The woods of the Pocono Mountains got here alive once more in early-August as Components Music & Arts Pageant returned for 4 days of unfiltered artistic weirdness. The impartial tenting competition has steadily grown into one of many East Coast’s most beloved locations for digital dance music followers, proving that its community-first ethos stays on the very core of its success.
For Components co-founder Brett Herman, the journey so far has been something however linear or predictable. “I was within the movie business and form of simply fell into doing occasions out of ardour,” he instructed EDM.com in an unique sit-down interview on the competition’s grounds.
What began as a sequence of underground Brooklyn events in unassuming areas like warehouses, film studios, church buildings, and eating places finally matured right into a waterfront competition on the Gowanus Bay Terminal in 2013. From there, Components migrated to Hunts Level within the Bronx and later to sprawling summer time camps earlier than lastly settling into its present house on the Pocono Raceway in 2022.
That newest transfer, Herman defined, unlocked the dimensions that Components wanted. “We’d truly checked out [the Raceway] in 2016, and it was simply sort of too sprawling and large for the place we have been then,” he stated. “However revisiting it in 2021 and 2022, it appeared good. I want we had began right here, as a result of it’s completely unbelievable.”
The competition’s title, initially supposed as a placeholder, has grow to be its defining artistic framework. Fireplace, Earth, Water, and Air every form the respective stage design and music programming. “It’s a large canvas that our whole artistic and inventive staff can play with,” Herman stated. “What does an Air stage sound like, really feel like, appear like? What’s a Fireplace stage?”
That artistic philosophy carries into the competition’s lineup. Every stage leans into a special sonic world, and Herman resists the concept of a singular “primary stage.” As an alternative, it’s up for debate amongst attendees as to which component feels central to their very own expertise. “In some of us’ eyes, their very own primary stage is what they see and really feel. Which is nice,” he stated.
The 2025 version expanded additional throughout the Raceway grounds, pushing its footprint wider than ever earlier than. The phases have been pure spectacles in themselves: the Water Stage designed as an enormous octopus with lasers firing from its eyes, the Fireplace Stage roaring with pyro and open flames flickering across the DJ decks, the Earth Stage pulsing with glowing, intricate design and lasers, and the Air Stage feeling like a whimsical treehouse suspended within the forest.
Thursday’s pre-party drew its largest crowd but, with over a 3rd of attendees arriving early. B2Bs began the get together throughout the grounds on the Water Stage: Cozy Kev & Drugs Place, OkayJake & STVSH, Eater & Flozone, and Distinct Motive & INFEKT, whereas Wenzday, J. Worra, and Odd Mob introduced the grooves to the Air Stage. Tape B and Levity, members of EDM.com‘s Class of 2024 and 2025, respectively, capped off the evening with a hotly anticipated B2B.
Friday rolled into a wonderfully stacked schedule. Kaskade delivered a crowd-favorite golden-hour “Redux” set that landed completely because the solar dipped behind the Fireplace Stage, whereas Chase & Standing tore up the Earth Stage with an electrical drum & bass showcase. Again at Fireplace, Tape B, Levity and Crankdat every performed solo units earlier than reuniting for a short however long-awaited “Crankity B” reunion. Rezz closed the Fireplace Stage with a shadowy, hypnotic set, whereas over on Earth, ILLENIUM lit up the entire sky with an emotional, firework-filled finale.
Saturday on the Fireplace Stage was a marathon for the books: SOFI TUKKER into Max Styler into Mau P into Sara Landry, an epic run that by no means let the power drop for a second. Over on Earth, EDM.com Class of 2025 star ALLEYCVT stored the gang shifting earlier than DJ Diesel demanded mosh pits (and received them), setting the stage for Zeds Useless’s high-octane headline slot. The Water Stage shook all day with heavy bass from DRINKURWATER, MADGRRL, Cyclops, Reaper, LAYZ, Deathpact and Wooli, whereas the Air Stage turned playful throughout Mary Droppinz’s set, which felt like a forest get together hidden within the bushes. For a lot of, a significant spotlight got here with Tipper’s Sunday set, certainly one of his ultimate performances earlier than his retirement later this fall.
The 5 themed villages, impressed by Herman 20 years of attending Burning Man, grew to become late-night hubs the place renegade phases and pop-ups stretched the competition deep into the morning hours. “We’re by no means one to inform folks when to go to mattress,” he stated with fun. “We would like folks to be members, not spectators.”
That spirit was on full show. Fairly Lights and Levity drew in crowds for shock renegade units out of U-Haul vehicles tucked away within the Vibe Villages, fueling the sort of late-night mischief that has grow to be core to the Components expertise. Round each nook, small moments created lasting reminiscences: stumbling upon two large robots hugging within the woods, discovering a hidden inflatable nightclub tucked away within the Vibe Villages, or choosing up the telephone in a sales space labeled “Discuss to God” and listening to a voice reply on the primary ring.
Past the villages, the primary phases additionally held surprises. Digital Riot and Barclay Crenshaw each stopped by for sudden units, reminding us that at Components, something can occur. “There are such a lot of small discoveries that I believe are sometimes extra memorable than a number of the key attracts,” Herman stated.
Whilst manufacturing scales up, Components maintains its status as a competition of discovery. “We find it irresistible when of us say, ‘I noticed them again after they have been enjoying for a tiny crowd, and now they’re headlining a primary stage,’” Herman gushed. It’s a cautious curatorial philosophy that retains the lineup contemporary and reinforces Components’ status as an area for discovery.
On the identical time, the staff continues to engineer spectacular theatrical endeavors. Previous editions featured BMX bikers flipping over fire-breathers and wakeboarders launching into the Gowanus Canal. This 12 months, members of Pink Bull’s skydiving staff parachuted from a airplane onto the competition grounds at nightfall, leaving jaws on the ground simply earlier than the evening’s headliners took the stage.
What units Components aside isn’t simply its programming or its manufacturing, however the truth that it has survived as an impartial competition in a panorama more and more dominated by massive company gamers. Herman was candid in regards to the challenges.
“It’s been a very troublesome journey,” he admitted. “We’ve had two hurricanes and a pandemic within the final 4 years, on high of being a small impartial firm in a difficult financial time. We’ve been by way of loads, however I’m actually grateful that the staff we’ve constructed has persevered and can proceed to.”
That perseverance is woven into the tradition of the competition expertise itself. Attendees persistently describe Components as probably the most welcoming communities on the music competition circuit. “For 3 or 4 days, individuals are residing in a bit of little bit of a happier, peaceable, and extra supportive tradition,” Herman stated. That’s the true takeaway.
As Components continues to mature and increase, its organizers face the fragile process of rising capability with out shedding the intimacy and unusual quirkiness that’s integral to the competition’s DNA. If this 12 months’s near-sellout proved something, it’s that demand is just growing.
Herman, nonetheless, stays centered on the small particulars: the possibility encounters, the friendships solid, the moments of pure awe and bewilderment that flip one weekend right into a reminiscence that lasts years.
“I hope folks depart having made new mates, having had some bucket-list experiences, heard world-class music, and in addition found music too,” he stated. “An ideal get together is all in regards to the folks, and I believe we’ve put that collectively.”
For followers who trekked to the Poconos this summer time for Components Music Pageant, it’s arduous to argue. Components as soon as once more delivered a whimsical competition expertise that proves essentially the most memorable moments aren’t all the time those you intend, however the ones you stumble into.
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