By Sav Haas
I anticipated going to Paradiso for no joke, over a year! Last June, a huge group of friends made the trek up the west coast to Washington state from Arizona for the festival, and I watched from afar, in awe of The Gorge and the artists they saw. Needless to say, the festival was on my list of “must-do”s for 2018, and boy am I glad I took the risk!
Paradiso Music Festival
For those that don’t know, Paradiso is a 2-day event in Quincy, Washington, up in the hills, overlooking an enormous gorge with a ravine running through it. Pictures will literally never do this place justice — it’s unreal. I always love to travel out of state for festivals particularly because it’s interesting to see how crowds and energies change depending on which state you are in! Diso was all love, 24/7.
The Vibe
Paradiso is very much a colorful and bright festival. The energy is very excited, yet down to earth. Whether you wanted to sparkle in a star-embroidered reflective bodysuit or toss on some harem pants with a comfy bralette, it didn’t matter, because everything felt comfortable and natural. I personally decided to be more glittery and comfortable one day, and then more colorful and bright another. Day 1, I opted for a pair of black shorts, a black and gold mesh top from I Heart Raves, and a plain black sports bra to go under it. I tapped into the gold on the outfit with my makeup and glitter, but otherwise I chose to be pretty toned down in favor of being comfy. Day 2, I wore a rainbow striped bikini from Forever 21 with a long white mesh dress over top and my platform white Converse, making sure to keep my makeup bright and colorful! I’m not hugely concerned about outfits when it comes to fests (I would wear sweatpants if it were socially acceptable), but it was so fun to get to play along with the colorful theme, even if I did have to throw a sweatshirt on top when night time rolled around.
Day 1
Everyone warned me about the scorching Gorge sun, with the elevation being so high and little to no shade around, but man it was hot! After a long wait in security on day 1, we pushed through the gates and ran to the top of the hill and looked down on The Gorge in all its glory! Within a few hours, the sun started to dip, and the weather shifted to freezing. Regardless, everyone stayed in high spirits, huddling together for warmth amidst headbanging and shuffling. The musical highlights for this day included: Droeloe on the Digital Oasis stage (think underwater magical wonderland), Snails at sunset on the main stage (literally jaw-dropping), and Rezz following closely behind.
Day 2
Day 2 started off a little more interestingly — with heavy rain. We sat huddled in our cars, hoping the storm would pass until it got to the point where we just embraced it! Nobody was raining on our parade that day, there were too many good sets on the schedule. So we powered through, eventually buying sweatshirts to wrap around our bodies as we slipped and slid down the hills, giggling the whole way. We started the day with killer sets from Um.. and Kai Wachi that had us doubled over grasping our necks by the end. Most of us had a gap in our days around then, so we just happened to wander over to main stage to watch the sunset, only to find Brohug’s set had just been cut short as security swarmed the stage and alerted everyone that we had to evacuate due to an impending lightning storm. Within minutes, it was pouring, and everyone was debating whether or not to leave the festival entirely or hang back and wait for the all clear. We decided to wait near the entrance, anxiously anticipating the festival being cancelled, but luckily for us, after about an hour of rain, the music resumed! If we thought Paradiso was all good vibes before, the way everyone came together during the storm and after to make sure we all had a great night and rounded out the festival strong was even better!
We started with Pendulum (who absolutely crushed the Wreckage stage), then made our way back to mainstage to watch Louis The Child during the most INSANE sunset that made the entire sky look like it was on fire. We rounded out the sunset with a classic No Redemption Set from Tchami + Malaa which had me on my feet dancing the entire hour, and then we gathered for Virtual Self. This was an important set to a lot of the people in our group, as Porter Robinson’s music is very important to us, and we’ve all become invested in his new project with Virtual Self. Lasers lit up the sky, creating patterns for us to watch as Virtual Self took us to a new dimension. With all the rain and wind at that point, we were all pretty cold, so at the end of VS we made our way back to the Wreckage stage (lots of pyrotechnics) and closed the festival with Eptic b2b Must Die, which was just as incredible as all of the other dubstep sets we saw that weekend.
Getting Gorged
All in all, Paradiso was 10/10 amazing. It was everything that I’d hoped it would be and even more. Although the 24 hour drive there and back was challenging, I chose to see it as a super cool road trip for all of my friends and I, where we got to enjoy each other’s company and spend quality time with each other. I honestly couldn’t imagine not going back year after year, no matter how many rain storms or cross country road trips try to stand in my way!
If you’ve ever considered attending Paradiso, DO IT! You’ll never regret it.
Shoutout to the always lovely Sav Haas for your review of Paradiso! You can follow her festival adventures on: Twitter and Instagram.
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