Ky

guceubcuesu:

insomniacevents:

The lineup is SOOO good, its a sin NOT to go! 

I’ve been a huge fan of EDM for a couple of years now, but I haven’t REALLYYY started getting into it till this past year. You know, like researching new music, reading about new DJ’s/Producers and the ones I like, learning the equipment, etc. The only moment you can find me not listening to EDM is when I’m listening to hip-hop, which only happens every so often. So I don’t JUST listen to EDM, but it’s basically my life now. 

Everyday I see our generation becoming bigger fans of EDM. Whether it be Electro, House, or Dubstep, our generation is becoming big on it. I had the pleasure of going to Starscape Musical Festival Saturday, June 9th in Baltimore Maryland. It’s a one day event from 2pm on Saturday till 6am on Sunday. Tickets are only $75, which is awesome for how insane the lineup was this past year. Unfortunately, because of how short it was we had to constantly be on the go from stage to stage to see all 15+ artists we planned out to see. 

There were 5 stages; The main stage located in the center of the outdoor venue, where all the merch and food is located. To the right of the main stage was the dance tent, which was decked out with snake towers on each side of the stage which ended up blowing out lasers at night and smoke to cool down/wake up the crowd. From the upper area (because it was located in the park) you can take stairs down to the beach/waterfront area. Two stages were located right on the harbor, in which you could see the bridge and the sky line of Baltimore (beautiful view). One stage on one end was called the Dub-Nation Beach Stage for mainly dubstep and moombahton artists (just Dillon Francis really for moombah haha). On the other end was the Sunrise Stage which was the perfect combination of Dubstep and Electro-House. In between, there were more tents with merch. People were doing live glass blowing, making smoking pieces right before our eyes. There was also a tent with tapestries and crazy light things to buy and wear at this show or any future shows. The last stage was called the Fort Stage. It was tucked in the woods behind the main stage. There was a small stage set up in what seemed to be an old skate park, graffiti’ed everywhere..The set up was really cool. Unfortunately, I never saw anyone there because I was busy running around to other stages. 

My friend Moe took a bus to my house Friday the 8th, the night before the show and Nicole drove to my house the morning of. Us three and my brother left at 8:30 am on Saturday and drove 4 hours to Baltimore. We arrived around noon, parked and tailgated a little. At 1:30 we headed to the gates and waited to get in. There wasn’t a huge line just yet so we got in pretty easily. When my bracelet was put on my wrist, I got excited because I’ve kept my Bamboozle Festival bracelet on, so now I have two for the summer (so far) :) .. not to mention the candy I got later on from the show (rave candy, bracelets). 

The day time was fun to chill and listen to people we didn’t know and learn a few new DJ’s. Linkmindz was the perfect warm-up DJ for the festival and I’m definitely going to look into him. Not to mention Mimosa later on (he’s pretty popular) but I’ve never actually gotten a chance to listen to him. 

It was so much EDM for so long that there were so many good tracks and I couldn’t stop dancing. We had to take breaks every so often or we would’ve been dead by 10pm (considering we we’re actually SHOT at 3:30). The following was the order of DJ’s we ended up seeing, having to leave certain sets early to see the start of other DJ’s because a ton overlapped:

2:00-2:50 : RSK & Doverspike (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

3:10-4:10 : Linkmindz (Sunrise Stage)

4:30-5:30 : Schoolboy (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

4:45-5:45 : Two Fresh (Main Stage)

5:30-6:30 : J Rabbit (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

6:15-7:15 : M Machine (Main Stage)

7:30-8:30 : Skism (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

7:45-8:45 : Modestep (Live)(Main Stage)

8:30-9:30 : Figure (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

9:00-10:00 : Lucky Date (Bassdrop Dance Tent)

BREAK

(kinda listened/watched) 9:15-10:30 : Ghostland Observatory (Main Stage)

On the break, we ate and drank trying to rejuvenate our energy and keep it going. I got a free hot dog and drink because the venue was so busy the guy didn’t even realize. I was sitting on a rock behind the hot dog stand when all of a sudden I see Dillon Francis and Zedd walk by. I hesitated but then screamed their names. They both looked at me and smiled that I was able to recognize them (I’m still amazed how no one else didn’t) and then continued on walking. They seemed to be in a rush because they had backpacks on and everything. I really wish I got a photo with them, but I froze when I saw them considering how important they have been to my love of EDM. What great guys. Immediately after, I was so excited I was yelling things at people about how it amazed me no one recognized them. Everyone seems to love the music, but not know what people look like. I don’t understand this, but whatever. I also got a photo with Two Fresh after their set. They were just chillin under a tree with some kids and I HAD to say hi. Very amazed no one else recognized them either. Anyway, moving on.

Round 2 gets serious:

11:00-12:15 : Wolfgang Gartner (Main Stage)

12:00-1:00 : Dillon Francis (Dub Nation Beach Stage)

At this point, we left Dillon to go see Zedd which was supposed to start at 12:30, but something happened after Lucky Date (I do not know what) but the set times were pushed back so we were able to see Kill the Noise at this point. This made us ecstatic because we thought we were missing his set cause of Wolfgangs. Kill the Noise originally was on 11:15-12:30 in the Bassdrop Dance Tent. So, we headed over to see Zedd but was able to catch Kill the Noise. Then Zedd came on.

1:30-___ : Zedd (Bassdrop Dance Tent).. set was pushed back

Flux Pavilion was on 1:30-2:45 on the Main Stage, but we were too tired to see his set. This was the only DJ I wanted to see and missed, but I’m sure I’ll have more opportunities. 

FINALLY, after Zedd we saw Dada Life. They were really sick. These two German bald guys, eating banana’s and spraying champagne on the crowd, and raging to EDM. I remember I was so tired at this point I couldn’t appreciate them to the level they deserved, but they had some sick animation on the screen behind them to the beat. They opened with “Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker”, and threw in Big Bad Wolf, Calling, and a bunch of other house-y sick ass electro songs. The crowd was going INSANE for them. I relaxed halfway through their set and observed Mimosa on the Sunrise Stage who clearly was killing it while dropping a dubstep version of the new hip-hop song “Mercy” with Big Sean and others. I headed back into the Dance tent for the last part of Dada’s set. I remember they closed with a mash-up of Rage Valley/Fuck ‘Em (off the new Knife Party EP) and Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker.. it was so insane I couldn’t help but to dance my ass off for the last song of my StarScape experience. Jumping, swaying, whatever you want to call it I was doing it. I was in my prime moment. After the song ended, they screamed “WE ARE DADA LIFE” into the mic and they got off the stage. 

After 15-16 hours of EDM, I think we were all shot. I wanted to see Zomboy on the Dub Nation Beach Stage, but we we’re too tired and because the Dance tents set were pushed back we actually were only able to see Dada because they lasted till 4. We drove back after Dada, while watching the sun rise along the way. 3 of us passed out a little on the ride back while my brother drove because I drove the way down. 

We got back at 8 am, showered and ate a ton of food. I was sitting at the table with Moe talking about the show and we looked at the clock.. 8:30 AM. In 24 hours we drove to Baltimore, raged for 16 hours, and drove back. I couldn’t have been happier listening to that much EDM and dancing my ass off. 

This was the best $75 I’ve ever spent in my life.