Shabang 2026 Review
words and photos by Avery Kightlinger
KCSB’s Digital Media Coordinator Avery Kightlinger ventured to SLO’s biggest music festival May 2nd & 3rd
Shabang has become a collegiate tradition for myself, getting me to bus up to San Luis Obispo every May for one of my favorite events of the year with the lovely company of my SLOmies. I have attended the past 4 years completing the Freshman to Senior pipeline, and can safely say that for a multitude of different reasons this year takes the cake as my favorite!
The lineup this year initially didn’t have a stronghold on me nor did I feel super passionate about it… I knew Magdalena Bay, Chris Lake, DJ Mandy, and of course Isla Vista local band Birchwood – but other than that the remaining artists were foreign to me. So in an attempt to familiarize myself more so with the performing artists, I took some time to listen to each artist’s biggest song to see if they resonated with me and whether I’d put them on my viewlist, and evidently this research very much paid off. I’m personally always in an attempt to source new music and find new artists to hyperfixate on and play nonsensically til I get sick of them, and LUCKY for me I got to employ this tendency onto Fcukers, a super dope New York based Electronic duo. Their set was by far my favorite at the festival, and even though I’m a recent fan (within the past 2 months), I knew every song they played – most of which coming from their most recent album Ӧ. I truly danced my little heart out at that set, and Fcukers really brought the coolest energy and presence to the stage. Some personal song recommendations after seeing them live include Shake It Up, Butterflies, and if you wanna party, come over to my house. I feel good supporting this up and coming duo as well, with them clearly stating their political stances during their set, stating “F*** Donald Trump, F*** ICE, and Free Palestine” before playing their hit Homie Don’t Shake. I will definitely be seeing them again soon.
Some other notable aspects of the festival included the variety of intriguing workshops that took place on a mini stage at the top of the festival hill, showcasing the most beautiful view for breathwork, sound baths, and twerking. My friends and I made it a priority to attend at least one of these workshops in our time at the festival, as we had definitely overlooked them in past years and wanted to see firsthand exactly what was being offered. So, at 4:20pm on Sunday, my dear friend Wyatt and I marched on up to the “Twerkshop”, where the outlined objective was feeling more confident and in tune with our bodies to dance to our fullest capability during the remainder of the festival. For the following 40 minutes we stretched very thoroughly and were given quite elaborate demonstrations of the best twerk positions and how to correctly contort our bodies to achieve them. We were on hands and knees, and even just hands at one point trying to achieve the pro status being shown to us, and worked up quite the sweat from this unexpected workout. We left the Twerkshop much more knowledgeable about how to throw down, a newfound confidence, and with the homework of improving our skillsets for 10 minutes a day. I highly recommend attending these workshops next time at Shabang, although they may seem extreme and ridiculous to some, they really emphasize the community of the festival. Gathering a diverse array of individuals all with the collective love for music and desire for body confidence – what a beautiful and fun part of the festival this was!
As for other musical sets and performances, I made sure to come early on Sunday to see local Isla Vista band Birchwood perform at the Cuesta Ridge stage. Winners of this year’s Battle of the Bands that allowed them this performance spot, Birchwood put on a stellar performance and drew in a new crowd and evidently new fanbase of non-Isla Vistians with their performance of Freebird (yes they reached flow state). I attended probably 4 other DJ sets this same day, with Sirens, DJ Mandy and of course Chris Lake being my favorites. Sirens performed up at the Greenhouse stage overlooking the entirety of the festival, and really encapsulated a very rave-adjacent vibe with super dope remixes and a perfectly intimate and perfectly not-so-intimate crowd size. Seeing Chris Lake for the second time was killer, and I will say that this performance was much more extravagant compared to the one I saw take place at UCSB’s Extravaganza last year, safe to say Chris Lake is upping his production level; the best song of his set being the remix of Beyonce’s Crazy In Love in my humble opinion. Magdalena Bay had a very trippy set full of costume changes and visuals of giant eyes watching over you as you danced – which at the time felt very scary to me with the state I was in. Nonetheless, their music and seductive soft spoken voice of their lead singer were phenomenal, and it’s cool to see the large fanbase they have garnered in the past few years.
The attendance this year had to have been the most I have seen in my time attending, with the entrance lines entailing a 30-40 minute wait and food lines taking upwards of 2 hours. Although I’m happy that the experience is being shared and everyone is getting an opportunity to experience the awesomeness that is Shabang, there must be a question posed regarding attendance cap and limits for the best experience for all festival-goers! Other than this however, the festival was very well organized and very aesthetically pleasing. They have always done a phenomenal job in ensuring this fact, and I even recognized some structures designed by Cal Poly architecture students for the festival, as well as re-used structures I have seen at other local festivals such as Santa Barbara’s Fields of Funk and Isla Vista’s Soltopia. The venue is persistently gorgeous with the monotonous green backdrop, and dare I say even worth getting all of the dust in your lungs and nose. I don’t yet know where I’ll be living in the next year, but what I do know is that regardless of where that may be, I will be making an effort to attend Shabang for the 5th year 😀