The AMPitheatre
Photo Credit: Banana Cam Photo (https://www.bananacamphoto.com)
The music starts at Shambhala 2018 starts on Thursday with two stages open that day, the AMP being one of them. For the entirety of the weekend, the AMP stage will provide deep and heavy bass, live performances and some hip-hop. Worth a mention is Skiitour’s annual Thursday evening set, complete with snowboarding gear and snow machines.
Thursday
The first day at the AMP kicks off with a bang, as many fan favorites take the stage from the moment it opens at 12 p.m. Def3 & Bryx will be kicking off the opening and we have no doubt that it will be an amazing blend of Def3’s hip-hop styling with Bryx’s turntablism. Victoria natives Pigeon Hole will be taking the stage at 1 p.m with their unique blend of hip-hop and Bass music. JLeon takes the stage at 2:30 p.m. Following his performance, Stylust and Shinji combine forces for JVMPKICKS, screw house and lean bass. SkiiTour reprises their yearly AMP evening set at 5 p.m. to deliver the first of two performances at Shambhala 2018.
Stupid Beach will be onstage until 7:30 p.m. when Sarah Spicer, aka Lion-S come onstage. Lion-S (one of the co-founders of The Pride) will showcase her unique blend of house,trip-hop among other genres. That is until 8:30 p.m, when Footprints takes attendees on a journey of melodic tunes infused with heavy amounts of bass. It’s quite possible that Digital Ethos will play one of the tracks from his trippy Mars EP collaboration with Space Jesus. At 11 p.m, the stage is going to get representation from TLZMN, another Waaken heavyweight. Naturally, his tunes fall under the freeform bass genre that Liquid Stranger has been spearheading. No one knows the identity of TLZMN, and he plans to keep it that way.
At 12:30 a.m. BORN DIRTY will fuel the crowd with his bangers, a blend of hip-hop, house and techno. Closing the AMP is Longwalkshortdock, the madman at the controls whose headbanging is just as hard (if not even harder) than the crowd he’s performing for. His set will be dripping with the kind of music you’d hear in a video game from the 80’s, infused with metal and rock. Honestly, we can’t think of a better way to finish off Thursday night.
Friday
The AMP opens at 4:30 pm with Marin Patenaude, the Canadian folk, jazz, country and blues musician. At 5:30 p.m is ONHELL with some hip-hop infused downtempo. Up next is Wakaan imprint founder, Liquid Stranger at 7 p.m. with his mesmerizing “freeform bass movement” genre. Tsuruda‘s onstage next and following him is London duo Stööki Sound. Barclay Crenshaw, owner of Dirtybird Records, makes his first of two performances at Shambhala 2018. His second performance will be under his stage name Claude Vonstroke.
Starting at 1 a.m., Skratch-master DJ Qbert will showcase his many years of experience. Las Vegas Sun dubbed him the “Hendrix of the decks” and we can see why. His STINGRAY: a NEW DNB SKRATCH MIX is available for free download on his website, check it out! When DJ QBert wraps up at 2 a.m., Space Jesus takes the stage. Like many artists in this guide, his music is without description. To get an idea, have a listen to the M. Night Shambhala track of his in the Amp Stage playlist at the end of this list.
However, the party doesn’t end when Space Jesus steps off the stage. Fan-favorite Whipped Cream comes onstage. Her tunes are made of “mammoth-sized bass” infused with with hip-hop. Trust us on this one…you don’t want to miss her set, as it will be off the hook!Last act of the night is Anna Morgan, the radio host and hybrid bass music producer from New York.
Saturday
JodieB appears 3 p.m. with her blues and hip-hop infused electronic beats. Next up at 4 p.m is Melanie Decker, a roots and pop artist from Deep Cove, BC. Following the half-hour performance of Box of Beats is uptempo bass duo Levrige. Following their set’s 7:30 conclusion are Shambhala fan-favorites GREAZUS, a duo composed of HxdB and Patrick Cure, that mix together many genres including DnB, hip-hop and grime. It was recently announced that GREAZUS will be joined onstage by D Double E.
French DnB artist Monty will provide the crowd a high energy set encompassing a variety of genres. Following his set is London DnB DJ and producer Skeptical. UK DnB artist Alix Perez is onstage until midnight, when UK DJ Chimpo performs a genre-crossing mix. At 1:30 a.m. UK Funky artist Roska energizes the crowd until 3 a.m., when Joker introduces the crowd to his sub-genre “purple sound”. From 4:30 – 5:30 pm, dubstep Vancouver native Khiva closes out The AMP with an eclectic set guaranteed to stay around 140 bpm.
Sunday
Sunday is the last day that The AMPitheatre will be open for Shambhala 2018! A full day at that, packed to the gills with incredible acts from the stage’s opening at 3 p.m till close at 5 a.m. Vancouver dubstep artist Sullust opens the stage, followed by the debut Shambhala performance for Vancouver artist David Pelvis. Then we’re treated to a few half-hour sets from experimental bass artist Jellynote, future bass and trap artist Shylow and Dekker.
At 5 p.m., experimental bass producer Konka will perform a high energy set featuring sounds from halftime DnB, UK garage and dubstep. Vancouver artist Tripzy Leary plays ‘cyperdelic bass music’ until 7:30 p.m., when Gangus comes onstage. Alpha Pup Records signee Woolymammoth‘s raw experimental bass music makes him a must-see act for the final night of the AMP. At 10:30 p.m., Machinedrum the glitch hop artist comes onstage, followed by hip-hop and electronic music producers Oshi and Mr. Carmack. The closing set is a B2B from 3 a.m. – 5 a.m. by fan-favorites Yheti and Toadface.
Next up: The Living Room Stage
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