Written by Rebecca Hollman
Photos by The Buku Music + Art Project
The Buku Music + Art Project starts today, Friday March 25th in New Orleans! The festival kicks off this afternoon with A Hundred Drums and Gø Pnik at 2pm. The day only continues to get crazier from there – with a b2b set from Chee and Tsuruda, Wreckno, Troyboi, J. Worra, Taking Back Sunday, Trippie Redd, Rezz, John Summit, Dom Dolla, Porter Robinson, $uicideboy$, CloZee, Liquid Stranger and Tame Impala. If you aren’t impressed by the wide range of genres that those names encompass then we don’t know what to tell you! From rap to tech house to experimental bass to indie rock to minimal house, this lineup spans every subgenre of electronic music and even into other rock and rap genres. But this has always been Buku’s thing – the intersection of rap and electronic music. No other festival can pull the top-tier rap and EDM talent like Buku can.
Day 2 also kicks off bright and early at 2 pm with Buckten b2b Don Peyote. From there the Wharf stage brings the experimental slow n low vibes with sfam and TVBOO and then slowly transforms into more aggressive bass with Mersiv, Sullivan King, and SVDDEN DEATH. The stage closes off with a major 360 to the minimal melodic beats of Lane 8. Make sure not to miss the rnb and pop vibes on the Bridge stage with Vince Staples and Kali Uchis and also the dark techno queen Amelie Lens inside the Ballroom. The Skyline main stage has acts all across the board with Alison Wonderland, Glass Animals and Tyler the Creator.
The festival itself ends at 11pm every night, but don’t fret – if you want more music there are plenty of after parties scattered around the city to fulfill your needs. Because the festival ends relatively early, Buku organizes after parties called Buku LATE. If you have a ticket to Buku you can get pre-sale access to after party tickets. Tonight, Troyboi and Tokimonsta take over Republic NOLA and Wakaan takes over Orpheum Theater with Liquid Stranger, Canabliss b2b Redrum, Mize, and TVBOO b2b sfam. Tomorrow night, Alison Wonderland will play a house set at Republic NOLA, SVDDEN DEATH b2b Sullivan King and Mersiv will take over the Joy Theater and Lab Group takes over the Orpheum Theater with Of the Trees, Supertask, Potions b2b Tiedye Ky and Player Dave.