CAMP FLOG GNAW (RECAP) - Part (001)

My trip to LA started with a 22 hour day (starting at 2:30 am) working with Flying Lotus @ LAC3 (great show btw) prior to my first day at Camp Flog Gnaw. After rolling out of bed the next day, Ubered to the festival grounds to pick up my media passes for the festival.

Full transparency, I have never attended such a high-profile event and to be asked out to the festival was a privilege. After waiting at the front gates, I headed in to start my day - where I was greeted with the massive festival grounds. 

The grounds took up most of the Dodgers Stadium parking lot, with the mainstage towering stories about the ground. There were three stages titled ‘Camp’ ‘Flog’ and ‘Gnaw.’ Each was home to a different demographic of artists performing in various genres.

The grounds were covered in different pop-up shops, rides, games, food stalls, and so much more. The sheer variety of merch was more than I had ever seen before but isn’t a surprise given Tyler’s ties to fashion. I captured a bunch of photos of the surroundings and guests before I headed backstage + felt the crowds were super warm and welcoming.

I had no planned coverage until 4:00pm to cover Paris Texas so my time was spent conversing with the other media members in attendance. It was cool to be surrounded by such established media and photographers from major local and international outlets. 

Starting off with Paris Texas, the duo came out with a high energy set draped in the backdrops of existential graphics of destroyed city scapes, anthropogenic climate change, riots, and more. This performance was a teaser for the rest of the fantastic performances I was going to see that day.

After hauling ass across the festival lot, I managed to catch the start of Teezo Touchdown’s set. Teezo has been making a lot of waves in the industry with a number of high profile co-signs and a strange visual aesthetic where he puts nails in his hair.

I loved how his microphone was designed with streamers and how he performed with flowers. I briefly caught Ravyn Lenae's set on my way back from this performance and loved her visuals / vibe.

I then ran back for Kevin Abstract’s set where I was greeted with the most freaky f***ing visual. Apparently from info I heard behind the scenes, this mask was causing some people in his audience to have nightmares. Speaking as someone who has experienced sleep paralysis close to 50 times in his life, it didn’t really phase me.   

Kevin came out in a red hoodie screaming on top of his lungs and it eventually brought him to laying on the floor screaming into the mic. It really did feel like an exorcism to me given the uncanny valley nature of the start of the performance. I caught the first 20 mins or so of the set before heading off to badbadnotgood across the festival.

badbadnotgood played a full instrumental set incorporating psychedelic themes and visuals for a low-key performance. I loved heading to the Gnaw stage this weekend because it showcased a number of indie/alt artists. So many of these artists are up next and put on amazing performacnes. I took a bit of time to decompress in the media area prepping for my three most anticipated shows.

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Part (001) - Click Here

Part (002) - Click Here

Part (003) - Click Here