IL, Murphysboro - 08.15-17.08 Camping Weekend - UnderGround Sound 4 *REVIEW*

[fizzacyst]

Just got back, man do I feel like shit. This year was absolute chaos IME.
Me and stagnantreaction were the only ones on bikes I think, so if you were in one of the many cars who passed us on Hwy 127, much love.........................................................but you should've given us a lift

Dude, did one of you have long(er) brown hair with a striped shirt?

If so you were directly behind us (in a tan truck) as we were trying to navigate around the hippies just... doing their thing in the middle of the road in the parking area... which sort of looked like a shanty town at that point.

I didn't see anyone else on bikes, so I thought about jumping out (as we weren't exactly moving) and saying hi... but I was fucking spent and half zoned out. def could have given you a lift though (but you didn't get one! nyah nyah!)

 

[*Love*Lite*]

now thats fine if people are fried. its fine if they get naked and do whatever the fuck they do. its fine if people dose the fuck up and "commune with nature". its not so cool when peopel turn into wastoids that require supervision to not hurt themselves. i get sick of babysitting people like that. here and there, ok, thats part of being a community.

sounds like you have it right. I feel that most festivals are turning into places for "wastoids" to hang out and it really does kill the vibe. At Mt. Jam this year I ended up babysitting some girl who wandered into our campsite that had pissed her self and was strung out on PCP or something, she ended up being hauled down the mt. by security/ paramedics at like 5:30am. I find that there are 2 kinds of people who go to festivals 1. nice hippies that are all about community/ love and 2. people who want to abuse drugs and get fucked up. Sometimes you get a mix of the 2 and thats ok but the people who take it too far should stay the fuck home and be irresponsible.

but yeah... sounds like quite the festival shitshow

 

[Patrick Bateman]

re: the guy that "tried to jump off a cliff". thats not the case. the dude was running around near them rambling about being on a beach in europe or something, in his boxers, junk hanging out, obviously way too fucked up. someone was watching saying it was under control. i dont know who that was, but they were a fuckin' retard.

the guy fished out shortly thereafter,... like grand mal, blue face, foaming at the mouth. at that point he was near the cliffs and could have cratered onto the dancefloor like 200ft or whatever it was below. thankfully people moved him, even though i guess that not the brightest idea when having a massive seizure. but it was that or let him fall, or smack his head around on boulders.

he was taken to the paramedics. apparently they wouldn't treat him without knowing his name, and that guy obviously wasn't talking. his "friends" were nowhere to be found. that got sorted, im not sure what all they did. he died later that day. this is 1st hand knowledge BTW... and I sure as SHIT do not want to witness fucking bullshit like that again. it shouldn't have happened. i dont' know if it was him being a retard, his friends being retards, or the 30% of the people fucking peddling like maniacs without knowing fuck all about what they were distributing... or what. in 11 years of constantly going to events, I have never seen shit like that, people that irresponsible, and so on. this is why i quit hitting up raves about 8 years ago and just go to psy parties where there is a real family vibe.

the damn thing was intolerable by saturday. the psy camp was the only decent place to be, and fuck if i didn't have to peel wasted ass tripping all day and night fucked up girls off me constantly. just chilling at our site people would literally fall all the fuck over us. totally fucked up.

now thats fine if people are fried. its fine if they get naked and do whatever the fuck they do. its fine if people dose the fuck up and "commune with nature". its not so cool when peopel turn into wastoids that require supervision to not hurt themselves. i get sick of babysitting people like that. here and there, ok, thats part of being a community.

i wouldn't be surprised if there were a bunch of rapes either. good lord what kind of horny pills where these people on. and i kept running into the most perverted skeevy dudes. i was actually pretty concerned about a lot of the people I met.

AFAIK a second person died. a 3rd massively OD on GHB but i think that turned out ok? then at ~4am sat the cops returned with a warrant, arrested tom foolery, and shut everything down.

posford even watered down his set to fit the rave atmosphere. the most calm live hallucinogen Ive heard. he fuckin' thumped the shit out of it about a quarter of the way through.... but it wasn't what it could have been.

over all... a swing and a miss.

rumor is that was the last underground sound.

and while the venue is very pretty, yes, iit is dangerous as a motherfucker for people lit off their ass. there are so many places where a single step past the treeline would send you rolling down the fucking hill over the cliffs.

as soon as I got in the gates (after the cops hassled the hell out of everyone), and saw what was going on, I knew right away this was not going to end in a positive way. not at all. not that i didn't have a good time before the fucking drama and BS, and I met some super cool people. but that is just no way to run a party.

sounds like my kind of party...death. destruction. rape. loss of innocence. drugs. immorality...

sweet.

