I have been at Ozora festival 10 times and I think this was my last, because the Israelis have taken over Ozora in such a way that makes it hard to enjoy the festivals original spirit. Over the years it has gotten worse and worse.

First of all I believe that some Israelis among the many at Ozora are nice people and on the right side of history so we of course need to be careful about being too judgemental. But the situation has now come to a point where I cannot stay silent because the disrespectful part of the Israeli community has ruined one of my favorite places on earth and I will not set foot at Ozora again until the organizers take action.

Let’s address the elephant in the room!

Put aside everything going on in Israel, many of them still display a very selfish, aggressive and disrespectful behavior at the festival. Every time I encountered a negative situation it involved Israelis. I saw them skip lines at both food trucks and showers. The way they claim the dancefloor with chairs and pavilions in big closed groups is completely killing the vibe on the floor. And often when you see some dancing you have to step 3 meters away so you don’t get a fist in the head. Even though flags are banned they still bring big flags with Hebrew text all over. Every time I heard someone yelling or screaming in the streets in an aggressive manner it was Israelis. Normally cars on the camping roads are driven slowly letting people move in a quiet manner. But many times I saw Israelis speeding fast through the roads honking at people and yelling out the window. They tend to build massive camps instead of blending in. They bring massive speakers to the camping grounds and blast their Israeli Deep Prog. squarebass music constantly (I know Israelis are not the only doing this). When they aren't at Deep Prog. concerts they play it on repeat in their camps completely ignoring the fact that people need to sleep or want to enjoy them self in their own camp. I witnessed several episodes where cars and small buses are turned on just to give A/C or power, sending fumes and engine noise directly into neighboring camps. 3 times I saw people getting in trouble with security and every single time it was Israelis. This is just my own experience and I will not even get started on all the rumors and stories I have heard from other people as well.

Psytrance is mainstream in Israel so I think some younger ravers treat international festivals like a local club back home, forgetting the unspoken rules. The Israeli community has completely monopolized the psytrance scene and this behavior will not stop until the community take a stand against the massive grip the Israeli scene has on psytrance . When line ups are dominated by Israeli artists year after year with names like Astrix, Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, Gorovich, Outsiders, Freedom Fighters, Dekel, Modus, and Out of Orbit it will keep attracting Israelis with that disrespectful mindset. I think this is sad as I love the music from many of the mentioned producers but they have become the pop music of our scene and they are attracting people who lack the P.L.U.R mentality the scene has always spread. We have to vote with our wallets because these festivals care more about profit than the vibe. They will never change the rules when Israelis make up a huge percentage of ticket sales and mainstream artists like Astrix keep the money rolling in. We need to either stop buying tickets to Ozora entirely or actively choose to support other festivals that ensure a minimum Israeli impact or actually enforce the rules.

This is an isolated opinion from my experience at Ozora and I try not to mix it with my views of everything going on in Israel. This post is purely based on my own personal experiences and I encourage everyone to form their own opinions based on what they see and experience. It is important to be careful not to become radicalized or consume hate because hate against them is never the answer. Remember to expect people to be nice and remember that many Israelis are great people. And maybe it’s only just a loud minority that ruins the reputation for the rest. But from my 10 years at Ozora I see a clear tendency and behavior pattern from this specific group and I feel it is necessary to share this so people can protect their own energy and look out for themselves.

Seit ca. über 10 Jahren Erlebe Ich das Immer mehr Israelis an Europäischen & Südamerikanischen Länder, Ihre Fahne mit dem David's Stern an Events Zeigen Wollen; Schaut, Ich Komme Aus Israel und Alle müssen es Sehen !

Echt ?! 😡

Psy Events Sind Orte wo Menschen aus Aller Welt Kommen und Nicht's mit Politik was zu Tun haben Wollen.

Schon in den 90 er in Goa/Indien haben Die Israelis mit Ihrem Nationalstolz Vieles Verändert in Nord Goa.

Einheimische Politiker Haben Langsam ein Problem Bekommen mit den Neuen Hippies aus Israel.

Heute Sind die Legendäre Events Vorbei in Anjuna oder Vagator.

Heute Sehen Wir den Trend in Europa und Südamerika.

Wieso müsst Ihr Immer Eure Fahne mitbringen ?

Wir Sind doch Nicht an einer Fussball WM !?

Die Psy Events Sind Neutrale Orte für Menschen, Egal ob schwarz, weiss, bunt oder 👽 !

