Everything you need to know about the wildest party in NYC this summer

As our rainy, serene summer approaches its end, New Yorkers have few chances left to get absolutely buck wild in their skimpiest getups. Fortunately, the time has come for BangOn!NYC’s Elements Music & Art Festival, at which sweaty revelers party in a postmodern playground of slides, rides and performance stages.

Though one of the city’s hottest summer parties usually takes over a Brooklyn waterfront for its seasonal blowouts, this year’s Elements fest brings the insanity to a waterfront industrial space at Hunts Point in the Bronx. And this year’s iteration is divided into five stages based on the elements: earth, wind, fire, water and the mysterious “fifth element.”

Among abandoned factories and silos, with a view of the city as a backdrop, partygoers wander through giant art installations, cars that have been transformed into psychedelic pads and a pirate ship, all packed with aerialists, fire performers, naughty circus acts and more. As for the music, this year’s lineup includes Zeds Dead, GRiZ, the Knocks, Kerri Chandler, Flying Lotus, Fleetmac Wood, Barclay Crenshaw, Damian Lazarus and many more. Between sets, you can get your body painted, peruse jewelry and clothes from funky vendors and indulge in food-truck bites from eateries such as Bareburger, Meatoss street grill and others.

Even though the bash is going down in the Bronx, you can count on Brooklyn to deliver dope after-parties. Head to Schimanski (54 North 11th St) on Saturday 12 for a DJ set from the Knocks and a secret headliner from the fest, and bring your most outrageous looks to House of Yes (2 Wyckoff Ave) on Sunday 13 for a set from DJ B2B and another secret headliner (11pm; $25).

If you’ve been saving up your cape and pasties for that special summer day, you better bust ’em out now. And don’t forget to bring enough glitter for everyone. Get your tickets here before they sell out!

Elements NYC is at 1108 Oak Point Ave in the Bronx on Sat 12, Sun 13 1–11pm (elementsfest.nyc). $85/day, weekend pass $145.

Photograph: Courtesy Chris Lazzaro