Big Fam Music & Arts Festival 2024 Review
- 89.1 WIDR FM
- Apr 15
- 42 min read
Review - Third Time's the Charm for Big Fam Music & Arts Festival (2024)
Written by Will Kriss
Additional Photos by Emily Sabourin
89.1 WIDR-FM
3-25-25
Intro:
Having been to several camping music festivals throughout 2024, I can safely say that the third installment of Big Fam Music and Arts Festival was without a doubt the best festival experience of the year.
While the event had taken place in 2021 and 2022, it had been put on hold in 2023. Despite this, I had full confidence that it would be well worth the wait, and I was correct. Even just based on the first two events, I have previously said that the festival was in good hands regardless of what the future may hold.
So when the organizers announced that Big Fam would be back in 2024 with a new location, I was ready and excited to see what taking a year off could do for it.
Turns out, taking a break can do a lot - not only was it the best festival experience of the year, it was also the best Big Fam yet!
Part of this is because it was the first installment that did not suffer from bad weather delays, which happened during the first two. Not that we didn’t still have a blast either way, but it makes a WORLD of difference.
Without the rain and lightning to hold things up, there was nothing to do but enjoy the weekend! The sunny warm days really did feel like a “summer’s last gasp” type of scenario.
Essentially, when it comes to the weather, we were all VERY lucky.
But most importantly of all, Big Fam has since announced that going forward, host site The Groves of Michigan will now be the new home of the festival, which is HUGE. It means no more moving to a new venue year after year, which I had previously been told was the hardest part about setting up this one.
Background and Methodology:
My name is Will Kriss, aka [DJWILLKILL]. I am a former radio host and a freelance journalist, and I have attended all three Big Fam installments to date.
I am lucky to have a unique perspective in watching it grow since its first inception, and for journalistic purposes, it has been among my favorite events to cover.
My partner, Emily Sabourin (DJ Shadowplay), has also attended all three years and helps me with photos.
The main thing to keep in mind is that Big Fam does an excellent job at creating the feeling of being at a large festival while taking place in a small-festival setting, which has remained true across all three installments. The lineup is also known for boasting a great selection of local and regional artists in both EDM and Jam genres.
The first event took place at Harmony Pines in Lake Ann, which was a great venue, but very far away from everything. The second took place at Liberty Mountain in Farwell, which was nice, but I heard from a lot of people that they felt the space itself was too spread out.
The new home for Big Fam, The Groves of Michigan in Brooklyn, seems to have be exactly what the event needed: a more centralized location with just enough room to branch out.
As with all of my festival reviews, it is my intention to provide a written boots-on-the-ground account of my experience with Big Fam 2024 as it happened, while also providing further insight from some of the staff who made it possible.
I meant what I said when stating that it was the best festival experience of the year, and it is also my intention to explain why.
Day 1 - The Lay of the Land
At this point in my career, the process of assembling my crew for a festival outing is nothing short of second nature. You pick the meetup spot, give a general time to meet, grab any last-minute supplies and ride out together.
On Friday, October 4, the plan was put into action.
After meeting at the Meijer in nearby Jackson, we proceeded to The Groves, where the check-in process couldn’t have been smoother. Once inside the security gate, the staff allowed us to pull off to the side to make sure we could all ride in together.
The main gate leads through a different part of the campgrounds, where non-attendees on vacation were posted up for the weekend, and the area for Big Fam itself was sectioned off. As always, the volunteers tasked with directing traffic were very efficient and helpful in making sure all of our vehicles could be in the same section.
Looking at our spot before setup, I was a little worried about how much space we would actually have between us, but everything worked out just fine. There was plenty of room for tents and canopies, and the spot felt like our weekend home in no time.
Once everything was ready to be lived in, the next step was to survey the area.
The GA camping area was up a hill away from the main festivities. Walking south down that hill would lead you to the main vendor area, where most of them were lined up in a row with a few extra food trucks here and there.
From this area, you now only have two directions to choose from - walking left would bring you to the Apogee Stage area, while proceeding right would take you in the direction of the Bayou, the crown jewel of the festival.
In the distance behind the Apogee stage, one could see the Michigan International Speedway (MIS) looming almost imposingly, along with a very large group of vultures gliding across the sky (which I found out later is called a Kettle).
I’ve never been to the Faster Horses music festival before, but I knew the MIS hosts it, and the campground we were standing in is often used by those attending it or the NASCAR events. My understanding was that because of this, the grounds were used to hosting large groups and live music.
The Ohio-based producer Avilys was already in the middle of her set, with her self-described brand of “Freeform Funk Bass” on full display. This would be only a taste of things to come for the weekend ahead.
One benefit of having a more condensed space is that you could easily carry a camping chair from your campsite to either stage area, ESPECIALLY the Apogee, which would come in handy soon enough. I even saw one group of people carry a whole entire couch with them to that area!
We then proceeded to check out the new Bayou, which was only a short walk away in the opposite direction.
However, one major (and very smart) change would become apparent on the way: Rather than having the previously-used canopy stage and the art gallery as separate buildings, they are now combined into one area.
This was one complaint I had heard about the previous Big Fam in Farwell, which was that they were both far away from the other areas, and some people told me they never even made it to the Canopy Stage. This was disappointing to hear, as some of the best sets I saw that weekend were at the Canopy.
Now, having them both combined into the new Gallery Stage, there was less ground to cover, and since it was on the way to the Bayou, it was impossible for anyone to miss it.
Not that the size of Liberty Mountain had bothered me, as I don’t mind a walk, but by comparison, it was actually REALLY nice having a more compact area.
Even with smaller grounds, it still felt like there was plenty of space. I never once felt like it was too crammed in either the camping or the stage areas.
But more importantly, it meant that being able to view the works inside the gallery and those who were performing was now MUCH easier and more accessible.
We would return to scope that out later, but for now, we wanted to see what had become of the Bayou.
The New Bayou
For those that don’t know, the Bayou is the centerpiece of Big Fam. It is a living, breathing interactive art exhibit with the purpose of making attendees feel like they’ve entered another world altogether.
The nautical-themed area is complete with several installments, including boats, a fish market, mermaids, fountains, library shelves, mirrors, a lighthouse and more. At night, all of these are further brought to life with projection-mapped visuals and other special effects.