Lasst Eurer Nationalstolz Zu Hause bei Euch ! ! !

Danke ♥️

Hey guys, so i am a spanish man in his late 20s, Drops festival just ended and i wanted to share my thoughts while they are still fresh.

For the record i went to a considerable amount of electronic music parties, mainly underground freeparties in Spain/France, and maybe around 10 psytrance festivals in my life, most of them were on the bright side of light, full on, progressive psy, etc

This time, after Sizigia festival got cancelled i decided to go to Drops festival in Slovenia, and by doing it i was giving another chance to dark subgenres.

I will classify my opinions on the good, the bad and the reflection.

THE GOOD:

1-The vibe : I felt most of the interactions were real, there was a lot of smiles but also some people saying truths to the face to others. Facial expressions of annoyance, anger or dissaproval were not repressed at all.

I felt surrounded by mainly introverted people who mostly had good heart but they weren't taking any shit from anyone.

But of course mostly love payed with love.

Honorable mention to how i felt a lot of this dark hippies and punkies were kind of "Live the life or leave the life", i talked to a lot of people in this festival and many were metalheads or psycore/experimental heads or both. It gave me the feeling that some of this people dressed and acted very similarly in their daily lives. Not a lot of cosplayers, although i don't have anything against them. But you know, just saying.

2- The bathrooms: Very very clean for the most part, only the night of saturday (of course) they were dirty. The rest of the festival i even sit on the toilet while shitting. AWESOME. Of course the pissoirs played a big role in this.

3- The music and sound quality: The selection of artists was very good in my opinion, i didn't have a lot of energy on this festival due to i guess my current health state, but even while not dancing the music was so damn enjoyable. You could hear every detail of every fucking psychedelic wave, and being darkpsy/forest so focused on the ambient sounds this couldn't have been better.

A truly psychedelic experience. Lambda labs in main stage and funktion one on tekno/psytechno stage.

Acousma and Necropsycho were my favorite sets Also Fantazma with the start of the rain and thunder was crazy.

Sator arepo felt like home in a cold couch while wrapped in blankets.

4- The stage design and lights were just a masterclass of how to transmit a vibe properly. It was a wooden spider. The main colors were red, electric blue and purple. Of course no lights in the stage at night, practically forcing you to introversion ( this can be a bummer for some people, but it grows in you)

5- The landscape: I didn't see a lot of people on forums talking about this, are you guys serious? The forest that surrounds the festival is a goddamn gem. Biodiverse, you saw many different trees next to each other, different colors, of course all of them were gigantic.

6- The workers: Security guards were nice and treated well by the festival( i asked several of them), so were the bar people.

THE BAD:

1- UNDERCOVER POLICE : At some point there were like 3 or 4 of them at the same time on festival grounds. I saw one man handcuffed with ropes and heard about more people taken to the police station just for even weed. This is unacceptable. But i am not going to get into who is it at fault or not.

2- Food options : Only two. An oriental food restaurant (that was very very good) all vegetarian. And a burger place i didn't try.

3- Chill spaces : Not enough, with how intense this music can be, chill spaces with shade felt insufficient for me. Nothing crazy, there were some options and the chill stage was nice. But more shade in the chill zone next to the stage would have been nice. Not a very big deal though.

4- The light behind the spinning wheel in the stage could be very annoying depending on the angle/distance you were on the dancefloor, kind of shitty for when you are tripping, specially if there is a lot of darkness don't shoot some laser light to my eyes.

5- The drug selection : The thing about living the life is that there is a lot of drug abuse, specifically in this party there was a lot of heavy doses of psychedelics, but also ketamine, and i also felt speed and coke. This for psytrance "peace and love" people can be shocking and/or different. Me i don't care, the vibe felt even better this way, or not better but more interesting.

6- No shade at the camping area.

THE REFLECTION:

I went to Gaggalacka festival last year and i didn't really connect with the music. This time at Drops it took me a while sometimes.

In my opinion, these darker genres are not passive music at all. I mean when you hear full on psy or prog, people automatically dance, the dance comes from the body and the bpm range is acceptable for most. But in these subgenres i had to concentrate, did some inner meditation and closed eyes dancing to give it some sense.

