Audio stories by Larsen Jensen
Flowy skirts, fringed boots, and “boho chic” became the unofficial dress code of San Luis Obispo on May 2 and 3, as community members and music lovers alike ran, frolicked and danced their way through the gates of Shabang Music Festival. With the sun peeking out through the foggy sky and complimented by a light breeze, the rolling green hills of San Luis Obispo looked idyllic as ever.
For many, Shabang is a space of freedom – a place where people can let go of their daily lives for a weekend and exist in a world outside of their own.
Atop a slope of green grass overlooking the Laguna Lake stage, artist Cooper Willson laid out his paint brushes, creating various festival-inspired scenes through his carefully calculated brushstrokes.
“What makes you feel free?” is the question that Willson posed to curious passersby. “What we want most deeply does not interfere with someone else’s path… what makes you feel free is where the focus should be, and that’s what’s going to fulfill us.”
He gestured to his whiteboard, filled with community answers.
“I love that people say the ocean, being barefoot, having nothing left to lose. It’s a powerful question,” he said. Other answers included music, play and letting go of expectations.
Attendee and Cal Poly student, Brooke Bartels, rightfully described Shabang as a zone where one can “have fun, be free and be you.”
This year marks the local festival’s twelfth year of existence, having come a long way since its humble, permitless beginnings at Cuesta Ridge. Now hosted at the Dairy Creek Golf Course, the festival has become a realm in itself – a vortex into a world in which everyone and every niche of music has a place to live.
Throughout the weekend, Shabang media team photographer Saylor Nedelman captured vibrant colors and intimate festival moments as she wandered the festival grounds.
“It’s like a little universe at each stage,” she said. “I love when festivals are like that.”
On Saturday afternoon, Nedelman was behind the barricade photographing Cal Poly student bands Sol Arc and Avalynn.
“I really liked shooting the local bands at Cuesta Ridge. I grew up in Orange County and it reminded me of just like my hometown, like beach goth, surf rock scene,” Nedelman said. “It was really cute to see that on the smaller stage and see this little band’s community kind of show up for them. It was very nostalgic for me, so I really loved the photos that I took at that set.”
This year’s Cuesta Ridge stage presented a haven for the alternative crowd, spotlighting bands and solo acts that spoke primarily to the “indie” sound.
Cuesta Ridge was teeming with listeners looking to mosh, wander or simply take in a set from the top of a small hilltop, fostering an intimate environment throughout the weekend.
Saturday eased the crowd in with back-to-back performances from local bands, Mexican Slum Rats and indie-rocker Annie DiRusso, setting a familiar tone for the day.
For San Luis Obispo locals and Cal Poly students alike, attending Shabang is considered almost a “rite of passage.”
Kiana, an on-site photographer, was found taking a break from the duties of press on day two. Sitting on the rocks, she smiled while watching Brass Mash perform a medley of familiar tunes.
“Everyone’s so open and happy. Like SLO is just a happy place, I think,” she said. “Throwback to when Oprah called it one of the happiest cities in America, it still is. It still feels like it.”
Just outside the Cuesta Ridge bubble, a Shabang Green Team volunteer in a Mario Kart Luigi get-up was hard to miss.
The Green Team is Shabang’s sustainability crew, keeping grounds clean and safe, constantly working behind the scenes. However, Luke was anything but invisible in this setting. As a SLO local who has either worked or volunteered with Shabang since its founding, Luke has watched the festival grow in both sound and soul, familiarizing himself with the festival’s culture that keeps people coming year after year.
“People can kind of float to wherever they’re drawn to,” Luke said.
As one ventures further into the jungle of Shabang, past the massive inflatable mushrooms, the Greenhouse Stage stood as a prime oasis for youthful escape.
In previous years, the space was home to Shabang’s Silent Disco Stage, where fans were given headphones and allowed to dance to sets of their choosing at whatever volume they wished. But now, the EDM beats pumped out louder than ever, uniting listeners under a crochet canopy of greenery.
Club 91 and Shabang’s Battle of the DJs winner, LVA, was first to play the Greenhouse Stage on Saturday.
DJ LVA, Cal Poly student Lauren Mann, was eager to take on the challenge of playing a festival.
“It’s a combination of curating the Shabang experience with having a lot of fun and being able to make people dance,” Mann said. She emphasized her intent to get the crowd engaged with her set and moving, a goal she absolutely achieved.
A little ways past the grooves of the greenhouse, festivalgoers could follow the yellow brick road (the dirt path, in this case) to the University Stage: a zone dedicated to purposeful body movement, meditation, conversation and connection.