 

[feelgoodhit]

Dude, did one of you have long(er) brown hair with a striped shirt?

yeah fizz, that was stagnantreaction.

 

[fizzacyst]

sounds like you have it right. I feel that most festivals are turning into places for "wastoids" to hang out and it really does kill the vibe. At Mt. Jam this year I ended up babysitting some girl who wandered into our campsite that had pissed her self and was strung out on PCP or something, she ended up being hauled down the mt. by security/ paramedics at like 5:30am. I find that there are 2 kinds of people who go to festivals 1. nice hippies that are all about community/ love and 2. people who want to abuse drugs and get fucked up. Sometimes you get a mix of the 2 and thats ok but the people who take it too far should stay the fuck home and be irresponsible.

but yeah... sounds like quite the festival shitshow

You've got it down. If only more people just "got it". I look at festivals especially psy/forest parties as kind of temporary intentional communities of people with a common interest... the music, the atmosphere, the sense of family and connectedness. knowing everything is safe and not having to worry about shit (its fucking party for christs sake!).

Drugs are ingrained into it, yeah. Thats cool though, as long as its kept in check. When the events become about the drugs... and people don't even give a shit about the music (I realize I said most of the music blew at this thing... but I HAD to go see the lone deranger in action again), or the sense of community... and the magical vibe that comes out of all of that... then its just not what it was originally anymore. it just removes everything that makes them worth going to. a death is just unacceptable. people should be watching out for each other and stopping that kind of crap well before it even gets started.

I totally agree about the 2 types that show up. Its hard to find any mixed genre events/non psy stuff around here that hasn't tipped in favor of the wastoid types .

I saw quite a few people barely able to stand that had clearly lost it getting carted off too. not much fun to watch, you know thats going to fuck with their heads pretty bad.

I hippies.

 

[fizzacyst]

yeah fizz, that was stagnantreaction.

damn. i should have hopped out.
I was a bit too tired to accost random people at the time though. and all the drama kinda had me sapped.

 

[ImpossibleDreamer]

So the cops did end up showing back up, huh? Then I'm glad I went ahead and cut out back to my tent when I did. After they showed up the first time hauling people out and then what looked like another unmarked car was just sitting parked down in the cave, I just started getting too bad of a vibe. I still wanted to catch a few more DJs, but not so much that I wanted to be anywhere near the place if the cops came rolling in even more.

And unfortunately I contributed to the wastoids via a friend of mine who came down Saturday for his first rave and decided to eat way too many shrooms, forcing me to babysit and help him walkaround and make sure he didn't keep losing his shoes and grabbing onto random people

Friday night was definitely a better time before people where all fucking ridiculously strung out and too wasted. Sitting having a few beers Saturday afternoon at camp, I got the pleasure of watching the kid oding on GHB be fireman carried out of a tent after the people he was with asked us for water for him, only to find out a while later that the kid apparently didn't know those people because his friends came through a bit later because the kid's wallet had disappeared from his pocket and the EMT needed his ID

I could have brought in an arsenal of weapons in my hiking bag thanks to security being "tired of looking through bags" when I got there Friday, so a round of applause for security securing people's safety

I haven't been out since UGS 2, and kind of remembered why after this weekend. I still had a decent time, but for the money I spent could've probably had a lot more fun. From what one member of security I met was telling me and my group, the cops where trying to get enough shit on Bob to take him to court and get the cave shut down, like they'd hinted at in the news story they did that I mentioned before. After this weekend, I won't be surprised in the slightest if it happens.

 

[feelgoodhit]

awful as it DEFINITELY was, i am glad i went, because i do think it's likely not to happen again, and definitely not via catalytic souls.

besides, simon was good.