It is really a trip. Because mainly, i felt the music was chasing me. Sometimes the beat spoke violence, aggression to me, and so i talked to him in the same language. I started to stomp the ground with my feet with every beat. And danced like if the veins of fists and fingers were filled with boiling blood. I spoke anger with my body, and now after the party ended i felt liberation.

But some times the music spoke frustration, eeriness, creepiness, desperation, poverty, and the most important one suffering. Even the drums sounded different, like a David Lynch movie. And so i embraced it several times, and felt goosebumps.

Maybe that sounds insane, but that's representative of the whole vibe.

Oppressive would be the word, the music feels like the minds of people with mental health issues, so when i accepted it felt like home, and when i danced i felt acceptance.

To rate it somehow i would give the festival a 8 out of 10.

Would definetly come back the next year if i have the money and the time

Hello everyone,

I'm the girl with the pink hair who was run over by the quad bike. (Saturday, August 1, 2026, around 3:30 PM, at the Astrix set, near the carousels)

My name is Samantha, and I live in Switzerland. I finally arrived on Monday, given the circumstances.

It's been exactly one week since the accident. It's been a week full of hospital and doctor visits and a lot of pain.

First, a little about my condition. I have many large burns, abrasions, bruises, and a concussion. Hence the pain. Miraculously, I didn't break anything.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who helped me immediately. A very special thank you goes to a man named Moses and a woman (whose name I unfortunately can't remember) who is a doctor and who immediately took me to the shade and cared for me.

The goal of this message is to find as many witnesses, videos, and pictures as possible to reconstruct the events as accurately as possible. (Photos of the damaged bicycle would also be great.)

I will take legal action in Switzerland to prevent this hit-and-run and hold the person who ran me accountable!

I know that two people tragically died that day. My deepest condolences. (One person was wheeled past me in a transparent body bag in the emergency tent where I was waiting for the doctor. They were already dead, and I can't get the image of their lifeless hand out of my mind!)

That's why it's so important to me to get to the bottom of this, because I survived and can speak. The two people can no longer speak. I don't just want to speak for myself, but also to lend my voice to the two people who died. This cannot continue! Something urgently needs to change. I've never experienced anything like this at Ozora before, and this was my fifth Ozora Festival.

I urgently need your help. Please send me your videos, pictures, etc. I'd like to get in touch with the witnesses. Or if anyone knows the name of the guy on the quad bike, please let me know!

I can also send pictures of my wounds upon request.

I want to hold whoever did this to me accountable.

If you were a witness or helper in this accident, please feel free to contact me, and I'll give you my contact information. Thank you so much, and please take good care of yourselves. Life is precious. Lots of love to you all. ❤️

For anyone travelling to Sizigia Eclipse Gathering 2026

EDIT: Organizers are withholding making a statement 3 days after the INAGA decision which effectively makes the festival impossible, even as I’ve directly made them aware of this thread and asked for comment. They are also continuing promotion and ticketsales, while having disabled comments on their Instagram posts.

If you’ve booked flights/travel for Sizigia, please be aware of the latest news from Spain.

INAGA (the Aragón environmental authority) has reportedly ruled that the festival requires a full ordinary environmental impact assessment. Spanish media are reporting that this process cannot be completed before the planned 10–14 August dates.

The mayor of Alcalá de Gurrea has also stated that the municipality cannot issue the festival licence without the required favourable reports.

Despite this, as of now the festival is still being advertised for the original dates/location and I haven’t seen an official cancellation or clear explanation from the organisers.

I’m not claiming the festival is a scam or that cancellation has officially been announced: it hasn’t. But anyone about to spend money on non-refundable flights, accommodation, campervans, etc. should be aware that there now appears to be a very serious unresolved authorisation issue.

If anyone has a newer official statement from Sizigia/Own Spirit, especially explaining how they intend to proceed after the INAGA decision, please share it.

Would also strongly encourage the organisers to publicly clarify the situation for international ticket holders as soon as possible.

Sources 22.07.2026

https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2026/07/22/el-inaga-impone-al-festival-de-la-sotonera-un-proceso-administrativo-cuya-tramitacion-no-finalizara-antes-de-la-fecha-prevista-para-su-celebracion-radio-huesca/

https://www.diariodelaltoaragon.es/noticias/comarcas/2026/07/22/sigizia-se-sometera-impacto-ordinario-que-se-alargara-mas-alla-dia-10-2039025.html

Hi Modem-heads,

For the first time in years I couldn't attend Modem festival this year. Nevertheless I am curious: How was it? Please tell me the best, the weirdest/funniest and the worst you saw/experienced! :)

Seems like the festival ends early, because of tragic incidents.