There is also an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea area, where actors performing as Alice, the Mad Hatter and other characters from the story periodically serve tea to those in attendance.
On top of that, the Bayou even comes with its own stage!
The project itself is the brainchild of both Dave and Kat Fisher, who are the founders of visual production company KatFish EyeKandy, and serve on the Big Fam Board of Directors. Katfish EyeKandy has also provided visuals at local music events for years now.
The Bayou draws heavy inspiration from Sherwood Forest at Electric Forest, and it shows. By night, you would think you had walked into that or something similar. But with the aesthetics chosen, it really carves out its own unique identity.
Upon passing through the trees at the edge of the Bayou, I did indeed feel like I had entered someplace else entirely.
For starters, the area is now much more spread out. While the setup at the previous Big Fam was done to where you could not miss the Bayou walking along the main path, it did feel more compressed in comparison with the new setup. Rather than having the path go through the Bayou, there was now only one way in and out, leaving much more room for the crowd and the exhibits.
It also provided some interesting opportunities for repeat visits. Now that everything was more spread out, you might not even see everything on your first visit - while the area wasn’t SUPER big, there were exhibits in there that I didn’t even know about until after the weekend was over.
And the Bayou Stage itself, which saw some upgrades during the second year, has been updated even further. The nautical-themed stage comes equipped with LED walls and flanking platforms for flow performers. At night, fire spinners performing along with the artists created nothing short of a mystical scene.
It truly feels like you’re at a much larger festival than you actually are, and you might forget that until you leave the area.
In a previous interview, Kat Fisher had told me that the LED screens had been rearranged so that performers could be seen better. This is due in part to many of the Bayou performers being in the “instrumental Bass” subgenre, or bass music where the performer also plays a live instrument.
In this lineup, some of those performers included Cofresi (drums) and Josh Teed (violin), among many others.
It also featured a performance from Detroit’s own Opal, which marked the first time a full live band has performed at that stage.
With such a newly wide-open space for creativity, I couldn’t wait to talk about it with Kat, which is exactly what we did in our follow-up interview after the big weekend.
Interview with Director Kat Fisher, Curator of the Bayou
(Note: For the purposes of this interview, Kat refers to her spouse Dave as “Fisher.”)
To begin with, I asked about the new Bayou space itself and how it all worked out from the creator’s perspective.
“It was more than double the size of the previous property that we had for the Bayou, so we had a lot more room to spread out,” Kat said. “We STILL have a little more room to grow in that space, but we just went as far as we could in cleaning and preparing the grounds. Next year, depending on how many volunteers we get in advance, you may see it creep out a little further.”
Since the area was now bigger, it turned out that I wasn’t the only one who missed a few exhibits that weekend.
“Somebody was talking to me and said they couldn’t find the tea party, and she said she went and saw the boathouses once but couldn’t find them again,” Kat said. “It was really what we wanted, to give the illusion that you were in a much larger space than you were, so having everything positioned where it was at made it feel like you could explore, and you had to go seek and find things. At a festival, it’s kind of fun to get turned around, there’s always something new, and you go in a roundabout way to find something you were looking for.”
I also mentioned that during a last-ditch effort to see everything on Sunday night, I stumbled into the boathouses tucked into the back section of the Bayou, where there was brightly lit artwork inside. The display was so crisp that I thought I was looking at LED screens with pre-programmed visuals, but I was wrong.
“That’s actually my art that we projected on, but it LOOKS like a screen,” Kat said. “We were trying to do that in year two, but we ran out of time and the weather prevented us from setting up the projectors. So this year, that was one of the things on my list that I wanted to accomplish, to make sure we got projections set up in those rooms. I was able to get some helpers to make sure I could get that set up and running at dusk every night, and make sure people had a little extra spot to enjoy.”
The boathouse screens weren’t the only time I mistook projection-mapped visuals for LEDs that weekend. On Sunday night, I saw various brightly-lit objects hanging from trees that were shaped like frogs, flowers and geometric designs. I don’t know what to call them, so I refer to them as “glyphs.”
Those glyphs, created by Jake Bauer of 4th Wall Productions, were projection-mapped as well.
“I’ve been working with Jake for the past couple years, and last year we asked him to come and do some things at Big Fam, which was great,” Kat said. “Year Two of Big Fam, he created the scene just outside the Bayou gate with frogs and the Big Fam sign that he had projected in that space. So this year we had him come back and I really let him stretch his legs and set up a whole display of those shapes that he projected on. At night, a lot of people thought they were three-dimensional structures.”
It was during this interview that I was really made aware of how much I’d actually missed, despite thinking I’d seen it all.
While explaining the “Lazy River” installation, I had to stop and ask exactly what that was. When she showed me photos of inner tubes laid out in a specific area with water lights hung above in the trees, I realized I had missed it.
“So now when you come back, there’ll be even more for you to explore,” Kat joked.
In fact, some of those exhibits received last-minute upgrades during the weekend, so even if you saw one exhibit earlier, you may not have seen the finished product.
“This year we had a living room scene set up where it looked like a fireplace and actually had a fake fire that looked like smoldering logs, and it had a flickering light in it,” Kat said. “In the last moments, we put a smoke effect behind that so it would actually create smoke in that area. If you were lucky enough to see that scene, then you got to experience that whole little living room with the fake fire. That was one of the little secrets not everyone got to see.”
On the other hand, some exhibits were strategically placed in order to make them MORE visible, such as the Lighthouse.
“One of the other artists we had in the Bayou was Tom Gifford, who a lot of people know from ArtPrize in Grand Rapids,” Kat said. Tom Gifford does the most incredible photos of lakes and auroras, a lot of nighttime photos and things like that, and he’s done some installations at Electric Forest. He created the lighthouse as you walked into the main entrance of the Bayou. His lighthouse also appeared in year two, but it was in a spot where people weren’t really able to see it, so I was really happy this year to reserve that spot for the lighthouse in advance, which was right at the bayou entrance. It was one of the first things you saw when you entered.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the way everything subtly changes from the afternoon to night, with the area slowly becoming more lit up and colorful as time goes on.
One of the best examples of this is the sailboat, which had projection-mapped visuals on its sail by night.
