Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson both hit the spot for me; two of the better sets of the entire weekend. Emma Hewitt can SING.
oh and IMO: W&W and Arty @ Ruby Skye sets > Nocturnal sets.
Pookie
I really enjoyed Aly & Fila, Layo & Bushwacka, and Simon Patterson. Cosmic Gate was pretty good as well, though I'm not that into their music. The crowd was really into it. Emma Hewitt sounded great live. I was a bit disappointed by Gareth Emery and Arty, though I haven't been a big fan of their music this past year. It was cool hearing Gareth Emery drop Carte Blanch - Veracocha, wish it had been the original not the remix though.
fantasyexctasy
Someone got me and my group in for free as I vowed never to buy a ticket to an Insomniac massive again. DnB was off the hook with Sigma, Original Sin; dubstep can go suck a big fat cock. I want to go watch DnB artists and hate when they'll drop some stupid dubstep song in and derailing the set. Techno stage was badass. Calderone and Burridge were amazing, wish we caught more of their sets.
As far as the crowd, what a joke. My gf and I had to be the only sober people that we saw all night except at the techno stage. Alot of fat ugly chicks with too much skin showing and wannabe tough guys trying to start with everyone. One guy told me you and two seconds later I had his face between my arms daring him to take the first punch. Too bad he was on drugs otherwise I would have sent him home with two black eyes. I kept getting hassled by people for pills just because I think they assumed that anyone in their mid twenties is there to deal lol. I think after Armin Only it might be time to retire for a while. The music just isn't as good as it used to be now that everyone is selling out and the crowd isn't worth dealing with anymore. I wish I could go back to 07 before the scene blew up
modthispny
i'm pretty much over the festival scene as well.
last one i went to was nocturnal last year and i had a blast so rather end it on a good note.
Pookie
Man I wish I had caught Lee Burridge. I was debating between him and Cosmic Gate since I was a big fan of Cosmic Gate when I first started listening to trance music, but now I'm more into music that Lee Burridge plays. I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed Burridge a lot more.
Jim Carson
My dancing partners were about 4 hours late to the hotel and it took them about 2 hours to get ready so we didn't get in until after 11pm after we found out the guest list was off site.
I have to say that this was one of the best Insomniac productions I have seen to date. Nocturnal 2011 was definitely on par with EDC 2008. I didn't go in 2010 or 2011 so I have no reference for those other than word of mouth and the media.
As far as the crowd, it was very diverse. The people I ran into were very cool and many people stopped to say hello and take pictures with us.
I talked to Dave Dresden who was delighted with the production and the opportunity to play for so many people. He was very grateful.
Sebastian Ingrosso played a really good set as well as Mark Knight.
The trance tent wasn't really my scene, but I stopped in to say hello to Christian and Rebecca.
I was very pleased with the atmosphere and the art installations from Burning Man.
I think the festivals these days are what you make of them. If you set the intention to have a good time, you're going to be very happy at the end of the night.
Props to Insomniac and all the people that worked hard to put on such a great show! :D
djjoshuaallen
My friends and I had a great time.
Although I struggled to find any interesting music outside of the upside down room all night, Calderone's set was worth the trip alone.
Its a shame the techno room had a hard time staying even half full most of saturday.
I dont know if im getting old/tired of the festival toons, or all the DJs really are playing gawd aweful music. Everybody seems to be playing it safe repeating the same big tracks. Creativity and experimentation seem to be absent at the big shows these days, that goes for the lineups as well. Thank god pasqual has recently been incorporating techno into the field otherwise Id stay home.
Like Jim mentioned, the production of the NOS was quite spectacular, thanks to the creativity of the burner community
Saw many familiar faces. and of course the aferparty was the party to be at:D
gypsygirl
quote:
Originally posted by djjoshuaallen
My friends and I had a great time.
Although I struggled to find any interesting music outside of the upside down room all night, Calderone's set was worth the trip alone.
Its a shame the techno room had a hard time staying even half full most of saturday.
I dont know if im getting old/tired of the festival toons, or all the DJs really are playing gawd aweful music. Everybody seems to be playing it safe repeating the same big tracks. Creativity and experimentation seem to be absent at the big shows these days, that goes for the lineups as well. Thank god pasqual has recently been incorporating techno into the field otherwise Id stay home.
