Nothing but vibes from this festival in the desert of Tucson, which also happens to be during the world’s largest Gem and Mineral Show. Gem and Jam Festival has just celebrated their 11th annual celebration with their 2nd year in the beautiful Pima County Fairgrounds. When you bring an absolute stacked lineup with artists such as; Papadosio, Jade Cicada, [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits, Govinda, and two nights of both STS9 and Lettuce, you know you are in for a treat of both jam and electronic music with nothing but prime time festival visual and audio production! Now you incorporate massive amounts of Gems and Minerals, with handmade art, tons of live painters, workshops and positive vibes and consciousness; then you get the experience of a lifetime that will alter your actions and perspective for the better. Over the course of three days, (four for the pre-partiers) Gem and Jam Festival showcased pure talent throughout the grounds, with art installations, music, and artists everywhere you can see on the General Grounds. There were many performances that captured the heart but there were a few that really stuck out to us at The Chronic Electronic.
Starting it off, Railroad Earth 
This 6 piece band of absolute talent rocked our socks when we heard them play. Railroad Earth has a unique mixture of bluegrass and alternative rock type of music which is improvised with prime-time production. The band was one of the first night time performances and the crowd was absolutely packed, with everyone out and about looking to groove. With this much talented music, it attracted the ears of many and started the night properly with jammy music.
Papadosio into SoundTribe like what?!?! Absolutely AMAZING!!
One of the beloved jambands in our scene, Papadosio, took the ending performance for the Tanzanite stage with an absolute rocking set. The band played an all improvised set that ran through analog sound, so no matter what, every performance was guaranteed to be different and this one in the desert of Tucson definitely got the crowd to kick up dust with their grooving feet. Papadosio had a fantastic setlist that consisted of their songs “1. Threes 10:52 2. Method of Control 08:13 3. Vactrollio 09:08 4. We are Water 06:48 5. Obove 04:14 6. The Sum 07:48 7. Monochrome 09:01 8. Mr. Turtles Cloud Kingdom 05:38 9. Advocate of Change 18:50 10. The Eyes Have Eyes 05:16” (which can be listened to here.)
Following the performance that broke down between rock and jam-tronica, one of the most renowned jam bands of this generation, STS9 took the Emerald stage for the last main stage performance of the night. With a two hour set time, they brought the audience through a realm of vast musical opportunity full of classic riffs, hypnotizing keys, and drums with the rhythm of life.This band projected their music and in return the audience projected good vibes through dancing, painting art, flow arts, and vibing out with their friends and family. Not only were they spot on with their jams but with their massively renowned reputation and their winter tour starting with them playing two nights at Gem & Jam, STS9 added the special touch on the already magnificent stage! 
Gem & Jam had loaded this stage up with the most heady of crystals, succulents, and flowers, that truly brought this stage to life. Not only did it add an extra visual aspect, but with gems and minerals having vibrations in it naturally, the musics vibrations combined with the minerals came out to pure bliss when being stuck in a trance to Sound Tribe Sector 9.
Late Night Russ 
After music ended in the main venue grounds, the people slowly herded to the shed where the Onyx (late night) stage was held. This is where the party kept on going until a couple hours before sunrise. Maddy O’Neal kicked it off with funky vibes and right after, the Russ Liquid Test came on to truly flex their muscles with live funk and bass music. This three person band truly surprised me with their sheer talent on how they throw down instrumental jams and mixed it into filthy bass. Check out this example in this video here.
Day 2 Kicked Off with Consistently Changing Performance Arts from Govinda
Govinda took the stage early as the sun was still high, but it was all for the best. His sexy vampire bass music brought people out to the grounds early to witness a fantastic performance as he masterfully played the violin and mixed in with psychedelic bass music. He as usual, was acquainted with a spectacular group of performance artists that took the daylight to their advantage and put on a magnificent show full of consistently changing flow arts, contortion acts, mystic dancing, and even aerial hoop! This was an act that defined the vibes of Gem and Jam as improvisation and collaboration was at an all time high!