“That was one of the things that I’ve been really wanting to do for a minute,” Kat said. “I’ve been collecting boats and trying to make all these boat scenes in the bayou, and when we first acquired this sailboat, I didn’t think that the sail came with it. I was trying to find someone to help me make a sail, and then Fisher said ‘I’m pretty sure the sail is there,’ so we pulled it out, and it was this big beautiful white sail that was perfect to project on. I was happy to work with Great Lakes Flow to help me set up projectors so people could really experience it the way I envisioned it.”
But aside from the art, the Bayou has a different musical vibe than the Apogee stage. As previously mentioned, a lot of the more “hype” artists will play at the Apogee, while the Bayou has more of an emphasis on Instrumental Bass, or electronic producers that also play an instrument of some kind.
“Instrumental Bass artists are definitely still one of the things we try to focus on adding to the lineup,” Kat said. Artists like Josh Teed, in previous years we had Jason Leech, and Cofresi this year. We were really happy to have those artists that play instruments, and we were really happy that the stage this year was designed so you could see them play better. I’m surprised every year that we’re able to get such a wide array of artists, and to really pull in a lot of the favorites and the new people that nobody has really heard of before.”
Thanks to fan survey results, another improvement was a break in the Bayou programming so that everyone could go see the main stage artists.
This is partly how I was able to finally see a full set from Daily Bread - in previous years, I always had to split it up between other performers.
“We listened to feedback from our attendees that mentioned that they hated having to miss somebody because there was another set going on at the same time,” Kat explained. “The Bayou actually closed down for the two hours where the headliners played on the main stage, so everybody had a chance to go see them and make their way back.”
However, there are now plans to make this break work even better.
“This year we’re gonna do the same thing again, but we’re gonna allow a little extra time for people to get back to the Bayou,” Kat said. “There is a little distance there, and it does take some people a few minutes to walk in. One of the first people that played after the break was Cofresi, and we looked around and it hadn’t filled up yet. I was kind of bummed out because I wanted to see more people there, but it just took a few minutes for people to get back from the main stage. I think everyone stopped and grabbed a blanket before the Bayou, and before we knew it, it was filled up again.”
And for those who chose NOT to view the headliners, the break provided some other options for exploration.
“One of the things I liked about having the break was that it allowed for some downtime in the Bayou,” Kat said. So if you wanted to explore and maybe sit for a tea party with no programming going, you could really check things out. So it really gave the opportunity for people to see it in a quieter way, really soak it in, and have more time to experience all the installations. I loved the way the schedule was made this year, it really helped accommodate that kind of situation.”
So all in all, while this may have been the best Bayou installment in the best Big Fam yet, with just a little fine-tuning, it’ll be even better in the coming years.It really is remarkable how far they have come in just three events, and with the possibility of having to move again being out the window, there is only room to grow further.
“We’re excited to continue focusing on bringing instrumental bass to the bayou and just create an awesome space that people can really enjoy,” Kat said. “I’m just really proud of what we did, and I just can’t wait to see what we can do after a year of being in the same spot, because now we can build on everything already there and make it everything that we dreamed it would be.”
—
Friday Night
So after getting the lay of the land and checking everything out, we returned to the Apogee stage around 6 p.m. and posted up for the next couple hours. Not only were there several artists on our watchlist, we also wanted to see the new Apogee stage in action as the sun went down.
Just as the Bayou itself becomes more alive as the sun goes down, so too does the Apogee stage - the LED walls were nothing short of crispy clean and the synchronized lights were on point. They were only getting better by the minute.
While nowhere near as large as the Apogee at the previous venue, it didn’t NEED to be. I was reminded of a simple lesson I had already learned at a different festival that summer, and that’s that sometimes, less really is more.
Meanwhile, the Ohio-based producer Luminyst was performing. A returning act from the previous installment, he was one I missed that year and had interest in checking out. I had already enjoyed a lot of his published work, and he has even collaborated with Big Fam alum Ravenscoon before.
In all honesty, I wasn’t paying as much attention as I would have liked, but for good reason.
It was during this set that one of the other best parts about Big Fam was really being demonstrated. No matter where I went, even if I was standing still, I would constantly be running into people I knew and hadn’t seen in a while.
The name “Big Fam” is no joke - it really does feel like a big reunion of some kind.
During Luminyst specifically, I ran into some friends that included former WIDR FM DJ and GM Beth Flores. Beth was in a group that included her partner and our friend Jenna, who I had camped with at Electric Forest earlier that year.
While Beth and I couldn’t remember exactly when the last time we saw each other was, we figured it hadn’t been since sometime in 2019, and the opportunity to do some catching up was provided BECAUSE of this festival.
And so it went. Moments like this would happen many, MANY times over the next few days. Luminyst was acting as the soundtrack to this particular instance, and it fit very well.
The next performance was the actual sundown set and would end up being among my favorites of the weekend - the producer Lumasi. I hadn’t heard of him before this festival, but was intrigued by a lot of the tracks I listened to.
Based on my research, Lumasi is also well-known on TikTok for producing various remixes and surprising his girlfriend with the results. I don’t pretend to know anything about TikTok, but found it interesting that he had already cultivated a following through it.
The set itself was full of dark, MEAN wubs that were just ICE COLD - really high on what I call the “Deep V’s” with many acid green and purple visuals.
I don’t feel like I’m doing a very good job of explaining this, but luckily someone else took a video that contains a good example of what I mean.
And speaking of ice, while the sun was going down, the temperature was dropping even quicker. Although the days were sunny and warm, the nights were colder and windier, which allowed people to dress more comfortably. Since this was the first fall festival I had been to in a long time, I had packed accordingly and would be changing myself after Lumasi.
But most importantly of all, this was one of my favorite sets from the weekend because it was here that it really hit me, from looking around the crowd and taking it all in, “Wow, we’re really AT BIG FAM!”
And sometime during that set, it occurred to me that we hadn’t seen any of our other Kalamazoo friends yet. I said out loud, “I wonder if we’re gonna see [our friend] Rob this weekend?”
As if on cue, Rob himself just happened to be walking by!
Again, moments like these are part of what makes Big Fam so enjoyable.
