If you’ve ever wondered what might have possibly inspired Dr. Seuss’s fictional town Whoville from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, there’s a festival that might as well be from inside of that very snowflake.
Boasting a diverse music lineup — which included headliners Odesza, Daniel Caesar, Gorgon City and Nora En Pure — incomparable geography and a ski hard-play hard mentality, Snowbombing Canada’s annual mountain top installment returned to its icy oasis with about 4,000 attendees just outside the small town of Kamloops, British Columbia on April 5-9.
While a snow-capped retreat in the Spring may seem like an April Fool’s joke, the only games we’re playing here are chairlift ski dating and human sized beer pong. Now that our snow boots and gear are officially dry, let’s shake the snow globe one last time (until next year) and relive our top five highlights from the festival!
Day ragers at Sundance Terrace
Nothing screams bucket list like ascending a mountain on a jaw-dropping chairlift ride and entering a daytime dance party in your finest neon ski suits and snow boots. With DJs like Doors, Mynxy, Smalltown DJs and Mikey Da Roza keeping the funk alive thousands of feet in the air, patrons of all ages put aside their winter equipment and cracked open a beer for the ultimate pregame to hitting the slopes after. (Also, for those returning next year, the best hot chocolate in the world can be found at the restaurant inside.)
Falling down the rave cave aka The Underground
While Snowbombing’s artist roster casts a wide spectrum, there’s no denying the careful curation of the fest’s house and techno arena known as The Underground. Fisher, Felix Da Housecat, Justin Martin, Christian Martin, Nora En Pure, Gorgon City and Billy Kenny were among the stage’s billing, located quite literally underground and felt more like the Grinch’s lair thanks to the dark, seductive beats that could make anybody’s heart grow a size and a half.
It feels like Christmas time, all the time
Gigantic pines buried in multiple feet of white powder and snow-capped rooves of gorgeous cabins and restaurants are accented by towering trees adorned with Christmas lights at night. From endless seasonal beers at Caribou Club to kids sledding their way to breakfast and the nighttime stages getting as weird as your uncle after four scotches on Christmas Eve, the effervescent aura of pure elation and zero stress (except deciding on which ski suit to wear) permeates Snowbombing’s aesthetic and that rare vibe at music festivals is something to be taken seriously.
Daniel Caesar’s tear-jerker set at The Forest Stage
It was difficult to not pull out your phone and FaceTime bae during rising R&B star Daniel Caesar’s sunset performance. Just ahead of his highly-anticipated Coachella debut the following week, Caesar gave fans a live glimpse into the soul of his album Freudian. “Y’all have fun today skiing and shit?” he joked to the crowd just before leading into his set. The crooner’s gentle ballads were warm enough to melt the ice caps and the audience’s heartstrings.
ODESZA’s cinematic mind-melt to close out the festival
Adding to the aforementioned bucket list, festival favorites and Seattle duo ODESZA transformed the event’s main stage (Forest stage) into a religious experience after baptizing the uniform crowd with their movie score anthems and psychedelic LED visuals. If there was ever a festival performance Google images are made of, it would be their close out set that never made us feel a moment apart.