Mysteryland USA: a stage-by-stage guide

A relative newcomer to the US festival scene, Mysteryland USA returned to the legendary grounds of Woodstock for its second year, this time with a heavier focus on the hippie culture that binds this musically-varied festival to the hallowed location it borrows from the rockers of 1969.

As part of the Dutch events outfit ID&T's portfolio, which also includes big sister TomorrowWorld in the US, Tomorrowland and Mysteryland in Europe, Mysteryland USA arrived on the American scene as a major, impeccably orchestrated festival. But this past holiday weekend it went up against Movement in Detroit, Lightning in a Bottle in California and EDC in nearby New Jersey, all of which battled it out with incredible line-ups and one-upman production for the vibes (and dollars) of America's dance community. But despite the formidable competition, Mysteryland managed to draw 50,000 attendees across three days, and did the historic ground it was hosted on considerable justice.

The festival's line-up was defined by its curated stages, something which is becoming a welcome feature on the circuit. Noting where the bulk of the audience would hail from, the organisers handed the reigns over to New York promoters Verboten, Webster Hall and Audiofly's Flying Circus, as well as seminal artists Matthew Dear, Adam Beyer's Drumcode and Netherlands-based performance art/music collective Alter Ego to curate the stages and define the sound of Mysteryland.

We looked at how each of these stages created their own vibe and allowed Mysteryland to stand out in a weekend that was packed with phenomenal music.

Verboten / Flying Circus | Spiegeltent

Veteran New York promoters-turned-club owners Verboten curated two days at the infamous Spiegeltent ("Mirror tent"), named after a Dutch showcase institution dating back to the late 19th century. The mystical venue lent itself perfectly to the tech-house and techno grooves thrown down by heavy-hitters such as Damian Lazarus, Audiofly, The Martinez Brothers, Andhim and Lee Burridge. And with pristine sound courtesy of the blazing Audiotechnik soundsystem this was one of the best stages at the festival.

Matthew Dear presents Subversions & Adam Beyer's Drumcode | Big Top

Having debuted last year at Verboten's brick and mortar in Brooklyn, Matthew Dear's Subversions party is a performance art and music experience that featured blistering sets from Maya Jane Coles, Matador, Anja Schneider and Paco Osuna. The Big Top was outfitted with a trippy, segmented video wall display that hung from the ceiling all the way to the back. The production, which also featured lasers and confetti canons, was one of the major defining elements of the Subversions stage.

The Drumcode takeover on Sunday kept things thugging with a strictly no-nonsense techno line-up, which included monster sets from Adam Beyer, his wife Ida Engberg, Paul Ritch and Nicole Moudaber. The enormous, then-mostly dark Big Top provided the perfect setting for the gritty, hard sound of the Drumcode massive.

Verboten's Zeitgeist

One of the smaller open-air stages, Zeitgeist is a popular indie-dance session at Verboten and brought some of the distinctly deeper sounds of house. One of the highlights of the weekend was Skream closing his set on Saturday night with an additional 45 minute long disco selection that had the crowd begging for more.

Moon Boots was joined by a plethora of emerging artists set to make their mark on the scene in the coming months, which included Super Flu, Wild Dark, and Nicola Zanatta. We really dug the transparent canopy containing hundreds of red balloons that hung over the dancefloor, each one nodding along to the beat of the kick drum.

Alter Ego's Owari No Nai

Dutch performance art collective Alter Ego returned this year to the Owari No Nai (Japanese for "No Exit") stage which rocked a stark Japanese theme. The line-up featured a number of talented DJs from their troupe, including Forest of Heroes and Hogler Hecler, and worked some of the most eclectic sounds of the festival. The performance art, as well as the interactive aspect of the entire group dancing with attendees made this open-air stage a memorable one to pass through.

Webster Hall

New York institution Webster Hall brought their taste for indie-dance, disco-house and dance-pop to Mysteryland as they hosted Bakermat, Klingande, Nora En Pure, Goldroom and Anna Lunoe in the second Big Top stage. The crowd was right up for it, keeping the energy high and lapping up the melodic jam that pulsed from the soundsystem.

Images via Andrew Rauner/Danilo Lewis/Jackie Lee/Joey Timmer/Julian Cassady/tomdoms.com for Mysteryland