On Saturday, University Stage became an uplifting, safe haven for all women, nonbinary folk and allies. Book More Women hosted their very first gender equity panel and mixer, featuring a conversation with artists Annie DiRusso, Jackie Hollander and Shelby Pinckard (also known by her artist name, Soraya). Book More Women’s director of community, Nico Mazzeo, sat down with the musicians: leading a dialogue regarding women in the music industry and the act of “taking up space.”
“Today, only 22% of musicians at major festivals are women. What are conversations that aren’t happening, that should be happening?” Mazzeo asked.
Hollander started by touching on booking disparities. “We, as women, are placed a lot in opening shows, but not really a bunch of direct support or that next spot as headliners,” she said.
“Sometimes I hear ‘you’re my favorite female DJ,’ but like, I’d rather just be your favorite DJ,” Pinckard said.
“Women are way more willing to show up and be fans of both women and men, and men are really not as willing to show up as fans for women,” DiRusso said. “When you look at the percentages, the numbers are stark… stand up for yourself.”
Aside from being a hub for important conversation, University Stage also hosted various yoga flow sessions, Smile and Nod Improv, a gong sound bath and “the art of ass shaking.” Lovingly referred to as the festival’s “twerkshop,” this event was much-anticipated after previous, successful sessions at Shabang’s past.
This year’s Funk Safari stage brought more than just new artists to the floor – it got an energy upgrade of its own. For two days, the stage transformed into a neon wonderland, inviting play and drawing in lovers of EDM, electric-pop music and everything in between. From beginning to day’s end, Funk Safari delivered a limitless array of colors and textured sounds.
A group of four roommates, Cal Poly students and first-time Shabangers had been dancing at Funk Safari for an hour or so, walking away with a spring in their step and a desire to explore the rest of the grounds. “You have to go to Shabang at least once,” they say. “This is the best. I love seeing people’s creativity. It’s so fun to see how this just brings everyone together as a community to listen to some music and have fun. And I got to go with my roommates!”
Cal Poly sociology student and musician, Henry Greber, spent his third year volunteering as a part of the festival’s sustainability crew earlier that same day.
“It’s a great opportunity to help out and give back to the festival, give back to the SLO community,” he said, speaking loudly over the house music pumping from the Funk Safari stage.
Jackie Hollander and Polo & Pan commanded day one, electrifying the crowd and setting the tone from the beginning.
Amongst the sea of festival-goers was Margo Mason, a San Luis Obispo local of 27 years and Shabang attendee for three, leaving Polo & Pan’s performance wrapped in a rainbow, light-up cape. As a longtime fan of the EDM genre, music appreciation runs through Margo similar to how it would in any young soul.
“It’s a beautiful community filled with love. Obviously I’m much older than most of the people here, but the kids are delightful – and that’s just so special,” Margo said.
With day one as a marker for the stage’s tone, day two only cultivated the stage’s electricity further. Hand-in-hand circles spread across the dirt-ridden ground as Jungle Haus launched into their set, creating a ripple effect through the forming crowd. Vibrations echoed from stage to floor, pulling listeners deeper in until it felt like one collective, hypnotic pulse. One rhythm, one frequency, one crowd.
The same vitality bled through into the night’s end. Highly anticipated acts DJ Mandy and Magdalena Bay took the day’s momentum and enhanced it.
Blue-faced individuals with makeup done in the spirit of Magdalena Bay’s “Imaginal Disc” album drew closer to Funk Safari once the time for the pop duo approached.
In an instant, dream-like visuals enveloped the stage and the bodice of vocalist Mica Tenenbaum as she emerged, resembling the appearance of an otherworldly fairy. The opening notes of “Image” rang out, immediately met with applause and drawing the crowd into an instant sing-along.
Though musicians curated the soundtrack of Shabang, volunteers, vendors, and artists contributed to making the entire space of the festival an interactive, community-forward space. Different kinds of focal points were everywhere throughout the grounds: a colorful feast for the eyes.
Jay Blanda, artist and co-founder of The Byte Project art collective, was responsible for a number of large, uplifted and furry robot installations at this year’s Shabang. They were designed in 2018, inspired by the Burning Man theme iRobot.
“The bigger one is Chip, the smaller one is Tera. They are the first truly sentient, self-aware robots to be freed from robot slavery. And they’re here to party,” he said.
Apart from their San Luis Obispo appearance, there are a whole bunch more, just like Chip and Tera, all over Miami Beach, Florida.
The installations were a hit with attendees, who hung out on top of the fur or in the hammocks underneath throughout the weekend.
Blanda described the energy at Shabang as both spirited and inspiring.
“I see a lot of young people doing it right. And that, you know, as an old man,” he laughs, “it’s really great to see. It makes you feel good about the future.”