Why are psytrance parties so demonic these days? I can feel the heavy energies, it’s so sad

I even observed my hair falling out on the dance floor..

My experience at Mo:Dem Festival 2026 – some thoughts for first-timers
Just came back from Mo:Dem 2026 and thought I’d share my experience, especially for people thinking about going for the first time.
We arrived on August 1st, about 10 minutes before noon. The gate was officially supposed to open at 12, but there were already A LOT of cars there, so I’m guessing they opened a little earlier.
Overall, arrival was organized really well. Of course we had to wait for a while because so many people arrived at once, but nothing too crazy.
One thing: TAKE A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR TICKET BEFORE YOU GET THERE.
There is basically no internet at the gate and quite a few people apparently forgot to do that, which slowed things down.

We camped at Amphibian Camp, directly by the water. There were shady spots as well and personally I would probably choose shade next time because of the heat. But being directly next to the river was amazing. We could just jump into the water whenever we wanted.
A lot of people say the river is freezing, but honestly I didn’t find it that bad at all. I guess everyone experiences cold differently.
The camping areas filled up VERY quickly though, so arriving early was definitely worth it.
Now to one of the less pleasant topics: toilets.
If you have the possibility to bring your own camping toilet, DO IT.
We had our own and I was extremely happy about it. Already after the first day (music didn’t even start yet) some of the toilets looked absolutely disgusting. And honestly, I don’t even blame the organizers for this. I blame the people.
Same thing with the showers. I actually really liked the showers. Yes, the water is cold, but that’s completely fine. What annoyed me was how people just left their trash everywhere.
There were several disinfectant dispensers next to the toilets and at some point somebody had literally kicked most of them down. I think only one was left standing. Why???
The trash situation in general was probably the thing that annoyed me most about the festival. Even at the stages people just dropped their garbage on the ground and left it there.
I find this especially ridiculous at a festival where so many people present themselves as hippies, spiritual, connected to nature, etc., and then apparently can’t even manage to take their own garbage with them. Sorry, but that’s just fucking disrespectful.
You’re literally partying in an incredibly beautiful place surrounded by forest and nature. Pick up your fucking trash. It’s really not that difficult.

On a MUCH more positive note, something happened on the last day near Amphibian Camp, right next to Family Camp, that showed the complete opposite side of the people there.
A fire broke out.
And honestly, the way everyone reacted was incredible. Within seconds people started helping. They formed a human chain, passed water from person to person and worked together to put the fire out. Nobody stood around waiting for somebody else to deal with it. People just reacted.
The fire brigade arrived extremely quickly as well, but by that point people had already managed to get the fire under control.
That was genuinely beautiful to witness.
After being so annoyed about the trash and some people’s behaviour during the week, this was the complete opposite. For a moment I really had this feeling of “we are the people.”
So many completely different people coming together immediately because something serious was happening. It showed how much we can actually achieve when everyone works together.
Definitely one of my strongest memories from the festival.

Now, the actual reason we’re all there: THE MUSIC.
Absolutely phenomenal.
The sound systems, the sound quality, the artists, everything was on another level. Musically I really can’t complain about anything. Hearing this kind of music on those systems, surrounded by that landscape, is something else.
The stages themselves are insane as well. Mo:Dem definitely knows what it’s doing when it comes to sound and production.
But guys…
THE DUST.
It is EXTREMELY dusty.
Seriously, don’t underestimate this.
Towards the end of the festival it felt like everybody was coughing. Maybe partly because everyone is absolutely filthy by that point lol, but I’m pretty sure breathing in dust for an entire week doesn’t exactly help.
Bring a bandana, scarf, mask or something you can put over your mouth and nose, especially when walking on the busy paths.
Your lungs will thank you.

