Open Love Letter To Elements Festival (With Pictures!)

To whom it may concern,

When I received an invite to an all-day party on the grounds of the abandoned Red Hook grain elevator complex in South Brooklyn, my first instinct was to Google "grain elevator" because I thought maybe it would actually be a dance party on an elevator. Wikipedia informed me of the following: "In the grain trade, a grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits it in a silo or other storage facility. In most cases, the term 'grain elevator' also covers the entire elevator complex, including receiving and testing offices, weighbridges, storage facilities etc."

So I don't think I need to waste too much time explaining that this was this was the sickest rave venue, like, ever. Honestly, nobody does it quite like the Burning Man crowd, who clearly had no small hand in organizing Saturday's events, with their art installations, fire-spinning babes, custom-modified double-decker dance party trucks, and a silent disco inside of a cement tunnel. At one point we were breaking it down at the Earth stage—one of four element-themed dancefloors, this one specializing in snappy tech-house—when the DJ stopped the music, the lights went dark, and heads turned to catch a spotlight trained on a ballerina suspended from the side of the aformentioned grain evelator doing a specially-coreographed vertical dance routine. The water stage provided trippy techno on a dock jutting out into the New York harbor; it had the largest disco ball I've ever seen suspended from a rusting crain that was kind of scary. The VIP section was actually just an empty building with no windows or furniture that smelled like horse poop. Horse poop. I mean—where do you even come up with this shit?

The costumes were great and the kandi necklaces were flowing and one of our favorite photographers Nicky Digital was there to capture it all. So to the lovely folks at the BangOn! event production company: thank you. And to our readers who didn't make it: dig in and pretend like you didn't miss the best party ever.

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital

Bang On's Elements Outdoor Music & Art Festival 2013

Nicky Digital