 

[fizzacyst]

What was tomfoolery charged with? They came back with a warrant to snag him. I didn't catch the details of that. though people were starting to prepare to bail fearing a full on raid. the ground scores must have been crazy the next day.

drama, drama, drama...

 

[fizzacyst]

...

And unfortunately I contributed to the wastoids via a friend of mine who came down Saturday for his first rave and decided to eat way too many shrooms, forcing me to babysit and help him walkaround and make sure he didn't keep losing his shoes and grabbing onto random people ....

You took care of your friend though, which is how its supposed to be dealt with. So many people were not doing that. You don't dose up a friend, or let them dose heavy and then just wander off alone in a big crowd, certainly not in a place where you can fall off a cliff. I can't imagine what would have happened if one of those guys actually fell and cratered in the middle of the absolutely packed dancefloor, with like a thousand people tripping their asses off. There would have been a mad panic and trampled people I bet. They need railings set up there, in some of the spots at least.

 

[EternalX]

Yeah we were at the door getting our shit packed up when we saw the actual cops show up. It was pretty funny when they were questioning the security guard at the gate.

cop = who is running the party and where are the owners

guard = i think they are passed out at the bottom, havent seen them in hours

cop = how do you get ahold of them?

guard = wait for them to come back up

cop = what are you wearing that badge and uniform for? are you an actual cop? who do you work for and what is your title?

guard = uhhh, im just security, I really have no clue whats going on I am just watching the door.

It was a pretty funny conversation. There was no way in hell the cops could have cleared that place out without help from the national guard or all of illinois police force. From talking to organizers saturday night, last head count was in the 3k range. Over 800 presales, and about 2k at the door last they checked. Defintely the MOST people out of all the previous cave raves and I think that had something to do with the overall party, there were just wayyy too many people there fucked out of their gourd.

I walked right by the guy that flipped out and starting running through the woods screaming about mexico and a beach and some other random shit. His whole group of friends, who were VENDORS who had a tent set up the whole weekend selling hippie shirts and toys, sat there and did nothing for the first 20-30 seconds. I ran through their overhang towards the camper to figure out what was going on and one of the hippies stopped me in my tracks while the rest of his friends sat there and watched. They were real close to the edge and I was afraid the guy was going to go over the cliff.

I think after the word got out about the previous years being drug fests it just got too big for them to handle. they didnt care about security at all, absolutely nothing of ours was searched or even glanced at. There were a few trails from the parking lot that bypassed the front gate so you could really get whatever you wanted into the party if you knew where to go, there was no security or check points set up to stop this. Never saw any security walking around caring about anything going on at all, but I'm sure thats what they are used to doing at the cave. I cant tell you how many people I saw with BACKPACKS full of various drugs, I lost count after the first hour we were there. We could have brought in 500 pounds of plastique and enough weapons to destroy a small country and they wouldnt have batted an eye.

This was our 4th Cave event and will probably be the last, it has definetly lost its touch with how it used to be. The campgrounds are great, the area is nice, but combine that with all the STUPID fucking kids there that dont have a clue in life, its just a recipe for disaster. I think back over 10 years ago when I started partying, and I was never that stupid or immature about the choices I made. Its sad to see kids like that but what can you do.

 

[holva]

I hippies.

I do too, but now the festival scene is breeding a whole new type of 'wastetoid' that I don't feel that the 'rave' scene is necessarily responsible for. It seemed to me that over 60% of the people I met had never been to a rave, with the most being from the Schwagstock / Summer Camp / Hookaville scene (UFOs alone don't make someone a party kid). Aside from that I met plenty of drainbow thug types that seemed to have been dragged out of A-Camp for good work. There were a lot of younger hippies trying to start fights near the vendors, claiming that "everything goes on lot". And its not like you don't see this at hippie festivals... you totally do. I feel that the major problem is in the promotion. These events are simply being promoted as a places to get drugs, with their demographic no longer being music lovers but instead drug users and drug dealers. Our friends tried to suggest to campers nearby that they needed to calm down, but instead we just got aggressive responses. If this does happen next year, the only way I will be there will be a firm promise that things will change. This event was a good reminder why I left the midwest... not to say I didn't have a good time - I did - its just that no event is worth someone dying.