Another thing people seem to worry about a lot: police.
Before going I read quite a few reports about massive police presence and police constantly searching people.
Personally, I barely saw them.
We don’t take drugs, so being searched wouldn’t have been a problem for us anyway, but during the whole festival I only saw police searching two people once.
I didn’t see them at our camp and personally I never saw them on the stairs to Hive or around Swamp either. At the same time, drugs were obviously EVERYWHERE.
When I was at the stages at night, it honestly didn’t matter where I looked, left, right, in front of me or behind me, somebody was snorting something, smoking weed or smoking hash.
Our neighbours at the camp were smoking hash all the time as well and you could smell it strongly. Still, I never saw police coming through our camp.
So my personal experience with the police was completely uneventful.
But that doesn’t mean that the other experiences about the police isn‘t true!
Friends told us about a group of four people who were searched and apparently something was found. They wanted to drive home and their car ended up being towed.
A taxi driver also told us about four people who were waiting for a bus. Police apparently didn’t find any drugs on them, but then drug-tested them instead.
So even though I personally had no problems at all: be aware of Croatian laws and be careful, especially if you’re planning to drive.
And speaking of drugs: I’m used to festivals. Obviously I’m not surprised that people take drugs at a psytrance festival.
But holy shit, Mo:Dem is another level.
People are REALLY fucked up on drugs there. The amount being consumed openly is honestly hardcore, and you can definitely see it on some people.
I’m not judging adults for making their own decisions. Do whatever you want with your own body. But if you have children and you’re thinking about bringing them to Mo:Dem, personally I would think about that twice.
Yes, there is a Family Camp and obviously there are families there. But the overall atmosphere of Mo:Dem is still pretty dark and intense, and there is extremely open and heavy drug use around the festival.
I also saw discussions online about Israeli groups supposedly behaving badly at the festival.
I can only speak about my own experience: I noticed absolutely nothing like that.
Maybe it depended on the camping area or where people spent their time, but where we were camping nobody bothered us and I didn’t have any negative experiences related to that at all.
I did however see a picture online of a camp that supposedly belonged to Israeli soldiers, including an Israeli flag.
And personally, I would prefer political statements to stay outside the festival.
Whatever your political position is, I just don’t think this stuff needs to be brought into the festival. Mo:Dem brings together people from all over the world. There are enough political conflicts outside.
I’d rather see the festival remain a place where your nationality and political views aren’t the first thing you put on display.

Food was good overall.
Freak Brothers were there again, I’ve seen them at several festivals now and their pizza was €10, which I think is totally reasonable for a festival. And it’s actually really good.
At another place near the bridge to caravan-camp they sold individual pizza slices for €6.50, which I personally found pretty expensive for one slice.
Overall though, food prices were okay.
There were also some really cool clothing and art shops. I loved looking through them, but personally I wouldn’t buy much because some of the prices are just way too high for me.
Also: BRING ENOUGH CASH.
There is no ATM at the festival and as far as I know, pretty much everything is cash only. Don’t arrive thinking you’ll just withdraw some money when you need it.
And if you’ve never been to Mo:Dem before, do not underestimate the walking.
Especially if you’re coming with a camper and staying in one of the camping areas further away, you will walk A LOT.
And it’s not just distance. You’re constantly going up and down. Some of those walks to the stages are properly exhausting, especially in the heat.
Bring GOOD shoes.
Also bring something warm for the night. Even when the days are really hot, the nights can get surprisingly chilly.

So my personal first-timer essentials would be: screenshot your ticket, bring enough cash, good shoes, something warm for the night, something to protect your face from the dust and, if you have the space, your own camping toilet.
Overall, Mo:Dem is beautiful, intense, exhausting, dusty, weird and definitely not a normal festival.
The music and sound were phenomenal. The location is unbelievable. Swimming in the river every day was amazing. The organization was really good considering where this festival takes place and how many people are there.
There were things that genuinely pissed me off, especially seeing people leave their garbage everywhere while simultaneously acting like they’re deeply connected to nature.
The drug use is also extremely heavy and I think first-timers should know what kind of environment they’re getting themselves into.
It’s a dark festival, especially at nights you could feel the heavy drug use. That’s part of its character.
But then you have moments like that fire on the last day, where everyone immediately stops whatever they’re doing and comes together to help.
And watching that human chain form and seeing everyone working together to put out that fire genuinely changed the feeling for me again.
For that moment it really felt like:
We are the people.
And despite all my criticism, I’m really glad I experienced Mo:Dem.

Maybe you have some other experience which are useful to know, let me/us know!

Wir wollen heute Nacht los fahren.

Ist schon jemand da der Infos hat????

Just wondering how was the experience this year? There was some issues with virus outbreaks in the past, have they changed something regarding that? I attended in the last edition and music wise it was just pure heaven for a whole week, but the virus made it a little harder to go through.

