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Month Long Hiatus Post Feat. Coachella 2012 Review (Weekend 1)
So I am back in the Dimension after yet another month long hiatus and for good reason. With the Fall semester ending on Tuesday, I was forced to get well ahead of my schooling leading up to Coachella (Weekend 1) and have not had free time up until now (recovery and finals). Coachella 2012 has come and gone, and again this year I find myself struggling to remember just exactly what happened. My personal favorite weekend of the entire year went by in a quick flash. Emotions of joy, frustration, coldness, warmness, and overall satisfaction can be used to describe weekend 1. It was very unfortunate that we were greeted with the harshness of mother nature as rain followed by cold wind were factors the first two days. But I was not going to let this ruin the best weekend of the year so the first day we swung right into action by setting up shop in what was a fun filled electronic dance music weekend in Coachella’s Sahara Tent.
Day 1
Kicking off with a groovy disco set from Breakbot, he smashed it and really got the spirits going with weather conditions deteriorating quickly. What happened next was absolutely out of this world as SebastiAn took the decks of the Sahara. WOW! This was one of the hardest pounding electro sets I have ever seen in my life. Intense pumping dark n dirty French electro sounds were shooting throughout the tent as SebastiAn was # 3 in my day one Top 3.
Breakbot
SebastiAn
Directly following SebastiAn came Feed Me who absolutely destroyed the Sahara. My first time catching him and it exceeded my high expectations. Up next was the 17 year old French sensation Madeon, who I have to say looks like he is 13 years old, but I have huge respect for a kid this young playing in front of the massives at festivals such as this. The kid absolutely dominated and had the Sahara in a frenzy as everywhere I looked people just had the biggest smiles on the faces and were dancing their asses off.
Feed Me
Madeon (16 Min Clip)
With 5 hours already logged in the infamous Sahara Tent we were gearing up for another big 3 hours with Alesso and Afrojack. I have been wanting to see Alesso for quite some time now and man did that swede ever bring the fire. This was probably the top point in my day even with the Swedish House Mafia still to come. Alesso had chicks throwing their panties in the air he was crushing it so hard. He fell runner up as # 2 in my top 3 for day 1 and I will be looking to catch him again ASAP! Now it was time for some AFROJACK MUSIC! Nick van de Wall aka Afrojack is probably most well know for rocking festivals around the world. Last year was his first ever Coachella appearance and won my ‘Set of the Festival’ award. I was all about his set this year but I must say that last years “Sunset” time slot and overall EPIC performance might never compare to any other time I see him.
Alesso
Afrojack
Last but not least was the # 1 performance of day 1 and my long awaited debut of seeing the Swedish House Mafia. Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, together known as the Swedish House Mafia had an absolute massive performance on the Main Stage. Massive is the only word I am able to come up when trying to explain this set, the stage production was huge with several up and down moving led screens, flames and fireworks on stage and in the air, huge confetti explosions, and a truly insane lazer show. If you have an hour to spare, here is their entire live set to close out day 1 of Coachella 2012 Weekend 1.
Swedish House Mafia (Full-Set)
Day 2
After a massive opening day there is good reason why day 2 is the hardest to get the ball moving. Legs are more sore than any typical one night headliner show. Having this been my first festival of the year, I’m not going to lie, I was struggling. Anywho, I finally woke up after minimal sleep and a short morning nap to make it to the Do Lab in time to see Dirtybird’s own Christian Martin. Co-Founder of Dirtybird records, a tech house label that throws by far some of the best parties you can find, Christian was the perfect way to get the day going with that classic dirtybird sound that I am a very big fan of. If you are not that into minimal techno then you should take a listen to his live recorded Coachella Set, or attend any dirtybird party that may come your way. These guys are about the bass and will have you shakin your booty all night long.
Christian Martin
After getting nice and groovy in the Do Lab for Christian Martin it was time to skip on down to the beloved Sahara Tent. Zeds Dead was about to take the stage and I cannot tell you just how hard these guys throw down. This being my second time seeing them (both in festival settings), they proved yet again why they are my favorite dubstep artists. The two, along with vocalist/mc Omar LinX threw down a hell of a set aside from the little mishap in the video (it was actually refreshing to see proving they are mixing live). Going straight into “Oh thats unexpected” (The Beginning – Zeds Dead). They earned the # 3 spot in the top 3 for day 2.
