm reduction blows our American minds. There is a big television broadcasting updates 24hrs a day on attendees’ drug testing results. The drug-testing services provided by ANKOR are free and very comprehensive. And although you might not think it, the festival being dry (no alcohol) was a huge plus! We went all weekend with clear minds and no hangovers!

Photo credit: Don Idio Visuals

Beauty

The location of the Shambhala music festival is breathtaking. The event is situated in a valley surrounded by trees with a swimmable river nestled inside the festival grounds. An absolute pristine location filled with beautiful people in amazing costumes. Canadians are polite, kind and hilarious. The jokes sprawled in the portapotties gave attendees a chuckle right when they needed it the most. While the weather was a bit rainy and muddy it did not bring down the morale and everyone made the best of it!

Photo credit: Drew Koze

We loved everything about the Shambhala Music and Arts Festival and plan to head to Canada again next year!

Click here to get your presale tickets for Shambhala 2020.