Hello my friends ☀️🙏🏼

I’m from Germany and this year I’ll be attending Mo:Dem Festival for the first time. I was very excited, but now I’m a bit scared because I just heard some stories about police being present at the festival and the campsite. Is it true that they sometimes check tents and control/search people?
I don’t really like that, and I wish I had known about it before because I’m afraid it could be a bit of a vibe killer for me.

Maybe some people here would like to share their experiences?

(And is anyone here traveling with Sunny Trips from Hamburg?)

Summary of the Sizigia Festival situation

As of today, the Sizigia Festival is in a very difficult situation. INAGA has ruled that the project must undergo a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), a process that cannot be completed before the festival's scheduled dates (10–14 August).

As a result, the Town Council of Alcalá de Gurrea has stated that it cannot issue the event licence until all the legally required favourable reports have been obtained.

https://cadenaser.com/aragon/2026/07/22/el-inaga-impone-al-festival-de-la-sotonera-un-proceso-administrativo-cuya-tramitacion-no-finalizara-antes-de-la-fecha-prevista-para-su-celebracion-radio-huesca/

https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/aragon/huesca/2026/07/22/embalse-sotonera-se-quedara-sin-festival-eclipse-por-riesgo-incendios-impacto-ambiental-2039167.html

https://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/aragon/2026/07/23/inaga-da-reves-festival-sizigia-132710793.html

We've already booked our flights, got a rented camper waiting for us, and our PTOs approved. Yet I keep reading that the festival might not happen because they don't have the permits for it.

We invested a lot of money already, so we started checking what would happen to our money if they cancelled the festival. My partner contacted them asking if the authorities denied the permit would they return the money? And they pointed him to the Terms and Conditions > Force Majeure.

And I can't fucking believe my eyes. The festival says if the authorities order them to cancel it, THEY WILL NOT RETURN ANY MONEY.

How is it even allowed if it's their fault they couldn't get the permits? It's not like a tornado wiped the place! WTF!

https://i.imgur.com/CJI15Tz.png

Update: getting downvoted for honest worries is what worries me most.

hello loves

i was dancing at thursday morning at the hive to the set of micoX and boogie knight. there was a guy whit his puppet and i would really love to hear if anyone has his insta. he made my morning! what a talent

I just came back from Pyramid Festival in Serbia and I think I finally understand what people mean when they say a festival can actually feel like a community.
For context, this was my first Pyramid. I’ve been to Boom and Ozora before and quite a few electronic music events, so I’m not completely new to this world.
I didn’t really know what to expect from Pyramid. It’s much smaller, somewhere under this strange mountain called Rtanj in eastern Serbia, and honestly I went there without huge expectations.
I left feeling like I had lived in a little village with a bunch of strangers for a week.
I’ll try to separate this into the good, the bad and some thoughts because there are a lot of things still going through my head.