But in the next moment, immediately after the set ended, the hunger reared its ugly head. We ended up trying out “Pizza by the Groves of Michigan,” which was posted along vendor row with a large pizza oven outside.
In other words, exactly what I needed at that moment. I’m not sure if the pizza truck is available at the Groves all the time or just for special events, but I would end up making several returns to it over the weekend.
Since I was busy stuffing my face, I didn’t see much of the next act, Florida-based DJ Steller, but I SWEAR I thought I heard her drop a remix of “Butterfly” by Crazy Town, or at least a sample of it.
Imagined or not, I got a kick out of that. RIP, Shifty.
After eating and ducking back to camp to change into something warmer, we made it back to the Apogee stage in time to see the Detroit-based producer Super Future, another personal favorite over the weekend.
In 2018, outlet The Untz hosted a contest where the winner would be given the opportunity to play at several high-profile festivals, with Super Future coming out as the staff pick. Since then, I’ve seen him multiple times in a wide variety of settings, and he has played at all three Big Fam installments to date.
This was one of the best sets I’ve seen from him BY FAR. His graphics included a lot of what I call “alien geometry” patterns, similar to the ones on the space needle at Electric Forest, and his sound combined a wide range of styles and moods. Sometimes it was trappy, sometimes it was wubby, and sometimes it was near-spiritual.
Put that all together, and you only have one word: SUPER.
And in another one of those “I swear” moments, I SWEAR one of his tracks used samples of the pistol sound effects from Goldeneye 007 on Nintendo 64. I couldn’t be TOO sure, but he said it was something he made for Lost Lands.
(Mr. Future, if you’re reading this, is there any chance I could hear just that part again, if not the whole set?)
“Super Future is a Big Fam staple,” Kat Fisher later told me. “He’s played our festival every year and he’ll probably be one of those people that you’ll always see on the lineup. Not only do we want to show you a lot of rising stars, but we also want to bring back all of our favorites, especially with him being from Michigan. We’ve had quite a connection with him and have been able to watch him grow as an artist - he’s played on our little stage and now he’s on our main stage. It’s pretty dope!”
I had to take a backseat at camp for a while after this, but you could still hear everything just fine without being overbearing. The dreamier sounds of Memba were a good backdrop for recovering energy, which would begin with another one of my favorite moments.
One of the best parts of having a festival group is the in-jokes that develop over time. In our case, we’ve made it a tradition to play Jenga when we gather, the classic kind where commands are written on the blocks. Why this is an inside joke would take too long to explain here, but between us, it’s hilarious.
We have so many Jenga sets between us now that last year, we decided to go in on a large decorative chest to keep them all together, and we brought that chest to Big Fam for one reason:
To play Jenga during Jaenga at the Bayou stage.
With help from a friend, we carried that chest all the way from our campsite to the Bayou, making it just in time to see him play. The distance itself wasn’t really an issue, but that box was HEAVY.
I don’t actually remember too much of the set itself because we spent the entire time playing the game and cracking up at the results, but I promise we were having a BLAST!
This went on all the way through the Reggae-Dub of lineup mainstay Zen Selekta, the violin-laced beats of Josh Teed, and a personal highlight for Kat Fisher: The Canadian-based producer ATTYA.
When I first spoke with Kat ahead of the event, she had mentioned that having ATTYA come play at the Bayou was something she had been working toward for a long time, adding that it was a “dream come true” to finally make it happen.
So in our follow-up interview, I had to ask about what that felt like to witness when it was in motion.
“It was an incredible feeling to see one of your musical heroes on the stage you created, and it was a really great set,” Kat said. “I do wish he would have played a little bit more of his older catalogue, because I miss some of that, but we were excited he played his new album and we got to hear all the new stuff too.”
Having not been super familiar with his material before, I didn’t exactly know that one way or another, but I enjoyed what I heard. Some of that stuff was pretty “out there,” but in a good way, à la Truth.
Either way, that’s pretty fucking cool in my book.
That was a wrap for the Bayou on Friday night, and after returning the Jenga chest safely to camp, I only had one order of business left: watch Kalamazoo’s own FENDZ at the Apogee stage, which had transitioned to a Silent Disco format after Memba wrapped up.
I’ve written about it many times before, but I cannot understate how important the Kalamazoo EDM scene has been for both my personal and professional life. In the eight years I spent living there for work and school, I became well-acquainted with the local scene and the artists within, covering many shows for both WIDR FM and WMU’s student newspaper.
The organization responsible for booking many EDM shows in Kalamazoo is The Other Guys, or OG’s, which Patrick McKenzie from FENDZ is one of the founders of.
In this instance, some of the artists of that collective were not only performing that weekend, but helping to run the Apogee after hours as well.
“We were really happy to be able to work with [the Other Guys] this year,” Kat later told me. “They really helped us with the Silent Disco so that some of our other team could take a break. We love being able to work with other groups in Michigan that are doing really cool things.”
Returning to the Apogee at 3 a.m., there was still a decent amount of people with wireless headphones dancing and grooving into the early hours. But the stage itself still had a full production going along with the performers - all the fun of a main stage show with no fear of noise violations.What a great idea!
“We thought it would be so neat to have the Silent Disco at the main stage,” Kat added. “Because if it had to shut down at 11 p.m. anyway, we had all of the LED wall going, all the lasers, and we just kept that running even after the sound shut down, so people could still get a full experience at that stage with full visuals and everything.”
FENDZ would be the last act of the night. Although I’ve seen him play many times before, this particular set seemed to have a lot more hip-hop in it than usual. Not that it hasn’t been in the mix before, but there seemed to be more of an emphasis this time.
And since he was here, so were many of my friends from the Kalamazoo area who I don’t get to see often.
Another one of many great moments over the weekend of finding your people, and another one of my own personal highlights.
Since I’m not accustomed to being up that late anymore, and the night was cold, I ended up tapping out earlier than I wanted to. But after returning to camp and layering up in the tent (since we could actually do that), I had a long and comfortable sleep.
Not bad for a Friday night!
Saturday
We had a relaxed start to our Saturday morning. The sun was shining, the breeze was just right, and someone across the way was playing “Connected” by the Stereo MC’s out of their car.
Big Fam vendor veteran vendor Phat Matt’s was serving up some breakfast tacos, which was great since our traditional BIG camp breakfast wouldn’t be happening until Sunday.