Zeds Dead
Earning the # 2 spot in day 2′s top 3 was the overall epicness and energy that went down in the Heineken Dome. For some reason people do not know about the Dome as it serves as a mini beer garden in one part and a sweet dance party in the other dome. The sounds that go down in here range from minimal techno, disco techno, to electro house. There is air conditioning in there and a mesmerizing light show that is projected onto the roof of the Dome. People in here are full of energy and it is a never ending dance party. You can walk through here at any point throughout the day and it will be raging. By far the best kept secret about Coachella.
Heineken Dome
After spending the majority of the afternoon in the Dome as well as in the campsite raging with new friends, we got back to the Sahara to catch the end of David Guetta. I’m not quite sure why people hate on him so hard (probably because he is so main stream, obviously) but this man throws down hard and it was good to catch the end of his set. Up next was Americas top ranked DJ, Kaskade. I have been a big fan of Kaskade for some time now and have been fortunate enough to see him twice before. His classic into alone earned him the # 1 position for day 2 and his entire set can be seen in its entirety below. After catching half of his set me and a friend decided to head over to the Mojave Tent to see a bit of Sub Focus. Man his stage was absolutely crazy and in my book the coolest stage of the weekend. For me I was not too familiar with him but knew a few of his songs. This is why Coachella is awesome because of the new artists you become to love based solely upon experience. Although the sound did keep cutting out it was still a sick performance and the visuals definitely helped out with the sound difficulties.
Kaskade (Full-Set)
Sub Focus
Day 3
The third and final day of the best weekend of the year was upon us. This is the day were you are already dialed in and ready to rage your face off because you have another 362 days left until you get to do it all over again (unless you were lucky enough to go both weekends. I will be trying to do that next year). So here we are absolutely death raging in the campgrounds with friends of friends and everyone is in a killer mood. The weather is the best its been all weekend and people are partying…HARD. First up for the final day was Porter Robinson. It has been a year since I have seen him and boy did this kid really grow up fast. I had heard he has been crushing it as of recent and to finally see him after a year I was able to witness the madness that is Porter Robinson! See for yourself as the entire set was recorded!! Cheers to whoever records these sets. I do not know how you can stand as still as you do!
Porter Robinson
If you are not familiar with “Doing the Dada” or “Kicking Out The Epic Mother Fucker” or going “Bananas” or drinking mass amounts of Champaign, then you are obviously not familiar with Dada Life. One of the most high energy acts you can possibly witness and this proved true again at Coachella. They debuted a new track that I believe is called “Do The Dada” which was absolutely insane. Dada earned the # 3 spot for day 3 and it was epic to see them rock out in a festival setting.
Dada Life (Full-Set) Dada Life (ID)
JUSTICE as up next on the Main Stage and holy balls this was the best set of the entire weekend and obviously earning the # 1 set of day 3. Honestly I do not listen to a whole lot of them but I know most of their songs, and a lot of them are featured in surf videos that I have watched over the years so it was epic to finally see the legendary duo. They came on a bit late which was pretty lame but they came out swinging. This was probably the hardest I raged out all weekend and they absolutely dominated the main stage. Can’t wait till I can see them again.
Justice (Intro) Justice (DANCE/DVNO)
With their set being cut a little short because of their late start, we skipped back over to the Sahara to catch the end of Calvin Harris. And HO LY SHIT the Sahara was RAGING! Calvin had the Sahara beyond capacity as we were forced to make a little spot outside the back of the tent. When Calvin finished up dominating the entire tent cleared out as everyone headed over to the Main Stage for Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. This was a toss up because my personal favorite Avicii was set to debut his brand new stage and as the legendary Pete Tong tweeted just days before that Avicii’s new production will blow away the people at Coachella. Taking Pete’s word for it, and just how fired up our group was, we hung in the very spacious Sahara. I was completely content with this decision because there was so much room to do whatever you want and plus there was about to be anthems galore. So after sitting down for a while I stood up to look at the stage and I saw a giant head on the stage. There were some crazy visuals projected onto this all white head, and his DJ booth was in the brain of this head which was close to the top of the Sahara Tent. The bass was turned up so loud that my skull was shaking and he threw down a fucking insane set filled with every single one of my favorite anthems. Avicii is always incredible live and puts a good energy out in the crowd with big time feel good anthems! He locked up the # 2 spot for day 3 and I am glad to say I was a part of the first people to see this insane new stage production.