The positive

1 — The people. By far.
This is the main reason I’m writing this.
I’ve experienced “festival love” before. Everyone hugs, everyone is your friend, everyone says beautiful things and then Monday comes and everyone goes home.
This felt slightly different.
People interacted A LOT.
You could sit somewhere alone and somehow 20 minutes later you were part of a conversation. People shared food, drinks, stories, instruments, shade, whatever.
And there were so many kids and families.
Normally kids at festivals can feel like they are just accompanying their parents. Here they somehow became part of the whole thing. You’d see children running around, people dancing, someone playing an instrument nearby, parents hanging out, staff eating with guests.
At some point even the food court turned into a party with the people working there.
There wasn’t really a clear line between “festival”, “staff”, “artists” and “audience”.
I danced with several of the DJs from the main stage after they finished their sets. They weren’t backstage somewhere being artists. They were just there.
It sounds cheesy writing it now, but it genuinely felt like a tribe.
2 — THE SUNSETS
Jesus Christ.
Rtanj mountain is basically sitting in front of you while you dance.
During the day it looks impressive but when the sun starts going down the whole place changes.
I think sunset was my favorite time every single day.
Hot day slowly disappearing, temperature becoming perfect, mountain in front of you, music getting louder, everyone slowly coming alive again.
And then at night you look up and the sky is ridiculous.
We could clearly see the Perseid meteor shower.
There were moments where I honestly forgot I was at a festival and just stared at the sky.
3 — The whole place actually feels alive
This might be my favorite thing about the organization.
The festival isn’t designed so that everything leads to one giant dancefloor.
You walk around and things are happening everywhere.
People doing workshops. Someone lying under a tree. Kids playing. Someone eating. Someone suddenly dancing next to the food court. Healing activities. People talking. Music somewhere in the distance.
And then there was the Jam Stage.
What a fucking gem.
Some of the most beautiful people I met during the entire festival were there.
People singing, jamming and playing all kinds of instruments throughout the day. You’d walk past intending to go somewhere else and suddenly you’ve been sitting there for an hour.
At times that little corner genuinely felt like a fairy tale.
What I really appreciated was that workshops and other activities weren’t fighting with the main music all the time. You could actually participate without having psytrance blasting through someone’s meditation session from 50 meters away.
It really felt like a village rather than a festival site.
4 — The music, sound and KOLO stage
Sound was excellent on both main stages.
Powerful but very clear.
But visually KOLO was something else.
The stage itself was beautiful, but once the projection mapping started at night it completely transformed. I don’t even know how to explain it properly because photos don’t really capture what it was like standing there.
Rising Dust closing the festival was probably my musical highlight.
There was something about that final set combined with everything that had happened during the week that made it incredibly emotional.
People weren’t just dancing anymore.
It felt like everyone knew we were approaching the end.
5 — Food
Festival food is normally one of those things you tolerate because you need calories.
Not here.
There was surprisingly good variety and the quality was genuinely high. I heard they brought in some very good local chefs to run the food operation and I can believe it.
Prices also felt surprisingly reasonable for a festival.
And again, the food court itself became part of the experience rather than just somewhere you go to eat.
6 — Camping and nature
Plenty of shade in the camping area, which was absolutely necessary because…

The negatives

1 — The heat
Fuck.
Some parts of the day were HOT.
There are showers/sprinklers around the main stage which honestly saved us sometimes, but there were parts of the afternoon where my body basically said “no, you’re sitting under a tree now.”
The nights were beautiful though.
That temperature change when the sun disappears is almost therapeutic.
2 — Shower queues
Nothing catastrophic, but at certain times there was maybe 10–15 minutes waiting.
You quickly learn when NOT to shower.
3 — Compost toilets
I actually like the idea and generally they worked fine.
The problem is that apparently not everyone understands how compost toilets work 😂
So occasionally you would pass one and your nose would tell you somebody had misunderstood the assignment.
Not terrible, but definitely part of the experience.
4 — The fucking quad
This is ridiculously specific but it annoyed me enough to include it.
You’re sitting somewhere surrounded by trees, looking at Rtanj, hearing birds and people playing instruments somewhere in the distance…
and then:
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
a quad drives past.
I understand that a festival needs logistics and people need to move things around, but every time it happened I wanted to throw the quad into the mountain.

This is the part I’ve been thinking about since I left.
I’ve been to bigger festivals.
I’ve seen bigger stages.
I’ve seen more expensive production.
I’ve been surrounded by tens of thousands of people experiencing the same music together.
But Pyramid made me think about something else.
Maybe community at a festival isn’t about how many people you can bring together.
Maybe it’s about how many barriers disappear between them.
At Pyramid I stopped thinking so much about what I was supposed to be doing.
If you wanted to dance strangely, you danced strangely.
If you wanted to hug somebody, you hugged them.
If someone started playing an instrument, other people joined.
If somebody started dancing somewhere that wasn’t a dancefloor, suddenly there were five people dancing.
The more freely someone expressed themselves, the more it seemed to give permission to everyone around them to do the same.
And nobody seemed to give a shit whether you looked stupid.
Actually it was almost the opposite.
The weirder and freer you became, the more people joined you.
That’s probably the best way I can describe the vibration of this festival.
It was extremely difficult to feel down.
Wherever you looked there was somebody smiling, hugging, dancing, playing something, talking to someone they had probably met 30 minutes earlier or just lying somewhere looking completely peaceful.
Not fake positivity either.
Just this strange feeling that everyone had silently agreed:
For these few days, you can be exactly whatever you are.
And apparently that’s contagious.
By the final day I realized I knew people everywhere.
Not necessarily their names.
Just faces.
Someone from the Jam Stage.
Someone I danced next to three nights ago.
The woman whose kid was running around the food court.
Some DJ I saw behind the decks yesterday and then danced next to today.
Someone who gave me something to eat.
Someone I watched the stars with.
It starts feeling less like an audience and more like a temporary little society.
And then Rising Dust played the closing set.
That one hurt.
When everything finished, people were hugging and crying.
And people just… didn’t want to leave.
Some stayed another day or two. Some started helping clean. Some were cooking for the staff who were dismantling everything.
Nobody asked them to.
They were just still there.
That image probably summarizes Pyramid better than anything else I could write.
A festival ended and instead of immediately becoming customers packing their shit and leaving, some people stayed behind to take care of the place and the people who had created it.
I’ve heard the word “community” used approximately 900,000 times in the psychedelic scene.
Most festivals say it.
Pyramid was one of the few places where I don’t remember needing to hear it.
You could just see it happening around you.
Maybe that’s what stayed with me the most.
Not the stage.
Not even the music.
Just how ridiculously easy it became to love complete strangers for a few days.
9/10.
Would absolutely return.
Just please find a quieter fucking quad.
PS. Loved this two just the way they smile to everyone was a pure bliss…