 

[~*geNeRaTiOn E*~]

wow, i'm sorry to hear things turned out the way they did. this event sounded like it had great potential to be a great party b/c of the fairly decent lineup. you're going to have the drugged up retards at almost any party you go to but it's up to the even planner(s) and security to make sure ALL necessary precautions are taken to ensure the safety of EVERYONE entering the grounds; it seems as though this was not the case for this particular event and it's sad. i'm glad the majority of you were able to have a decent time despite witnessing an OD () and numerous other irresponsible shenanigans.

multiply that crowd by 10 and you have an L.A. massive. 10x the "wastoids," 10x the irresponsibility and stupidity. all of the reasons stated in this thread are pretty much the reasons why i refuse to attend anymore massive raves.

psy parties or bust!

 

[ImpossibleDreamer]

You took care of your friend though, which is how its supposed to be dealt with. So many people were not doing that. You don't dose up a friend, or let them dose heavy and then just wander off alone in a big crowd, certainly not in a place where you can fall off a cliff. I can't imagine what would have happened if one of those guys actually fell and cratered in the middle of the absolutely packed dancefloor, with like a thousand people tripping their asses off. There would have been a mad panic and trampled people I bet. They need railings set up there, in some of the spots at least.

Indeed. It seems like there are too many people running around with "friends" not friends. I wouldn't leave his side until he started getting his head right, because despite the fact that he was the one that decided to eat that much, I love the guy and would've felt responsible if anything would've happened to him. But unfortunately responsibility for yourself and your people and respect for your fellow partiers doesn't seem too much of a prevailing theme anymore at these events, which is unfortunate.

 

[fizzacyst]

I do too, but now the festival scene is breeding a whole new type of 'wastetoid' that I don't feel that the 'rave' scene is necessarily responsible for. It seemed to me that over 60% of the people I met had never been to a rave, with the most being from the Schwagstock / Summer Camp / Hookaville scene (UFOs alone don't make someone a party kid). Aside from that I met plenty of drainbow thug types that seemed to have been dragged out of A-Camp for good work. There were a lot of younger hippies trying to start fights near the vendors, claiming that "everything goes on lot". And its not like you don't see this at hippie festivals... you totally do. I feel that the major problem is in the promotion. These events are simply being promoted as a places to get drugs, with their demographic no longer being music lovers but instead drug users and drug dealers. Our friends tried to suggest to campers nearby that they needed to calm down, but instead we just got aggressive responses. If this does happen next year, the only way I will be there will be a firm promise that things will change. This event was a good reminder why I left the midwest... not to say I didn't have a good time - I did - its just that no event is worth someone dying.

yeah. there were a ton of deadheads and schwag types there that couldn't stand EDM of any sort, and were just dealing. and I don't mean just "doses! doses!" but people were selling ten packs for a few grand left and right. I think that is really sad.

Thats the kind stuff that puts me off of schwagstock, wakarusa, that kind of stuff... the open air bizarre "on lot". Its so indiscriminate. You don't have to make connections and show that you are at least semi-level headed...which sort of regulates the whole thing, you just walk around and basically snatch shit out of the air.

Thankfully our neighbors in all directions were pretty cool/funny. most of the people on that end of that wing of the campground were ok.

Did you see that dude with the transformers voice-changer mask thing? They were camped next to us, and every now and then he'd put it on and beat-box in an optimus prime voice "errrrnt chick errrnt chick boom chick boom boom I-AM-OPTIMUS-PRIME!!". sometimes people would dance to it. funny shit.

 

[Psilo707]

I had a great time, even though I agree with fizza on the general vibe going around at the party. I made the flight from California to Tulsa, then drove to St Louis, before finally heading to Illinois... to see Simon Posford (Shpongle) basically. And the rest of the awesome lineup (imo).

And I feel spending about 1k on the party was totally worth it for me. I camped out with a lot of great people on the top area near the Psytrance, and met a lot of new faces that I will definitely keep in touch with. I think I danced for over 12 hours straight on Friday -> Saturday morning, and there are muscles in my legs which I never knew existed thanks to the "ninja hill" (the alternative method to get up and down from the cave to the 3rd area).