Avicii (First 15 min of Set) Avicii (Good view of the new production ie. the Head)
Coachella 2012, Weekend 1, came to a close much too quickly for my liking. As always there are the should have dones, would have dones and what you didnts but just to be there is an amazing feeling wherever you are on the Polo grounds. The weather for Weekend 1 was an obvious let down, but we proved that mother nature cant hold us back from having as much fun as we possibly can. It is always hard to come back to reality once its over because you have just been in a mysterious fairy land that we like to call Pandora. If you have still yet to attend Coachella and you a fan of any kind of music, you must make this a top priority for 2013. It being my favorite weekend of the year I already have the countdown going to April 2013 and can’t wait to be back in Indio for next years Coachella.
Impromptu: Zeds Dead
After recently catching the Toronto duo of Zeds Dead at HARD Haunted Mansion last Friday, I have been unable to keep these guys out of my headphones. I would not consider myself a big dubstep junkie but there is no doubting when you experience these filthy bass sounds live, you can’t help but to lose control and get down! Zeds Dead brought some serious heat to the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles last week and have encouraged me to incorporate more grimy beats into my headphones. Here are a few tracks for you guys and do yourself a favor…GO SEE ZEDS DEAD! You will thank me later! Head over and “Like” Zeds Dead on Facebook to stay up to date on when they come through a city near you!
Review: HARD Haunted Mansion – Friday
Photo by Zach Bourque/Special to LAist
Well to say the least, I am still recovering from a very wild night this last Friday. HARD Haunted Mansion was yet another insane dance party filled with crazy costumed techy party enthusiasts, as well as the top notch talent we all pay to see. I’m still having trouble gathering my thoughts from another Halloween weekend so this review will be short and sweet.
I do have a huge complaint to begin this review. The security made everyone throw away their unopened packs of gum, which was the first time myself, along with everyone had ever heard of such thing. I payed good money for those apple flavored layers and was forced to just open my pack and throw in 5 pieces just so I wasn’t left without any gum at all.
2manydjs rocked the place very HARD as their visuals on the LED screen were totally mind blowing. It being 2 years since I’ve seen them, I completely forgot how creative they are with that screen! Someone on youtube actually captured their entire set and masted the sound on protools. Makes for a good watch and listen. Section 3 of their set was flagged on youtube for some reason so you guys actually get to miss out on the best part of their set. Sorry!
Zeds Dead got the late add to HARD Haunted since Monster Massive was canceled this year.I knew of them before HARD and heard they are capable of blowing your face off, but had never really been a big follower. Well after seeing the monstrous set they threw down on Friday, I can safely call myself a ZD fan! Not only did they win the award for the best costumes of the night, they threw the hardest set down in my book. These dudes literally blew my brains out and I will for sure be catching them next time around! Below is a tid bit of the action.
The person who filmed this titled it “Ewwwww Zeds Dead.” I would have to agree….
Fatboy Slim was such an incredible honer to see!
More of Everything for Everybody! Fatboy Slim live at HARD Haunted Mansion LA 2011 from KRYSTEE on Vimeo.
Tiga is so mind blowing live. This intro is so epic that I can’t even watch it without going nuts in my room! We were upstairs in the beer garden for this, basically right were this guy is filming and we had a super funky dance circle going down. I’m pretty sure everyone up there was watching us get super weird in our circle rather than watching the madness going on downstairs! Enjoy the video below! PARTYS OVER LOS ANGELES!!!!
I was running in between Rusko and Tiga at the end of the night until the closed off the inside where Tiga was. Rusko was a grade A way to end the craziness of HARD Haunted Mansion 2011 (Friday). Overall had an epic night and looking forward to the next techy party!!
–Techy P