It was pretty slow-going for all of us that morning, so we were mostly just lounging around the campsite enjoying each other's company. Really though, isn’t that one of the best parts of going to festivals? To be able to spend quality time with your dearest friends?
It wouldn’t be until around 3 p.m. that we would all gather back in the Bayou to see a very special surprise for a very special someone.
Those who have been to Big Fam have probably attended one of the Bayou tea parties, where actors portraying Alice, the Mad Hatter and other characters from the story will gladly serve tea to anyone hanging around.
The actors portraying Alice and the Mad Hatter are actually longtime couple Kendall Stutler and Taylor Braman, respectively, and friends of mine.
But what Alice (Stutler) didn’t know was that ahead of time, our entire crew was secretly informed that this was the weekend Braman would be proposing to her.
With a chilltrance set by director Dave Fisher (“FSHR”) going in the background, and our entire crew, a good portion of the staff, some key property personnel and a handful of relatives assembled, Braman dropped to one knee and asked the question.
Dramatic Pause
And she said yes!
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up a LITTLE bit.
Just a little.
While the weekend was packed full of great moments and music, this may have actually been the ultimate highlight. What a TREAT to witness.
Later that Afternoon
The next couple hours were mostly spent exploring, including checking out the art gallery, but we returned to the Bayou at five p.m. to see a set from Big Fam Marketing and Communications Director Andrew Martin, who spins under the name A Tropical Martian (ATM).
True to his name, his sound incorporates chill and funky tropical sounds, but this set was extra special - It was the live debut of his forthcoming album “Trippin’ in the Tropics.”
In a previous social media post, Martin had written that the album is meant to be “a funky tropical Lo-Fi project Inspired by GRiZ’s ‘Chasing the Golden Hour,’ Philos records, K+Lab’s Pxlmtrees, all.lo collective and many more,” noting that he believed this was a sound true to himself.
With an uncharacteristically warm October day in the Bayou, the setting was perfect for those types of vibes. The visuals included palm trees, flamingos and flowers that looked like SpongeBob clouds, and the music was noticeably more relaxed than I’m used to from an ATM set.
It included a lot of chill saxophone notes, steel drums and other such sounds, making it feel like we really were all at the beach. I’ve seen ATM play multiple times now, but this was without question my favorite performance I’ve ever seen from him.
Towards the end, it occurred to me that my eyes had been closed for quite a while, and I had to mentally reel myself back in because I had been coasting away.
I didn’t do any guided meditation during this weekend, but ATM’s set was as close as I got. I felt VERY relaxed afterwards - enough to want to take a nap and fully reset.
So I did.
That’s not to say the set was boring or anything like that, it was just THAT relaxing.
So to that I say, way to go dude! I’ll be looking forward to listening to that album again in the future.
After My Tropical Nap
It was around the time I woke up that our good friend Josh, the camp chef, had shown up, making it out for one evening.
I didn’t waste any time giving him the tour, returning to the Bayou in time to see Opal, a Detroit-based electronic jam band. This was a big deal because no live band had ever performed in the Bayou to that point.
In fact, when the group played at Electric Forest 2024, THAT was the day Big Fam announced their initial lineup drop with Opal included.
Kat Fisher had previously told me that the design of the stage would allow for each member to have their own platform and be a little more spread out. This much was true, and it would be interesting to see more bands in a setting like this.
“Having a band in the bayou was a dream come true,” Kat later told me. “I didn’t think we would ever be able to do that. But this year, changing the LED Wall to be up in the roof really allowed us to open up the stage. Although it took a little longer for them to get set up, they played before the break, so they had plenty of time to tear down without interfering with other sets. I love Opal and what they’re doing is fantastic. I just know they have a bright future and they’ll be playing all over the United States. They’re really doing something special.”
While what we saw of that performance was cool, this would end up being one of the only times over the weekend I would be dealing with clashing sets. Opal was on at the same time as the Philos Records takeover at the Apogee stage, and Josh wanted to see the Colorado-based producer Motifv.
“You’ll like this guy, Will,” Josh told me on the way over. “It’s not your typical EDM music.”
While I had relearned the value of deep diving into a festival lineup in recent years, I’ll admit Motifv was one that I hadn’t gotten around to, so I wasn’t sure what he meant. But on arrival, it became apparent.
Motifv is really unlike any other producer I’ve seen before - despite the bass wubs, most of his beats were instrument-based, with many of the compositions being actual piano notes. There were also a lot of samples of soul singer vocals.
In my opinion, his song “Just a Dream” is a good example of his style, as well as “Time Passing,” a collaboration with Manic Focus.
Overall, it was a very uplifting experience, a great intro to the takeover, and proof that Josh was right. That WAS an enjoyable set!
I also learned later that Motifv is the brother of producer Pretty Lights. I didn’t even know he HAD a brother.
We stepped out towards the end to run back to camp and get some chairs, returning and reuniting with the rest of the crew for the next performance from Artifakts, a producer based out of Wisconsin.
Having listened ahead of time, I thought I had a good idea of what to expect: chill, dreamy downtempo beats with a hint of glitchy soul.
What I witnessed still managed to be different than what I was expecting. It turned out to be a very hip hop-infused set with lots of trappy leanings. While Motifv had a lot of actual-factual instrument-based beats, Artifakts utilized a lot of hardware and software samples, such as car alarms and dial-up noises.
So that’s two for two on the Philos takeover!
With now three-time Big Fam veteran Daily Bread up next, I was excited to finally see a full set from the Atlanta-based producer.
I felt like I was finally settling a score. During the first Big Fam, I had to split my time between him and another set that I wanted to see. Then, during the second Big Fam, I had planned on doing the same, but the other set was so good that I ended up staying for the whole thing.
Moreover, since those first couple years, he has played at larger events I’ve attended, but I wasn’t able to catch any of those sets either.
So FINALLY, after the fourth or fifth time, I was able to see a full set from Mr. Bread, and like a lot of artists I’ve missed multiple times, it was a set worth waiting for.
For those that don’t know, it’s been an ongoing inside joke that the attendees bring bread and bread-type products to his sets.. For instance, someone in my own crew had tied a loaf of bread inside the sleeve to the top of her totem, waving it loud and proud.