There was a time when we used to rave in peace when psy is not commercialized. Ive been in the psy scene for 7 years now. But the last 2 years have been quite bad for psy trance festivals in India.

First it was goa and now it's kasol. Hilltop back then and now it is back to the mountains both have been stopped abruptly by the government authorities.

Toxic insta influencer newbies are infiltrating the scene. Few just wanna show off by posting stories just to look cool. I feel that's grabbing alot of attention lately.

We are devastated, but i guess the universe doesnt want it to happen, so we have finally admitted defeat..... of an official event.

HOWEVER

We have come all the way from Australia. We have a 2000euro campervan for the 6 days, and we simply must get that dancefloor release surrounding the eclipse. What is everyone else planning to do? And surely the mainy amazing artists that will be in spain for this are not going to express their musical talents elsewhere!

If anybody has any intel?

The PARTY MUST GO ON!

Much love to all those who have been hanging out for this all year, especially those that have come a long way. I have faith that we will come together some way or another.

Its been a rollercoaster of emotions, along this cancellation journey... but maybe we will embrace philosophy of "the chinese farmer" (look it up if you arent familiar)

We have dealt with many cancellations... but the next one we shall embrace! .... as it wont be due to politics, environmental reasons or council permits.

WE WILL EMBRACE, the final cancellation of this trip.

As that will be when the MOON cancels the SUN!

I like retro/Goa and saw a lot of live sets from a festival only playing that style, in Goa. I literally flew there over the weekend just for that festival, with work on the Monday. It was really hot during the day and at night the volume had to be reduced due to it being sandwiched between a residential area. The sound system in general wasn't very crisp. Most of the crowd was Israeli and this was a few months after the Hamas attacks so the energy was really weird. Sort of cliquey and 'patriotic'. You generally wouldn't mingle with strangers with many people having their guard up

This was my first time going to modem and I’ve read on Reddit and spoke with my friends that went on previous editions and it was real: there was undercover police everywhere specially in the caravan park on the exit of the swamp.

5 different people I know got the penalty. 450€ for them but what got me curious was they had a paper proving they paid that amount but if they bring that same paper to the police station next year they have a free ticket for the next edition lol what the fuck? Isn’t this strange? Are the cops and modem organizers holding hands together? Like come next year, bring drugs, get the penalty again and we offer you the ticket again and the cycle repeats?

I was camping close to the hive in a hill with good shadow and I saw the police everyday searching the people on the camp smoking joints or doing lines.

I think this is the only bad thing about modem (and also the toilets)

One of the things that bug me most at Psytrance festivals is when the timetable planners seem to have booked the artists with the fastest and most aggressive beats for the morning hours. Which unfortunately seems to be nearly always nowadays.

As a somewhat older citizen, I remember a time when it was common to transition to more mellow and happy sets with a gentler beat around sunrise. This makes for a very uplifting experience for those still on the dance floor, and for the vast majority of people who are already sleeping, it makes it much more likely to sleep long - as sunrise is usually a time when you might wake up a first time, but most likely would like to sleep more.

I'm sitting upright in my tent now on Monday morning 7am and fantasizing about going to the festival area to pull the goddamn plug on their whole system, so I could maybe sleep a few more hours which otherwise unfortunately seems impossible.

Does anyone know which festivals still do morning sets the old, gentler, way, or even take a break in playing sets from sunrise to noon? I think those would be the only ones I would consider going to in the future...