Like Jim mentioned, the production of the NOS was quite spectacular, thanks to the creativity of the burner community
Saw many familiar faces. and of course the aferparty was the party to be at:D
+1 to that josh :)
i got their early to support Bamaca so super quick to get in and then my friends and i wandered around checking out the sights, loved revisiting all the burnming man art, lots of great touches, plenty of beverage and food stations, a free water refill station, clear emergency areas for those that need it and lots of security to keep people safe. if you over did it then it's on your head you were the jackass, insominac did everything right, props to them. i don't normally do massives, most the music doesn't appeal to me and tweeker ravers just aren't my thing but i went for the techno stage and i'm glad i did. Tiefswartz was great but unfortunately he went on so early that there was barely anyone in the room. pleasure kraft was meh and i didn't care for greenvelet either but calderone and burridge were on point!!!
although i don't see Lee as a massive style dj, his style is quite different and he doesn't bang it out, he usually builds, takes you on a ride and needs time to do that i still had a great time dancing to his set, i love lee and that was why i was there!!!!
i was fortunate to be a guest of one of the djs so i was able to use the bathrooms behind the stage, chill there and visit with several of my friends that were performing. I had a great time, and yes josh, the afterparty is always the best :)
i'm looking forward to escape from wonderland b/c of Paco and Marco and Buttich!!!
Cool1g
i had a great time myself.... as a few others said, the 'techno' room on Sat night had the best music IMO. I did check out a bit of Alesso and Eddie Thionek (sp?) for the heck of it... heard a bit of Seb's and Kaskade's set but was socializing then more than anything.
One of the few backstage funny things I can post here was seeing Kaskade being escorted on stage by like 4-5 security guys kind of like a prize-fighter walking into the ring for a title fight.... all the other big djs i saw just kind of walked on stage no big deal.
rowdy
quote:
Originally posted by Cool1g
i had a great time myself.... as a few others said, the 'techno' room on Sat night had the best music IMO. I did check out a bit of Alesso and Eddie Thionek (sp?) for the heck of it... heard a bit of Seb's and Kaskade's set but was socializing then more than anything.
One of the few backstage funny things I can post here was seeing Kaskade being escorted on stage by like 4-5 security guys kind of like a prize-fighter walking into the ring for a title fight.... all the other big djs i saw just kind of walked on stage no big deal.
He's the NUMBER ONE DJ IN AMERICA BRO!!!! NOT A BIG DEAL :O!!! *SHAKES FIST*
SillySilvia
quote:
Originally posted by Cool1g
i had a great time myself.... as a few others said, the 'techno' room on Sat night had the best music IMO. but was socializing more than anything.
One of the few backstage funny things I can post here was seeing Kaskade being escorted on stage by like 4-5 security guys kind of like a prize-fighter walking into the ring for a title fight.... all the other big djs i saw just kind of walked on stage no big deal.
haha, I saw that too and just shook my head. he had on a zipped up hoodie with the hood on. :rolleyes: really?!
yea, just went to hang with friends and "listened" to many djs here and there. danced to some Green Velvet, Lee Burridge and Mark Knight. fun night cuz of the company and environment.
trance_seeker
Pretty great nights IMO. I didn't have any problems with the crowds either night. Everyone was friendly and cool that I ran into. I mainly went to see Gabriel and Dresden and Dirtyphonics. I also wanted to see Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano to see what the buzz is about but I didn't get there in time.
The main stage was pretty impressive. The LED screens on the ceiling were something I haven't seen before and I thought it added a nice touch instead of just having all of the lighting up front. The Labyrinth was not overly crowed either night and I had an easy time getting in and out of there compared to the jam packed Alice's House. For Gabriel and Dresden I went early to find a good spot. I was finally there and ready and right when Alesso finished, a ton of people left and I had so much room. Nice :) I was surprised G&D played some dubstep. Not really into that but it sounded nice on the sound system compared to . . .
Dang, I don't know if it was just me since no one else commented on it but I thought the sound in the Sunken Garden room was horrible. Way too much bass and very little mids and highs. I don't know if that room just has the worst acoustics, but it sounded worse than when they had the trance acts in there for Beyond Wonderland. I couldn't stay in that room for most of Dirtyphonics' set because it was so bad which was disappointing.
+1 on the Emma Hewitt can sing. She sounded really good live.
Nice surprise when Gareth played Mistral.
I thought the lighting in the Upside Down Room fit the music good. The lighting they had for Beyond Wonderland was kind of plain.
I'm not over the festivals yet. I like the change of pace from seeing 2-3 artists on a single stage to getting to move around and check out people I normally wouldn't go see to hear different styles of EDM on different stages.
There didn't seem to be enough bathrooms this time though. I didn't want to bother waiting in the lines so I only had 1 alcoholic drink on Friday and none on Saturday.
I wonder how they did with the VIP sales because the VIP area in the back of Alice's House did not have that many people up there when I looked.
Here are some videos I took over the weekend->
Not really into the music on this one but it has a better view of the screens on the ceiling
