Heard It Here First

One of the first camping festivals I attended was Yonderville Festival last year in 2021. Their small-scaled The Great Big Campout was an incredibly intimate weekend, featuring the hottest names in bass music and champions of the northeast and DMV bass scenes. The weekend was extraordinary, and it proved that the festival was ready to get back to speed.

I was really excited to return to Yonderville for the second year in a row. As soon as I stepped foot on the grounds, I felt like I was home. Although there is always room for improvement, to say I was impressed with the upgrades for 2022 would be an understatement. The weekend absolutely exceeded my expectations.

Lineup

Before I go any further, I must talk about the lineup. The curation that Yonderville Festival provided this year was a pretty a significant upgrade from previous years. This was proven with the main headliner, Liquid Stranger, who closed out the mainstage in style and unleashed a plethora of energy. Other prominent names, such as Lab Group, Of The Trees, and Truth, provided huge sets that got the crowd moving as well. Down the lineup was a perfect combination of powerhouse producers. Heavy hitters such as Abelation, Black Carl!, Templo, Tiedye Ky, and more graced the stages all weekend long.

Onwards is a collection of bubbling talent that packed the undercard. Yonderville always focused on bringing in rising talent not only from around the country, but also specifically talent from the northeast and DMV. While we saw movers and shakers such as Chmura, Josh Teed, Honeycomb, and more, we also saw some incredible bubbling talent from the area, such as JamL, Inspect3r, Mantra Sounds, Sharrol Kelby, and Tunic, just to name a few. In addition, takeovers and showcases came from collectives such as The Rust, Aspire Higher, The Gradient Perspective, and Dubday. It was the perfect way to put the spotlight on the underground bass community we love to support so much here at HIHF.

A Site to Behold

Yonderville Festival returned to Marvin’s Mountaintop for yet another epic weekend. The mountain looked just as beautiful as it was a year ago, but this year, the space was utilized to the fullest degree. As soon as you drove onto the grounds, you could see the upgrades in a sizeable fashion immediately.

The Monolith stage was much bigger than in previous years. The stage design featured a five-panel LED wall and the first festival deployment of two Danley BC218 speaker system stacks. The massive shade structure provided attendees with shade during the *incredibly* sunny days. Food and art vendors lined up each side of the stage for festival attendees to eat and shop.

The crowd-favorite Dub Bus was back in action as well this year. This time around, they upgraded from a Hennesey rig to a Danley rig as well. The area was spacious for fans to dance to the beats of the underground. Despite some minor sound bleed from the Monolith Stage, the sound was overall crispy. The stage also hosted sunrise sets from Yheti and Supertask.

However, it was the third stage that impressed me the most. The Temple Stage was hosted by West Virginia-based Appalachian Sound Culture. The team, consisting of Hunter Guire, Nick Schubert, and Caitlyn Fitzgerald, worked hard to make this stage a massive success. The crew went all out with the stage production by teaming up with Northgate Labs, Vibrate Awake, and Subaquatic Productions. The Hennessey rig, provided by Northgate Labs and Vibrate Awake, featured six Battleaxes subwoofers, four Cannon mid basses, and four Mantarray point sources. The LED wall, lights, and stage design were deployed by John Wales of Subaquatic. The overall effort by these teams proved how special the stage really was, with Parrotice, Mythm, Templo, Joe Nice, 5AM, and more flexing at the Temple in true fashion.

A Display of Bass Music

It was a bumpy ride to get to the venue, but the second I parked, it was time to let the music take me around. Day one was a great warmup to the weekend. Immediately, I found myself walking around the campgrounds and checking out the stages. My first set was Tunic, who was busy dropping some dubstep selections on the crowd. The energy he brought forth at the Temple was a real treat, to say the least.

Proceeding that, four hours at the main stage were in session. Black Carl!, Esseks, Wreckno, and Yheti lit up the crowd for the first night of the weekend. These talented big-name producers provided fans with a great variety of bass music for the perfect intro to the festival.

After Yheti, we made our way to the Temple stage for some late-night vibes. With Parrotice rinsing a stellar selection of dubstep and garage, and Templo putting the Hennys to the ultimate test with glitch-hop, the vibrations were felt all over the place… until a thunderstorm unfortunately cut Templo’s set short. After a couple of hours of rest, our group made our way down to Yheti’s beautiful sunrise set, which was the perfect vibe to end the first night of music.

Soon enough, it was time for day two. I drove back to the grounds just in time to catch the second half of Inspect3r. Known for his groovy neuro and breaks music, he also brought forth a selection of garage, experimental, and even techno to the airwaves. The Temple was popping the entire way through his set on the sound system.

Back at the mainstage, my good friends Choppy Oppy and Josh Teed were up next. It was great seeing the homies doing the thing on stage, and both laid out the vibes. Following those two, Jason Leech and 5AM provided instrumental some beats that got the crowd moving during the sun. The night’s headline sets came from Tiedye Ky, kLL sMTH, Of The Trees, and the weekend’s special guests Lab Group. The gorgeous and outstanding sounds of these collective producers stood out to us in true style.

After-hours sets at the Temple stage featured a takeover from The Rust. Sets from Wessanders, Malakai, and Maxfield revived the energy as the halftime vibes were in full effect. However, it was Bricksquash who stole the show (and the entire weekend for me). The boys got to the stage and whipped up the wildest, most electric set I’ve ever witnessed. By the time they were done, I felt like I had no more breath left in me. A couple of hours later, it was the Supertask sunrise set that turned into a b2b with Yheti, which left everyone speechless.

Getting Deep, Dark & Dangerous

The last day of the festival dawned upon us, but it was no normal Sunday: it was Soukii Sunday. Soukii kicked off the Temple stage at noon in STYLE. A selection of drum ‘n bass, garage, dubstep, and more energized the intimate crowd who came to hype him up. I could not think of a more perfect way to start my day than watching a friend crush his set. In between, sets from JamL, Chmura, and Sketchy Pete were just as electric during the sunny day on the mountain.

However, Sunday was also Dubstep day at Yonderville. The Deep, Dark & Dangerous takeover was a surely anticipated part of many people’s weekends. Isded kicked off the mainstage takeover at 5:00pm, followed by banger sets from Cold Cuts and Mesck. When Distinct Motive took the stage, it was game over. Distinct Motive provided some of the finest dubs we have heard all night, with our little group going nuts to his selections. Truth and Liquid Stranger capped off what was a great sounding stage for the entire weekend.

Before I hit the road, I made a stop at the Dub Bus for our The Gradient Perspective takeover. This featured Choppy Oppy, Sketchy Pete, Mantra Sounds, and TGP friends Ramblur, Prosper., and Shreztah. Seeing the homies shine on stage was one of the highlights of the weekend. This was truly the perfect way to cap this festival off.

The Only Way is Up

Another year, another great experience at Yonderville Festival. The upgrades provided attendees and artists with a weekend they would never forget. The sound systems, stage design, attention to detail, and music were all quite impressive, and it proved that the future of the festival looks incredibly bright.

Big shoutout to Maxwell Stone, Austin Trout, Wade “DiCE MaN” Appleton, and Hunter Guire for curating another successful year. The hard work they put in to make Yonderville 2022 special did not go unnoticed. Looking forward to being back on the mountaintop next summer!

Be sure to follow the HIHF team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for additional Yonderville coverage to come, plus fresh tunes, merch giveaways, exclusive mixes and interviews, and so much more!