And she wasn’t the only one - multiple people had brought buns, loaves, you name it.
The weekend after Big Fam, I would find myself in New Orleans, where I discovered muffuletta sandwiches. I remember wishing that I’d known what one was sooner, and if I did, I might have tried to track down a loaf ahead of time and thrown it around like a frisbee!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to Daily Bread.
What more can you say about him? He’s only exploded in popularity since I first saw him at Big Fam 2021, and for DAMN good reason.
All the things that made the previous two sets great were on display here, but Daily Bread somehow manages to hit that magic blend of being chill, groovy, uplifting and hype all at the same time, and in ways that are difficult to put in words.
So you know what? I’m not even gonna try. Check out the following tracks to get an idea of what I mean by this.
Gone On a Purple Cloud (My Personal Favorite)
[Note: After writing this section, a friend pointed out that I could just say Daily Bread is “Glitch Hop.” So we’ll go with that.]
After all was said and done, this three-way heavy hitter of Philos artists ended up being one of my favorite experiences of the weekend. And, as luck would have it, I had seen a full Daily Bread set just in time.
In our follow-up interview, Kat Fisher had mentioned that despite having played all three years thus far, there may indeed come a day when Daily Bread becomes too big for Big Fam.
For whatever reason, that day may be upon us. In a survey for ideas on possible artists to play this coming year, Big Fam staff noted that Daily Bread will NOT be at the next installment, and was looking for suggestions on who should headline instead.
This reminded me of something my cousin told me a long time ago when we were at a different festival: ALWAYS pay attention to the undercard, because you never know who might blow up next.
Haven’t You Slept Enough Today?
I’m a little ashamed to admit what happened next, when we went back to the Bayou and posted up as a group. I was excited to see Cofresi, a live EDM drummer who I’ve seen multiple times in various settings.
Unfortunately, I must have been coasting in and out of consciousness in my chair because before I knew it, TF Marz was on, an artist previously suggested to me that was supposed to be performing a “Dark Set.” What could that mean? Well, I never found out. Once I realized that I had basically missed Cofresi just sitting there, I knew it was time to call it a night.
Worse still, this would also mean missing Spaceship Earth, one of my favorite electronic producers in Michigan, and one that I interviewed for my previous Big Fam review.
Just like the night before, I chalk it up to not being used to staying up super late anymore.
But hey, part of being a superstar is knowing when to quit, right?
Sunday
At the start of the final day, I felt the most rested I had all weekend. We began with our traditional family breakfast, which usually involves burritos with varying levels of dankness.
We decided to try out a few new things, like substituting chorizo for breakfast sausage, while also discovering a new hack: pan-frying frozen tater tots to a crisp and then mashing them instead of chopping potatoes. Throw on your favorite hot sauce with some cheese and you’re in business.
Needless to say, there were no leftovers.
Afterwards, most of us would find ourselves back in the Bayou around 2 p.m., where a special b2b2b set between three of the Big Fam directors was taking place:
While the concept was cool enough, the music was a lot of fun too. Sometimes it was funky, but other times it sounded like the soundtrack to a video game. Someone even remarked that it sounded like a game of Pong (or possibly Tetris) manifested into a set, with deep metallic subs on the backend.
All the while, leaves were beginning to fall from the trees. Despite the warm summer-like setting, it was a not-so-subtle reminder that fall was indeed upon us.
Another highlight from the afternoon happened when someone at camp asked, “Who’s playing at the Bayou right now? It sounds FILTHY!”“Good question. Let’s go find out.”
In reality, the word we were looking for was “Grimey.” It ended up being the Lansing-based producer Ganja Girl going back-to-back with producer Grapefruit Jacuzzi in a project called “Glitter & Grime,” with a set that delivered what the name promised.
On my end, I spent most of my Sunday afternoon just wandering around and trying to enjoy every last moment of our weekend. But eventually, I would wind back up at camp preparing for the evening ahead, and a lot of cool things happened in quick succession.
Earlier that day, one of our neighbors was saying that someone in her camp was complaining that there “was nothing to do,” and a lot of us replied with “NOTHING TO DO?!” at the same time.
But in a way, I’m kind of glad that happened because it reminded me of another thing I learned about festivals a long time ago: always take the time to look along the vendor row, because you never know what kind of fun activities or workshops might be available.
So around 8 p.m., with a crescent moon hanging low in the sky, I did just that.
I ended up stumbling into a tent run by The BoredomFighters Foundation, who I’ve been able to work with multiple times in the past. Creative Director Tyler Manning and his team were responsible for the old BoredomFest back in the day, as well as the one-off MorFlo festival.
To write of their activities could be its own separate article (and probably should be), but to sum up, the organization dedicates itself to musical instrument education for students, both electronic and otherwise.
Inside the tent, Manning was sitting behind a table with a mixing deck and there were various types of instruments around him in a setup called an “instrument garden.”
The idea here was that anyone could walk in, play a few notes, and have those notes sampled for an in-progress EDM song. Essentially, with the help of Big Fam attendees, they were creating an original song on the spot.
Well, why not? I played a few notes on the keyboard in front of me and watched the team start to mess around with them. I ended up staying there for almost an hour, as it was a real pleasure watching these guys work. In fact, I was so impressed with it that I could barely even speak.
All I could say before I left was, “This is really cool, Tyler. REALLY cool.”
Indeed.
“‘Nothing to do,’” I chuckled on the way out.
I could have stayed longer, but the hunger struck again, and by this point I was finally getting burnt out on pizza and tacos. I opted to try out one of the few vendors I hadn’t yet: the Flint-based BBQ truck Smoke Rattle and Roll.
I can’t say I’m always in the mood for barbecue in a warm festival setting, but MAN, that Walking Taco SLAPPED. A bigger-than-average size bag of Doritos was just STUFFED with pulled pork, nacho cheese, veggies, guacamole and more.
It didn’t look like it would be THAT much food, but I barely even finished it. My only recommendation would be to tell them to go a little easy on the sour cream, but either way, it kept me filled for the rest of the night! Clearly, I’d been sleeping on these guys.
Returning to the Bayou, I opted to explore further and make ABSOLUTELY SURE that there wasn’t anything I missed, although I would find out later that I had.
