Written by Andi Wesley
We were there for three days. Drove 12 hours just to get there. It was nothing like we thought it was going to be, which was exactly as expected. These Tipper events never go precisely as planned. Time is allowed to move in different directions there. A portal is temporarily erected in the space in which Tipper and his friends perform. For the duration the event transpires, reality is bound by less steadfast rules. Womps, wobbles, and squiggly vibrations replace the need for comprehension with acceptance of not knowing. Nothing really makes sense, and that’s okay.
I joke about Bassnectar using subliminal messaging hidden beneath his beats to make us all happy and rebellious and buy his merch. But the Tipper subliminal messages must be different. They scramble your brain and leave it changed afterwards. My partner and I both used the identical words “brain reset” in separate incidents to describe the weekend. We left feeling different emotionally; lighter, more accepting, perplexed and bewildered in a restful way. I felt more authentically myself. An amalgamation of beautiful people moving and dancing in genuine flow, incredible art manifesting all around us, strange and wonderfully complicated symphonies of sounds pulsing through the air. Swamp magic. The Spirit of the Suwannee is haunted by peaceful spirits. Haunted in a good way. Possessed by good vibrations. Beautiful, real, magical things have been created there, and it lives on in the Earth. In the soil of that place. It feels like nowhere else. The energy is palpable. You feel lifted, like with a chest full of helium.
I saw a girl dancing there the first night. Tipper’s journey set. I’ve never seen someone move like that. So unconcerned with the world around her, yet moving so assuredly like she knew the Earth would hold her. Genuine movement straight from spirit. She moved the way I’ve always wanted to move, and do move within the privacy of my home, away from anyone who would see it. That vulnerable open part of me. I went up to her after the show to express how great I thought she was and how showing the world who you really are and what you really want to do and what your body really moves like is so important. My skin could feel the bright full moon as her beams shone down on us moving in the crowd. The energy was full of emotion, deep like water. It pulled me like arms, like waves to connect and to appreciate.
A Saturday Tipper is my favorite Tipper. His hammock sessions are the vibiest vibe I’ve ever vibed. A cozy, bouncy, laid back, wear your bathrobe, pass it to the left, cuddle puddle, lo-fi vibe. Give me that vibe forever and I’ll die a happy Taurus. Chris Karns graced us with chill hip hop, chill-hop beats that would have made Snoop proud. Best 4/20 of my life. It took until Sunday, but when Ott played for us, my “crazy hippie lady dancing at the front of the stage” spirit took over me. I blame it on the heady pants I bought there. Sisterhood of the Booty Shakin’ Pants. I took what emotional lessons I had learned from the weekend and transformed the energy into movement. It felt like a celebration, dancing to that music. I understood what our ancestors were doing around those campfires thousands of years ago. Celebrating. I had random strangers drawn to me during the set, journeyed over just to dance. To share. To celebrate together.
As I reflected on the weekend that happened in an instant, I realized that the entire trip was worth it just for the conversations I had participated in. With my partner, with beautiful strangers, with new friends, with myself. I cracked something open at the Full Moon Return that I had been digging at for awhile. The emotional vulnerability I felt in such proximity to thousands of open, intricate, honest realities all around me created a clearing somewhere in my head region. It made some space for positivity and alrightness. I wonder what will happen at the next one.
Tipper & Friends: The Full Moon Return
