Festival Report Card: Shambhala Music Festival 2025

Deep in the Kootenay Mountains of British Columbia, past winding highways and alpine lakes, sits a working 500-acre farm that, for one long weekend each summer, becomes one of the world’s most unique electronic music festivals: Shambhala Music Festival.

With no corporate sponsorships, six permanent stages built into the land itself, and a community that treats the ranch like a second home, Shambhala isn’t just another festival. This is a place where strangers greet you like old friends, gifting is a love language, and the Salmo River is as much a headliner as the artists themselves.

The 2025 edition, held July 25-28, once again proved why Shambhala holds a special place among festivalgoers worldwide. With a diverse lineup, upgraded PK Sound, and the kind of magic you can’t manufacture, the ranch was alive in ways that keep people coming back year after year.

Read EDM Maniac’s full Festival Report Card on Shambhala Music Festival 2025 below.

Vibes: ★★★★★

The energy at Shambhala is unlike anywhere else. Crowds here know how to be at a festival—respecting each other’s space on the dance floor, helping out strangers, and showing up for sets with genuine enthusiasm. This year, the crowd size felt dialed in, with enough people to fill the stages with energy, but never so packed you had to elbow your way through.

From the moment we arrived, trading posts were alive with handcrafted trinkets, stickers, and festival art. There were plenty of moments of pure, collective joy, like when shouts of excitement and claps echoed along the water during the river floats.

Overly intoxicated partiers were rare, and even then, there was always someone nearby to look out for them. It’s that Shambhala care, and the mix of seasoned vets with first-timers, that keeps the vibes so consistent. Shambhala is also a dry festival.

Production: ★★★★☆

Shambhala’s production isn’t about LED walls or pyrotechnics outshining the competition; it’s about blending into its environment. Each of the six stages is permanent, evolving slightly every year but maintaining its own distinct identity. From the bass-heavy energy of the Village to the neon jungle of the Fractal Forest, the staging here feels intentional, not just thrown together for a weekend.

This year, Shambhala’s famous PK Sound systems got a boost, with an extra 10-15% more speakers at select stages, giving sets extra punch without sacrificing clarity. The Pagoda’s laser show lit up the night sky, slicing through dust and smoke in a way that rivals our best festival memories. Ambient lighting and whimsical art throughout the grounds made even the walks between stages feel like part of the show.

Beyond the music areas, Shambhala is filled with immersive art installations, chill zones, hammocks, and hidden nooks where you can stumble upon small, beautiful moments, like a solo side quest under a canopy of string lights or accidentally finding a secret stage.

Music: ★★★★★

Shambhala’s lineup is always carefully curated by each stage team, and 2025’s programming proved it.

Each stage brought a unique flavor: the Village was stacked with dubstep music and drum & bass, Fractal Forest kept the dance floor moving with funky house, bass house, disco, grooves, and basslines, and the AMP came heavy with UKG, 140, and more underground sounds. The Grove leaned into experimental bass, live acts, and surprises, while the Living Room stayed the ultimate riverside hangout.

Each stage had its dominant genre, but none were limited to just one. It’s all about expecting the unexpected. There was music for everyone. With a lineup this big, overlapping set times meant there were some tough choices to be made, but clashes also kept stages from becoming overcrowded.

This year, Tape B made himself unavoidable in the best way possible, delivering three completely different sets: a B2B with Skream during the dubstep legend’s takeover at the AMP, a headline solo set at the Pagoda that brought even more wobble than expected, and a surprise B2B with Mersiv right after.

Shambhala’s 2025 lineup was stacked, but a few sets stood out. Big Gigantic brought their signature blend of live instrumentation and funky bass. Andy C and Bou shined at the Village, standing out with their high-energy drum & bass. Our team also caught scintillating South Asian beats from Ahadadream, and mighty UKG and bassline sets from MPH, Oppidan, camoufly, and Zero.

On the house side, Chris Lake, Justin Martin, Dombresky, Odd Mob, and it’s murph delivered groovy performances beloved by dancers. But the most talked about set was Skream & Friends, throwing down more than 9 hours of B2B dubstep madness at the AMP until 9AM on Sunday morning, with appearances from Caspa, Coki, Distinct Motive, Levity, Tape B, Wraz., Substance, Sgt. Pokes, and more.

For those who love a different flavor of bass, ALLEYCVT, SLANDER, and Excision shook the Village and brought out devoted crowds. Meanwhile, Rezz’s hypnotic visuals and deep, pulsating sound design transported the Pagoda and the crowd below into another dimension entirely.

Venue: ★★★★☆

The Salmo River Ranch is a venue you have to experience to understand. It’s compact enough to navigate without long walks, yet big enough to feel like you’re constantly discovering new pockets of magic. The stages are woven into forests, open fields, and riverbanks, making the entire festival feel integrated into the land rather than imposed on it.

The river itself is a defining feature, offering daytime floats and a natural cool-down between sets. But every year, there is one particular environmental challenge that plagues festivalgoers: dust. Though less problematic than in previous editions, it was still relentless, coating everything from your hair to your gear.

Operationally, things ran smoothly. Security checks were respectful, crowd movement was fluid, and Telus users enjoyed surprisingly strong cell service, making friend meetups much easier than at most festivals.

Food & Beverage: ★★★☆☆

Though void of fancy chef-curated menus you’d find at large corporate-backed events, Shambhala’s food scene delivers both comfort classics and festival favorites, with enough variety to cover almost any dietary need. Prices were high—expect to spend $20–30 on a meal—but portions were solid, quality was consistently high, and exchange rates on card transactions favored travelers from the U.S.

The chicken karaage bowls, salad wraps, and Canadian-favorite poutine were the winners this year, with vegan and gluten-free options available at most vendors. Most food stalls return year after year, which might feel repetitive to some, but for returning festival attendees, it’s part of the tradition. Lines were reasonable, and late-night eats were always within reach.

Overall: ★★★★☆

Shambhala 2025 was another amazing experience at an independent festival. From its unmatched community energy to its thoughtful production and impeccable music curation, the ranch rave once again reminded us why it’s such a special place on the global festival circuit.

It’s not about hype or flash—it’s about creating a space where music, nature, and human connection can truly thrive. And this year, Shambhala nailed it once again. We’d give it an extra half-star if we could.

Find EDM Maniac’s complete Festival Report Card archive here.