I already touched on this earlier in the review, but inside the boathouses, there were screens displaying some of Kat Fisher’s geometric artwork. The displays were so crisp that I thought they were LED walls, but turned out to actually be art that was being projection-mapped onto.
This exploration was quickly cut short by the set underway at the Bayou stage, which caught my attention when I heard a remix of the Goosebumps theme song.
Running over to the stage, I was like, “Oh, of COURSE it’s Manthom Phenace.”
The Chicago-based duo Manthom Phenace are mainstays of Big Fam, having played all three years so far, and another act that incorporates real instruments into their music. The funky and glitchy beats are enhanced with violin shredding.
After that enjoyable performance, I came to grips with the fact that time was running out. The last day of a music festival always goes the quickest, but that never makes it any easier.
The final stretch at the Apogee before the silent disco would showcase another label takeover, this time by Sub.Mission, who’s mission statement is “Moving people through sound, not hype.”
This would prove to be absolutely true.
We got there in time to hear the tail end of the drum-and-bass artist Monty, which was cool, and I wish I’d seen more of it, but the next set stands out more in my memory for what it did to me.
Most of the time these days, it takes a lot to actually get me full-on dancing. Usually, I’ll just be standing there grooving and appreciating, but I don’t “jam out” as often as I used to. That was not the case with the following set from the Texas producer The Widdler.
The Widdler is another artist who has played at all three Big Fam’s to date, and one that I’ve seen MANY times since 2017. His reggae-infused brand of dubstep is difficult to explain, but director Dave Fisher said it best years ago:
“He’s called The Widdler because of what he does to your brain. He Widdles it.”
That sums it up. I knew what to expect, but this time, I was wholly unprepared for just how hard I was about to be Widdled.
If there’s one way to describe this set, it was very…”red.” Most of the time, I’m used to The Widdler running marijuana-themed lights and visuals, but even with the reggae influences, this was a much heavier set than I was used to from him. The palette reminded me a lot of the movie Suspiria, just without all the blood and gore.
Of course, those were just the parts where I had my eyes open.
I don’t know WHAT this set did to me, but before I knew what was happening, I was eyes-shut and just LOSING MYSELF in the music. I mean full-on Matrix-style bullet time dance moves. It was almost like I could see the zeroes and ones of the digital sound in my mind’s eye, and my dancing hadn’t felt so in-sync with a set in a VERY long time.
There were even times where I felt like my hands and arms were mimicking what HE was doing on the decks, or at least what my imagination thought he was doing.
Whatever barrier there is between my brain and my movement, it was just gone.
And the pure excitement of moments like him playing “System Failure” and “Comin Thru,” along with a remix of Darude’s “Sandstorm,” a collaboration with Rez (ONE “Z,” not two), were just UNPARALLELED by anything else I heard that weekend.
Another standout moment separate from the music came when, onstage, he coined “Enormous Siblings” as a joke term for “Big Fam,” which has since become a running gag among attendees.
When it was all said and done and he announced the end of the set, my eyes fluttered open and I thought, “Wait, that’s it?? What happened?? It’s been an hour already??”
And then the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks:“Holy SHIT, dude. I’ve been WIDDLED!!!”
SIDE NOTE
It’s worth noting that one new thing with Big Fam this year is that each set was limited to an hour, whether they were at the start or the end of the day.
While some might disagree with me on this, especially regarding the headlining slots, I really, REALLY appreciated the switch to this format. It ensures that everyone gets the same amount of time to play, and more importantly, keeps things SNAPPY.
Like, “Okay, this guy is on now. Okay, now it’s been an hour. On to the next set!”
I think this streamlined approach provided a much better flow to the event overall, and I hope they keep it going in the future.
The End of Sunday
I wish I could tell you that I stayed up for a long time after The Widdler.
I wish I could tell you that I stayed up for the entire Dixon’s Violin set and made it all the way to see Kalamazoo’s resident DJ Panther, who I previously interviewed for my Big Fam preview article, close down the Apogee Silent Disco at 4 a.m., and I wish I could tell you that I did it all with ease.
That, unfortunately, is just not the case this time. Even with layers, blankets and chairs, I just couldn’t get around the fact that the cold wind had picked up the pace and was PIERCING.
Normally, I would never go to bed without getting through all of Dixon’s set, which has historically taken place toward the end of each Big Fam.
But this time, I just didn’t have it in me. Myself and DJ Shadowplay made it about a quarter of the way through Dixon’s set before finally throwing in the towel for the weekend.
Sorry, Dixon. Sorry, Panther.
But we went to bed with the knowledge that we had just experienced the best Big Fam yet, and most importantly, the best overall camping festival weekend of the YEAR.
And that, my friends, was my final thought of the weekend before I drifted off to dreamland.
The next morning, we tore down, cleaned up and rolled out, elated from the weekend we all just experienced together.
Easy in, easy out.
Follow-Up with Kat Fisher
In the months following, I had a chance to catch up with Kat Fisher, where we discussed how it all went down, plus some exciting new developments.
As previously stated, the most important news is that The Groves of Michigan has been announced as the new home of the festival, with plans already underway for the fourth installment.
“We found the spot where we fit and the property owner seemed to really like our group being there, and she could really see the potential in what we’re trying to do,” Kat said. “It’s great to have the property owner stand behind us and help us through this process, and it just makes everything that much easier to have a home to come back to. We’ve been moving every year, and to finally have a spot where we can build on instead of having to begin again, it’s gonna be huge for us to see the Bayou grow. We’ve been trying to maintain and add a little more every year, but haven’t really been able to grow as much as we should have in the three years with having to move year after year, so we’re really excited.”
Kat had told me that the hardest part was moving each year, and understandably so. Dave Fisher had even remarked in passing that if the festival had to move again after this, he was gonna quit, and I believed him.
“We kind of felt that way,” Kat said. “If we have to move one more time, I don’t know if we have it in us to create that again, because it’s such a labor of love, but it’s also labor-intensive. It’s really difficult and taps all our finances and resources to move all those buildings and rebuild and start over like that again. We really feel like we’re a step above this year, having a place already set, where we’re confident we’ll be able to stay.