Big Wild for a Big Turnout with Heavy Jams After 
This up & coming artist is on fire and was on everyone’s list to see and even if you had already seen Big Wild, everyone was craving more. Playing with drums and a drum pad, Big Wild took some funky beats and turned it into happy sounds that popped your heart with delight. He had attracted the masses of Gem and Jam and got them ready for one of the most unique performances that people would get to witness, [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits. When they took over the other main-stage shortly after Big Wild, the crowd’s anticipation broke out into pure happiness as the band took the stage for their first time in Arizona, their second time in the west. Composed of Break Science and the Disco Biscuits, they played music that attracted to jam heads and funky lovers. With the ultimate combination of synthesized keys, drums, and guitar, this unique collaboration of music resulted with absolute fantastic beats and rhythms that kept the party alive.
Following the rare performance from [Br]eaking [Bi]scuits, STS9 took their 2nd performance for another crazy 2 hour ride of jams that took your heart and soul into the depths of our intergalactic universe. Bending jams with electronic music sound tribe had shown that they were on their “A game” with nothing but quality and jaw-dropping musical talent!
Jade Cicada into Michal Menert with Marvel Years Ending… c’mon EPIC!
The late night hours for night two was packed for electronic music lovers with Jade Cicada to kick it off. He had a glitchy psychedelic production that got the crowd wonky and with his detailed production, the sound was just epic. This stage had set up prime time audio equipment along with the science of reverberation in a enclosed building, the audio here was honestly the best on all of the grounds. When you added the clarity of music with dank visual production of the artists bringing their absolute best, you got an absolute party!
Michal Menert took over after and as he was truly feeling it, he laid out a freestyle rap that just spoke from the bottom of his heart. It was a beautiful thing to see and hear live and thankfully we got it captured here.
Finishing the night off, Marvel Years took the last performance of night two with a funky but bass-tastic style of music. Going until around 4:45am, Marvel Years had showcased some new music with some classic groovy music that came together for an epic set. The music had kept me up, but honestly, I had a lot of help from our friends at Go-Fast Energy, who with their help of producing quality energy drinks, I was able to keep my self up with a clear energy that just kept me grooving. (I might have had some help with Tequila too.)
Random Rab Sunset
Day three, for any festival usually, is nothing but chill and relaxed vibes. Who else better to promote this than Random Rab and at sunset? It was perfection. 
Random Rab not only has his music produced to loosen up your body through vibrations but he had soothing performance arts that weren’t to heavy on the movement, but still showcased absolutely mind-bending talent. His downtempo electronic music was filled with instrumental worldly sounds, but broke down into harmonies that just left your soul absolutely chilled out. With the sun setting in the wonderful southern desert of Arizona, it was exactly what we all could have wanted.
Greensky vs SoDown: Conflicts for the better
The ending sets for the main grounds had one of the biggest conflicts of the weekend. With Greensky Bluegrass ending out the main stage and funky bass music artist, SoDown, who is quickly on the rise, performing on the second stage, the choice was hard. So why not experience both? I had started with some bluegrass vibes from the revered and OG band, Greensky, where I truly got to soak in the appreciation of their talent. It included incredible and diverse vocal ranges with 4 of the 5 members having mics to sing in as they also ripped the instruments that they were on. You might think they were old-timers, but they have soul and they had earned a spot in my heart for a must-see performance again.
Following one of the best sets of the weekend was another memorable performance that absolutely rocked my world. This Colorado grown electronic producer, SoDown, also incorporated saxophone into his music and with his energetic vibes from his bass heavy music, it matched oh so well! He had played through funky, trap, to even dubstep, and with this being the last major performance, the crowd was showing him all that they had. Which in turn, turned out to be nothing but the best of vibes, just like the whole festival itself.
Gem and Jam Festival is truly an unique festival full of some of the most intense beautiful vibes with music that calls to any festival goer. Until next year!
Much love to Caren West PR for having us out there to cover this fantastic event! Make sure to give our photographer, Bradford Watkins some love here! (I took some pictures too! Which can be seen on the Gallery Post of Gem & Jam here.)
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