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Burning Man is an eight day US art and music festival that began in San Francisco back in the Eighties and has grown into an annual mega-spectacle hosted on a dry desert lake bed in the remotest corner of America - northern Nevada - at the end of every August.

Once grounded in the counter culture spirit of the Sixties and the modern primitive movement of the Eighties, over the years the giant anti-festival, as participants like to call it, has grown into a giant desert party that attracts all kinds of bohemians from around the world. About the only two constants at Burning Man, are white people of all ages (over 50,000 attended at last count) and electronic music. Why electronic music has become the soundtrack for the weeklong tribute to hedonism is hard to explain, as the genre has no real bearing or pull at any level of American culture, except at the deepest levels of the underground, ironically a segment of the population that appears to be skeptical of the whole Burning Man experience. But for the many who spend thousands of dollars to participate in the festival's encouragement of radical self-expression everything must be renegade, including the music.

Over the years, the rift between Burning Man's founders and the entire Cacophony Society from which it sprung (think Malcolm McLaren meets the Merry Pranksters for a reference point) has caused a polemic reaction toward the festival - from those in the know called "Burners" to the skeptics who view it as nothing more than a neo-Woodstock, a relic from another age.  As a result of the schism the festival has devolved from being a true do-what-you-feel-fest where a haphazard explosion of non-commercial sounds ruled the community at Black Rock City for the entire orgy to hundred of separates tents filled with dismal, no thrill sets of pre-programmed music from annoying lack wits such as Paul Oakenfold and Armin Van Buuren.

Thankfully, truly talented individuals such as Lee Burridge have made a home out of the giant tent city in the desert for the past decade and churned out some of the finest performances in dance music history on the white alkaline sands of "the playa" (those used to taking holiday in Ibiza may be shocked to learn the nearest ocean is 350 miles away from this big so-called beach). In just the past couple of years young bloods like Seth Troxler have also descended upon Burning Man giving the festival a much needed infusion of underground dance music to combat the overabundance of the blitzkrieg influenced dubstep that now dominates the West Coast's outdoor sound system culture. These small items provide relief from the oppressive heat and the sinking feeling that something that was once pure in concept and spirit is slowly being transforming into a giant drunken orgy of indulgences for bo-hos having one sort existential crisis or another. Parade of the horribles, indeed.

First timers will notice there isn't a true schedule with headliners and secondary stages - part of the Burning Man philosophy that the festival is the spectacle and that all other happenings are secondary - for better or worse, the medium is the message. On the other hand, this isn't Glastonbury or Coachella where Madonna will be showing up for a late night appearance to cloyingly gain some street cred with the kids, that is, unless she wanted to get pelted by flashlight batteries and beer bottles during her performance by said kids.

Each performance area is presented by a community on one of the city's numerous avenues - all radial spokes pointing the central area which is dominated by the Burning Man effigy, a neon tower of wooded paganism ritually lit on fire on the last night of the festival. Thousands of insane sounds from psy-trance to deep house explode all around in 360-degree stereo. Crazy costumes (or nothing at all) are a must for all of this decadence as well as all of your supplies including water, bedding, and food for the week.

Sadly, like all good things this crush of human intrusion is quickly destroying a pristine environment putting the festival at odds with one of the platforms - sustainability. It has become obvious to the government officials who sanction this event that sustainability of a much larger festival will not be possible in the coming years. As Burning Man's popularity continues to grow and the monetary gain of a blighted region will have to be balanced against an imperiled ecosystem - the outcome may not be pretty.

Still, for what it is, as a music fan, the sense of thrill and even the aural assault of Burning Man is a titillation beyond words. There are a few other happenings on the globe that brings such a diverse rainbow of music together from the biggest names to the bedroom DJ on the block all playing some strain of electronic music - sometimes it's even hard to believe that Black Rock City is in the US during Burning Man week.

No rules, no schedules, and nothing to do but party - hell the place is even devoid of scenery so forget being distracted by the nature. Burning Man, for all its faults, is still the best stand for the buck against all of the bureaucratic fascism and mental stasis that currently grips America. 

www.burningman.com | blog.burningman.com/metropol