Dancing Tortuga: Earth Fest July 2012

Music festivals are my happy place.

I love them.

Love the crazy, fantastic people that go to them, the loving energy, and most of all, the copious amounts of rad music.

Over the past year I was lucky enough to see some of my favorites multiple times: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Big Gigantic, and Beirut, amongst others. I went to as many festivals as I could, because, well, I knew it wouldn't be the same when I moved abroad again.

... and its not.

Don't get me wrong there are some great local artists in Taipei, but after living in Chicago and traveling all over the good ole US of A; I have become very spoiled by such an abundant amount of quality music.

As far as I know after three months here, there are a few big festivals that happen once a year. The biggest one being Spring Scream, in Kenting (southern Taiwan). There are also smaller festivals with a few stages and DJs put on throughout the year. One of which being Earth Fest.

So, I went with some amazing friends and had a wonderful time frolicking through the forest and dancing under the stars. That was by far the best part. The worst part: the music. Terrible trance music polluting the beautiful mountain air with repetitive noise that rung throughout the night and into the next day.

Rather than blaming it on being a quarter centurion, I choose to believe that I have developed a more refined ear. I also think that festivals in Taiwan need to be by water, because it is EVERYWHERE, its BEAUTIFUL, and the weather is HOT. The location should have been close to a river, lake, waterfall, stream, or beach.

I also attended the Ho-Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival in Fulong. The music was Taiwanese Rock, which I am not that into, but it a was enjoyable because it was on the beach. You could float around in the sparkling water, taking in sun while listening to Taiwanese rock bands kill it in their own right.

As I said, there are some really wonderful local artists here. It could be fun to set up a music festival on the island close to water with descent music.

Below are the pictures from the journey to the Jurassic Park-like mountain fest and a few pictures from my last year traveling around the US.