I felt like this year was really a turning point for us. Everything came together, we had so much positive feedback from attendees, that they loved what we did, loved the new improvements, and we had room to kind of stretch our legs and do some fun things that we weren’t able to do at the other properties. It feels great to be able to grow upon that and build on that this year.”
The festival organizers are also trying to remain cognizant of local residents.
“A lot of people in the city of Brooklyn didn’t even know the festival was happening, mainly because we marketed the festival to a specific demographic, and maybe that wasn’t all the people from the surrounding area. However, we didn’t seem to upset that many people, and we were really conscious of how we arranged the stages and where they were pointed at to help with the noise.
In the Bayou stage, our sound engineers positioned the sound equipment in a way to cancel out the sound behind it, so if you stood behind the stage, you weren't getting any of that sound going back. The stages kind of faced each other, so that kind of canceled the sound out. The main stage programming ends at 11, so that helps, and the Bayou being tucked away in the woods helped to keep the sound down. We’re gonna try to stay on that trend and try to keep everyone happy, and we may even adjust the schedule a bit more to accommodate the townspeople and make sure that we’re not overstepping our welcome.”
So while the bad luck streak with venue-hopping had finally stopped, the run of bad weather luck had also broken too. I even overheard some people joking about if it would still be Big Fam without a storm.
“We’re always gonna prepare for the bad weather, but it was really nice to finally get a break from Mother Nature, who cut us some slack,” Kat said. “We didn’t have any weather-related issues that caused any kind of damage to any of our property or equipment, or having to change the schedule because we never want to see that happen. We don’t want to see our stage shutting down because of inclement weather and people having to shuffle their schedules, so we got really lucky.”
Even earlier on in Michigan October, the weather can still be very unpredictable. I had been prepared for a worst-case scenario, but again, it was uncharacteristically warm in the daytime.
Truly, a “summer’s last gasp” scenario.
“We've been watching the weather trends as it’s warmer and warmer later into September, and we were hoping we’d still be in that warm spot,” Kat said. “The week before the festival it was 80 degrees as we were setting up, so we’re really happy that the weather was nice. However, we were also glad to see that a lot of our attendees prepared for the weather. They brought jackets and onesies, which I thought was really fun to wear the kind of festival gear that you can’t wear at Electric Forest because it’s too hot.”
So with round three of Big Fam in the books, what’s next for round four?
“Next, we’re excited to just build on what we did this year, to watch the Bayou grow and continue to add fabulous artists,” Kat said. “My favorite thing to do is add a mix of some people you’ve never heard of, maybe they’re outside our area, and then bring back some of the favorites. People like Josh Teed, I hope we have him back every single year.
There’s a fine line because you don’t want to have too many repeats, but we do love to have it feel like a reunion where you can come back and see these artists again, how their music has changed from year to year. So as long as they’re making new music and doing new things, there’s some people we’d love to have back.
If you’ve seen someone at Big Fam three years in a row, there’s a high chance they won’t be on year four, but they could be back for year five. We do want to work some of those people in and out, and there are some people that still haven’t had a shot to play yet. We’re hoping to make some space for those people, whether it’s in the art gallery stage or the silent disco slots. We have tons of artists in Michigan that we would love to see play.”
To finish the follow-up interview, I gave Kat the floor to add anything she’d like.
“We are really trying to listen to people and we hope those who visit Big Fam know our intentions are good and that we’re only trying to create something that’s really great for our community,” Kat said. “When it all boils down, we’re not this huge corporation that has a lot of outside sponsors. We’re really just ten people trying to make it on our own and provide an experience similar to the things that inspire us from other festivals. For the ten of us to come together and put all of our time, effort and resources into this project, creating this beautiful place that resonated with people, was all that I could have asked for.”
She also took a moment to reflect on her own progress.
“I’ve been working as an artist for a long time, and sometimes it’s hard to find your audience,” Kat said. “When you’re creating art and you’re thinking, ‘am I gonna get this into a gallery? Where are people going to see this?’ I”m not sure that I ever knew my path would take me into music festivals, but I really found my audience, and people resonate with my work. I couldn’t be more pleased to share it with everyone.
If you would have asked me where I would be in ten years, I would have never anticipated that I would be helping these people create this incredible festival. But I feel like sometimes life has a way of leading you where you need to go.
You just need to trust the process and find other people that are passionate about their work, people that are really trying to do great things with great intentions and a good spirit behind it. I’ve been really happy to be a part of the team that I’m on, and am so proud of everyone I work with. Seeing each of them at the festival excel in their own way has been one of the greatest things.”
—
Personal Reflection and Conclusion
When writing my review of the first Big Fam in 2021, I had stated that the event was in excellent hands and I couldn’t wait to see how it would develop further.
Despite taking place across three different venues, each providing a different experience, I wholeheartedly believe that the staff has outdone themselves yet again.
It cannot be understated that this was absolutely the best installment yet. Sure, the bar was already set pretty high after the first two, and you can’t get around things like bad weather interruptions, but everything just seemed to go off without a hitch, and things that could be improved from years prior had been.
Because of these factors, it truly was the best festival experience I had across all of 2024.
With big-festival vibes in a small-festival setting, a “who’s who” of local and regional artists, heavy-hitting headliners, the opportunity to see friends both new and old, and a hard-working team making it all possible, I only have one thing to say: What more could you possibly ask for?
Again, I feel truly blessed to have been in the unique position of watching this festival grow over the last few years and being more and more impressed with each installment.
In my opinion, this whole scenario shows there is very real value in taking a break every once in a while. By taking a year off, the team was able to make sure that the festival would be meeting that high bar set for themselves, and once again, they’ve surpassed it. I had full confidence that the next installment would be worth the wait, and I was right.
I’d like to collectively congratulate and thank everyone involved for their work and for allowing me to do mine.
Now that it’s been established that the event is here to stay in Brooklyn, why don’t you come on down and see for yourself what makes Big Fam so Big?
You might be surprised at what you discover.
Happy Big Fam, friends, and I’ll see you next time in the shadow of the Speedway.
Happy Big Fam, indeed.
Will Kriss // [DJWILLKILL]
—
Further Reading
Following a schedule change that has happened in recent months, the next installment of Big Fam will take place from September 26 - 29. For more information including tickets, you can visit the official Big Fam website at this link.
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