Another exciting interactive space for the community was wedged inbetween the Cuesta Ridge and Laguna Lake stages. Playground PGX was back at Shabang for a second year, this year with a slogan and on a mission to “let the kids play.” The collective, in partnership with Liquitex paints, invited any and all to unleash their inner creativity by stepping up to paint on their stretching canvas walls.
Cole Ficklin, Playground PGX team member and projection artist, helped elevate the experience even further and extend the excitement of bright, participatory art into the dusk and darkness.
“We have our mural that we’ve been painting on all day, and then on top of that, we have these projectors that we mounted to project the mural on top of itself. It’s a feedback loop where people can paint with light,” he said.
“There’s a kind of bluntness to just putting an object and paint out with no barrier to entry,” added Tom Neill, the project’s paint-covered co-founder. “We’re trying to encourage people to create in an environment that they might not be used to.”
On the note of community, creativity and support, vendors and local businesses included the likes of Tribe Coffee Culture, Paso Robles Wine Month and SLO Pressed. All of these spots drew in festival-goers looking for a pick-me-up, providing them with whatever kind of “go-go juice” that they needed.
Marisa Roska and Simone Rubio, working in the wine industry as marketing and PR specialists, were located outside of the Vinyl Vineyards wine trailer.
“We’re here highlighting Paso and showcasing our region,” Rubio said. “Paso Robles Wine Month is about getting the younger generations to start drinking wine again, and figure out what they like.”
For the organization, this month of May is for uplifting all of Paso’s local wineries, promoting a community of wine aficionados across the Central Coast.
“A lot of people have been coming in, hanging out, sipping wine and recouping,” Roska added.
In a corner of the festival by the colorful tents of Funk Safari was Tribe Coffee Culture, located in a prime space to up one’s energy and subtly move to the distant beats. The company was showcasing their solar-powered, non-waste “coffee Jeep” and caffeinating the public.
“It’s about culture, it’s about not trying too hard and it’s about good coffee,” said branding specialist Josh Taylor, reflecting on the collective’s inspiration and mission.
Briana Medvecki of SLO Pressed was vending ginger and turmeric shots, fresh juices, and “hangover cures” throughout the weekend.
“As a first time vendor, we have received so much support from the other more established businesses here. I just appreciate Shabang so much for welcoming us,” she said.
Apart from the plethora of available refreshments, the music was Shabang’s main offering.
Laguna Lake, informally known as “Shabang stage,” was the chill and casual hub of various musical genres during the day.
Hot 45, a San Luis Obispo based R&B band, played the first set of the weekend.
“We’re kind of a newer band, so just trying to get out there and get in on playing festivals,” Hilary Langdon of Hot 45 said. “Super grateful to be a part of it.”
Her husband, Nathan, stands by with their two young daughters. “We had a babysitter, but we actually cancelled to take them with us,” he said. “It’s good exposure, it’s a very safe environment.”
“I think they’re going to be musical kids, too,” Hilary said, smiling at her girls.
The day-to-night transition of the space reenergized attendees and commanded attention. Where the days consisted of sitting in the grass and soaking up the sun, the nights flipped a switch to neon lights, lasers in the sky and pashminas on.
After the sun goes down, Laguna Lake stage becomes home to headliners. On Saturday, The Backseat Lovers are the first of four to play, building prolonged anticipation with intensifying instrumentals that lead into a punctual, surf-rock-esque display.
Looking out on a crowd shrouded in fog tinted by blue and purple stage lights, lead singer Joshua Harmon said, “ever since we started this band, we’ve always wanted to play in SLO.”
Fans go wild – they relish in the cinematic character of the band’s hits, including “Kilby Girl” and “Pool House.”
The second-day headliners brought a different energy to the main stage. NYC-based and effortlessly cool electronic duo Fcukers owned the stage when their time came. The group’s playful, punchy tracks, including many off of their recent album, “Ö,” easily got the crowd moving.
The duo’s set left audience members on a high. With Chris Lake’s set approaching, young and older festivalgoers began inching closer to the main stage, anticipation building with every passing minute.
At each drop, a wave of energy rippled over the crowd, pulling all listeners into the same collective rush. Flashing lights accompanied each beat, only exciting the crowd further and harvesting an electricity that lasted until the end of the set.
When Sunday night reached its dreaded end, attendees trail out of the festival, both rejuvenated from its infectious community energy and exhausted from all of the running around and dancing that was had.
A duo of friends hug on the way out, and one exclaims to the other, “I can’t believe I saw Magdalena Bay!”
A near-full moon obscured partially by clouds lights the way home – it’s a slow comedown. Though Shabang may be temporary, the version of oneself found inside its realm stays long after the music stops and the neon lights are left in the dust.
