The scene at Burning Man 2023 has returned to relative normalcy, with its gate officially opened earlier on Monday (Sept. 4), allowing attendees to leave the event in the remote Nevada desert.

The event’s roughly 73,000 attendees were previously confined to the site after the event’s ingress/egress gate was closed following several rain showers that turned roads into thick, sticky mud, making them largely impassible.

As of Monday afternoon, the sun was shining over Black Rock City, and attendees who remained were disassembling the hundreds of camps that make up the event. Cars began leaving earlier in the day when the gate road officially opened, although many cars, trucks and RVs made their way out via the gate and a service road over roughly the last 24 hours. Several cars that had gotten stuck in the mud before the roads fully dried were seen around Black Rock City, with tow trucks also on site.

Such road traffic has made many of the streets in Black Rock City deeply rutted, although others remain flat and easier to pass. A volunteer at Burning Man’s official information booth could not advise on how long it’s currently taking for those exiting the event to make it out of the gate, but did say the wait in line could be “extreme.” (Last year, it took many leaving the event upwards of 12 hours to depart.)

The Burning Man airport also resumed service on Monday, with flights currently only traveling to Reno. The Burner Busses that transport attendees to and from Burning Man from cities including Reno and San Francisco also resumed service.

Organizers have opened up WiFi networks so that people can communicate with the outside world, and camps are also sharing passwords to their own networks with others. WiFi coverage doesn’t extend to the entire city, but attendees can walk around and have a pretty good shot of finding it.

The event’s namesake Man will burn Monday night at 9 p.m. The burn was delayed from its traditional Saturday night scheduling due to general wetness and the fact that emergency vehicles like fire trucks could not make it out to the Man structure in the mud. Another large-scale tower structure is also scheduled to burn this evening at midnight, with Burning Man’s temple — where Burners leave mementos of the dead and other heartbreaks — set to burn Tuesday (Sept. 5) at 5 p.m.

Around the site on Monday, groups of campers were heard making plans for bringing their art cars out to watch the Man burn. Bikes, the standard mode of transportation on the typically flat and hard-packed desert playa, are once again in motion. While Burning Man has had a difficult time getting those with electric bikes to abide by the citywide five m.p.h. rule, those with these e-bikes were seen moving quite slowly through the city to avoid being thrown off by the bumpy surface.

The spirit of community that’s core to Burning Man was also witnessed throughout Black Rock City, with many camps sharing leftover provisions — popsicles, pork tenderloin, Gatorade, stuffed animals — with passersby. Some also seemed keen to continue the party, with one remarkably fresh-looking woman remarking, “Oh no, they took the orgy dome down” upon arriving to the site where this structure once stood.

One death was reported at Burning Man, but according to the Associated Press, organizers said the death of a man in his 40s was not related to weather conditions. An investigation is underway, said the sheriff of nearby Pershing County; the man’s name and cause of death has not been provided.

Billboard also heard a confirmed report of an isolated electrocution incident after cables in the ground got wet in the rain. It was reported that the man who experienced this electrocution is in well and stable condition following the accident.

As is normal with the disassembling of Burning Man, Burners will be there for days, likely longer, taking down the rest of their camps and doing their best to ensure that the event’s “leave no trace” ethos is abided by. Sun is predicted for the remainder of the week.

Taylor Swift shared the song that she’s currently listening to on Monday afternoon (Sept. 4).

“damn griff i love this one,” Swift wrote in an Instagram Story.

She linked to Griff‘s new single “Vertigo,” potentially encouraging up to 271 million followers to click over to the track.

Griff responded excitedly to the co-sign: “What!! Is!! Happening!! I have no words,” she wrote, and then directed a whole lot of emojis Swift’s way. “Now everyone go do what the queen says and stream vertigo.”

Although Griff seemed surprised by the social media support from Swift, the two artists have connected before. They met and took photos together at the 2021 Brit Awards, where Swift was the recipient of the global icon award and Griff was named rising star. Swift has previously called Griff’s “Shade of Yellow” an “excellent” song.

Griff recently told Dork that “Vertigo” is a “sad, heartbreak” sort of song.

“When someone leaves your life, you spend a lot of time asking if it was your fault. This song lists all those reasons why it could be, but it’s also about trying to reassure yourself that there was nothing you could have done to make it better. With the way it crescendos, I’ve always heard it as a bit of an emotional rollercoaster,” the singer-songwriter said of the new release.

“There’s a darkness to ‘Vertigo’ that maybe I haven’t tapped into as much before,” Griff continued. “It’s still major, but there’s something quite dark and moody about it too.”

Griff is working on her debut full-length album, which will be the follow-up to her 2021 mixtape, One Foot in Front of the Other.

“It’s the start of a new season for me, for sure,” she told Dork of the new music she’s been creating.

Check out Swift’s Instagram Story here, and see Griff’s “Vertigo” visualizer below.

A group of men who say they were sexually abused by a Japanese boy band producer expressed hope Monday (Sept. 4) that the company will provide financial compensation and introduce measures to prevent a recurrence.

They say producer Johnny Kitagawa sexually preyed on young dancers and singers for decades, having them stay at his luxury home, handing them cash and leveraging promises of potential fame. The company, Johnny & Associates, is a powerful force in Japan’s entertainment industry.

The men said at a news conference Monday that they have been ignored for decades by the company, Japanese society and mainstream media.

Company Chief Executive Julie Keiko Fujishima released a brief statement on YouTube in May about the accusations but has not appeared before reporters. The company has set a news conference for Thursday.

“We want Julie to apologize, as the chief executive and company owner,” said Shimon Ishimaru, one of nine men who have formed a group demanding an apology and compensation from the company. “For a company behind this big a crime to do nothing is unimaginable.”

Johnny’s, as the company is known, is family-run and not publicly listed. Kitagawa, Fujishima’s uncle, died in 2019 and was never charged.

A special team set up by the Tokyo-based company recently spoke to 23 accusers, but has said the total will likely balloon to at least several hundred people. The team also recommended Fujishima resign.

Junya Hiramoto, another member of Ishimaru’s group, said they hope to set an example for others who have suffered.

“Our wounds never fade,” Hiramoto said. “Do you think we aren’t still hurting? Do you think we can forget? Do you know what it’s like for us to come forward like this, filled with shame?”

Over the years, persistent allegations against Kitagawa have generally been dismissed as malicious rumors. Mainstream media stayed silent.

The U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights has urged the Japanese government to act to make sure that Johnny’s provides an apology and compensation and that government oversight of businesses be improved. The government has yet to take action.

Japan tends to be behind the West on issues of gender equality, children’s rights and awareness about sexuality.

It was only after a BBC documentary about Kitagawa aired this year that the scandal again became a topic of scrutiny.

Another accuser, Kauan Okamoto, spoke at the Foreign Correspondents Club in April, saying he trusted foreign media more than Japanese media. Okamoto, like many others who have come forward, was part of a backup boys’ group called Johnny’s Jr.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, but Kitagawa’s recent accusers decided to be named publicly in news accounts.