Elements Continues Reign As Best Dance Festival in Northeast
Elements Music Festival became one of my favorite after attending last year. It has some of the best vibes I have ever experienced at a music festival. I am glad we have such a great festival in the Northeast, because if you’re from here, you know we don’t have much. Elements is roughly 2 hours away from both NYC and Philadelphia. The festival is situated next to the Poconos Raceway in the middle of the forest, allowing them to go late into the night. And the afters go late into the morning (prepare yourself for sunrise sets)!
The scenic venue is perfect for a music festival. There are 4 beautiful stages of music. They represented all the elements of life: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. There is also a 5th, almost fun house stage, and a silent disco den. The lineup is diverse across Bass, House, Dnb, and Techno. Headliners included Illenium, deadmau5, Rezz, Zeds Dead, Sara Landry, and Pretty Lights.
Elements Music Festival features dance music and its culture at its finest. You will have a new family at the end and be ready to do it all again.
The Festival Grounds
Tucked away in the Pennsylvania forest, Elements sits right next to Poconos Raceway in Long Pond. The location could not be more perfect. Elements has a very unique twist on camping called Vibe Villages. They do have Glamping and GA Camping as well. But what makes Vibe Villages stand out is the after-parties. If you can get a group of 10+ people, the festival will establish a zone for you to set up your camp. I was fortunate to be in a 30+ person (shoutout to The Jellyfish Collective) camp, which allowed us to have ample room for activities, a kitchen, hanging, and sleeping. We were also one of the official sound camps that were allowed to host afters.
Elements is known for their afters. It might be my favorite part of the festival. They will sanction some of the camps to build stages for afters and play from right after the festival ends to sunrise. These stages are impressive! Walking around the campsite, you will be in awe that they are built by the community, just looking to keep the party going. In addition, there are art cars that roam around, allowing people to hop on and off and enjoy music on the move.
The Stages and Artists
I thoroughly enjoyed all 4 official stages within the fest, plus the mini ones. The Fire stage was the main stage, so to speak, holding the largest number of people. It had fire exploding out of it at all times and an impressive fireworks show every night. It also had this really cool fire cage to warm people up when it got a tad chilly at night.
Fire Stage hosted every genre with Deadmau5, REZZ, Sara Landry, Crankdat, Malaa, Mau P, Tape B, and so many more tearing apart the stage. Two of my favorite sets of the weekend was the Techno Queen Sara Landry taking me on a journey. And also Malaa Vs. Malaa (Alter Ego) which went from his OG house to his electric new DnB sound.
The next biggest stage was Earth which featured all the Bass music you needed + live bands. Illenium, Zeds Dead, Pretty Lights, Chase & Status, Sullivan King B2B Kayzo, and ALLETCVT had necks breaking and bodies shaking. The Earth had the best visuals out of any stage with its trippy outlines and multitude of lasers.
The water stage was the most impressive design in the shape of an octopus. It also had a new location in between Fire and Earth Stage. At night it came to life with lasers shooting out of its eyes. It featured a diverse lineup across Bass, DnB, and Techno. Eli Brown, INZO, Wooli, Reaper, and Liquid Stranger graced this stage and had the people moving.
Finally, and certainly last but not least, the Air Stagewas by far the coolest one and my favorite one. Nestled in the forest, the vibes are immaculate in both day and night time. It has tree houses surrounding the area allowing lucky enough attendees to get a bird’s eye view. It hosted Nimino, Villager, HI-LO, Sidepiece, and Wax Motif.
My favorite set of the weekend occured here when Bunt. delivered the most magical 90 minutes I have ever experienced at a festival. I cannot say enough good things about all the seamless genre switches and the track selection was perfect. He has gained a lifelong fan.
The Food and Arts
I don’t usually comment on the food at a festival because it tends to be subpar, but man Elements had the best festival food I have ever had. It wasn’t terribly pricey and they had an incredible amount of options for both meat eaters like myself and vegetarians. There were unique options from Birria Quesadillas to chicken and waffles to huge flavorful wraps. I rarely ever waited in line to long either.The fresh smoothies were also amazing and refereshing.
Taking a walk thorugh the forest will leave you in awe. Elements takes wonderful care in making sure a night walk there leaves your eyes very happy. There are hammocks that are great for chilling in the daytime. At night, all the art is illuminated and the trees come to life. The Neon Forest is something you do not want to miss.
Elements 2025 also featured the return of its Art of Change program – spotlighting environmental and social impact themes – as well as the continued evolution of its wellness programming, from an on-site spa to sunrise yoga and evening sound baths.
The Community and Concluding Thoughts
As stated before, I met some of the loveliest people of my life at Elements. Everyone was beyond nice and I didn’t see a hint of negativity or fights throughout the festival. Hugs were everywhere and random compliments were of plenty. There was plenty of giving of little trinkets as well. The afterglow from Elements was as real as it gets. It is some of the best 4 days you will have in the summer.
There is no question I will be back at Long Pond next year and hopefully up there playing as well. While Elements is not officially the best festival in the northeast (for now) I have declared the honor in my view. I know it will keep getting bigger and bigger and attracting talent and ravers from around the world.
Till next year Elements! Thanks for another special weekend 🙂