Fizza I was hanging out around the Psy a LOT with my group of peoples, I wonder if you saw me anywhere around there or chilling near the stage. This is me in the psy area here, I look really bad and sweaty cause, well, you understood the conditions . In the daytime the people in my camp were running around using megaphones to offer bag wine to other camps. It was pretty funny stuff. I also know the transformer guy you were talking about.. comedy.


Lots of dirty and smelly people there, but overall I ignored them and had the time of my life. It was the first time ive been to the midwest and I would go again next year as long as the lineup is good.

 

[ImpossibleDreamer]

Lots of dirty and smelly people there, but overall I ignored them and had the time of my life. It was the first time ive been to the midwest and I would go again next year as long as the lineup is good.

Granted there IS a next year

 

[fizzacyst]

...

And I feel spending about 1k on the party was totally worth it for me. I camped out with a lot of great people on the top area near the Psytrance, and met a lot of new faces that I will definitely keep in touch with. I think I danced for over 12 hours straight on Friday -> Saturday morning, and there are muscles in my legs which I never knew existed thanks to the "ninja hill" (the alternative method to get up and down from the cave to the 3rd area).


Fizza I was hanging out around the Psy a LOT with my group of peoples, I wonder if you saw me anywhere around there or chilling near the stage. This is me in the psy area here, I look really bad and sweaty cause, well, you understood the conditions . In the daytime the people in my camp were running around using megaphones to offer bag wine to other camps. It was pretty funny stuff. I also know the transformer guy you were talking about.. comedy.

It was worth it just to check out Hallucinogen to me (though I don't think I would go back, as the situation will probably just escalate)... I'd probably travel anywhere in the country I had the means to, to hear his live sets. Thats up at the top imo, but I'm really taken with the dude's work/style/sound.

That little trail.. or steepass boulder field of death... was pretty hard to get down in the day (especially in sandals). I wouldn't have tried it at night or when not thinking straight. A few people fell down there.

Yeah, I saw you up there. We were camped like 20m down from the psy stage, on the left. So I was pretty much at that stage or at our site most of the time. I wasn't really dancing much on saturday or anything, I was so completely exhausted, slept for a while. I was making a fool of myself all night long on friday though. During the day sat we hid out under a canopy thing we lowered down to hide from the sun, like mole people.

 

[wondci2]

I had a pretty good time I guess. Had to make due with the situation that was at hand. My response for most of the weekend was "NO, I don't want any fucking doses!!!" I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last year for the "Cave" parties. The bass was way too loud during Jackal and Hyde’s set which was a complete turn off. Baby Anne's set was actually pretty decent as well as Tommie’s.

I almost had to de-hammer a chick from putting up her tent at 4am cause she was trying to hammer tent steaks into hard rock ground. Now I’m a person that believes in “PLUR” and most people would tell you I’m not a violent woman, but I actually considered getting up out of my chair and opening a can of whoop ass on this rude piece of shit girl after I had asked her nicely to stop for a bit. *tink tink tink* *tink tink tink* *tink tink tink* *tink tink tink* is all we heard for a very prolonged time. Sasha if you happen to read this....... tell that girl (octipuss..or whatever her fucked up raver name was) never to cross my path! Thanks!

 

[Cecuk]

Can't believe how many people mention being near the psy-stage!
That's is where I spent a majority of my time dancing.
I also got to play on saturday night, around midnight, if anyone was present.

I wear glasses, skulls, and I like it dark. My movements are memories burned into your retinas.

Most of what has been said is fairly accurate. Makes me sad that there were obviously more than a couple of us on the exact same level but it is impossible to make contact in a sea of chaos.

They announced Tom got arrested, but I saw him chatting at the psy stage shortly (Not even an hour) afterwards.
I think this may have been a technique to finally calm the party down.
It worked too, brilliant!

I was actually kind of glad this happened after the fact... all of the rolled out kids had no direction and so went to slept. This left the venue open for all the happy spirits to float about and explore in peace.

Hallucinogen set was awesome...
Loved how at the beginning tons of stiff dancing ravers just standing there confused about what to do.
By the end of it, the crowd had transformed into a smiling sound wave.
Seems most of the ravers went to sleep, and the trancers rejoiced!

Afterwards my friends and I all went up to the point overlooking the stage and listened to Shpongle played live by the man himself.
Gorgeous view hope you all caught it!