Global Dance Festival 2011: Review |

Thursday: As a recent transplant to the Denver/Boulder area the first night of Global Dance Festival marked my very first trip to the absolutely spectacular Red Rocks Amphitheater. A music venue and a state park in the same place is not something you would expect to find but together they make for a spectacular setting and I was really floored at just how amazing it was. On both sides the amphitheater is enclosed by two monolith red rock spires that reach well over a hundred feet above the ample seating areas and provide acoustic perfection for almost every seat in the house. When you climb to the very top of the seating area you have a gorgeous view that includes the red rock geologic formations, the stage and a clear view of the valley below all the way to Denver.

When I first arrived on Thursday I spent easily an hour wandering about the grounds and soaking in every amazing view the venue had to offer and did not even take a second to pay attention to the opening acts (my apologies). As the sun began to set, illuminating all of the clouds around the venue I finally brought my attention to the music just as Boulder’s own Big Gigantic took to the stage.

If someone described to me the sound and style of Big Gigantic prior to hearing it I would have been steadfast in my declaration that it was not my thing and that I had no interest in it whatsoever. But on this day, hearing each track unfold in such an eclectic mix of sounds, they had my attention from the first note. It resonated somewhere deep inside of me where my past musical preferences all still live together in perfect harmony… a little hip hop, some reggae/jam style live horns and then some seriously large electro basslines. Like the torrential downpour that started off the event these two maniacs armed with a sax, drum set and a laptop took Red Rocks by storm with their remixes of wildly popular hip hop tracks like ‘black & yellow’, ‘kanye west – get em high’, ‘notorious thugs’ and my personal favorite ‘Aloe Blacc – I need a dollar’ the theme from HBO’s How to Make it In America. An already massive tune, these two introduced their own unique jam/electro twist and really created something special that had even this jaded ‘EDM only’ fan scrambling for his camera to get the performance on tape. I apologize if I have done a shit job describing their performance and sound but it was unlike anything I have ever seen or heard and have nothing to compare it to. All I will say in closing is that the energy, enthusiasm and skill these two guys have for performing and making music is second to none and I expect to see them taking the music world by storm in years to come.

Kid Cudi was next on stage and again he is not an artist that prior to GDF I would have gone out of my way to see live. I had heard some of his singles and although I appreciated the music it just wasn’t my cup of tea and actually much preferred his acting vs. his music. Again I was left eating my own jaded pre-conceptions, as Cudi is an amazingly versatile artist that can truly do it all. Backed by a strong group of live instruments, DJ Cudi’s stage presence was at a world-class level and put on what was my favorite performance of the evening. His unique and personal crowd interaction combined with the massive sing along potential of his music had the crowd in the palm of his hand from start to finish. His ability to make great music without relying on the shwag hip hop cliché material combined with a very high level of intelligence and truly honest appreciation for the love his fans bestow upon him is a breath of fresh air within hip hop and sets him far above his peers in my opinion. Furthermore the guy is honest to god ‘triple threat’ of acting, rapping and singing.

Prior to Thursday night I had never heard him break it down and give a singing performance and then he busted out his own cover of Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe. His live band support came alive and he gave a performance that for a blind person would have been difficult to differentiate from the real McCoy. Again I was transported back to the classic rock days of my youth and couldn’t help but join in singing along. It was IMPRESSIVE to say the least and really cemented my respect for him and his array of talents. Cudi closed out the set with his BIG collaboration with David Guetta called ‘memories’ and in perfect fashion twirled off the stage like a ballerina to an enormous roar from the crowd.

The night closed out with Empire of the Sun, a group I had the chance to catch recently at EDC Las Vegas. If you have never seen them live it is hard to describe exactly what they performance is like but I would personally call it one part cirque du soliel, one part parliament funkadelic and one part lady gaga with a little acid trip sprinkled on top for good measure and then all wrapped up in a little EDM package. Yes it is hard to wrap your head around but just picture flying acrobatics, gaudy and ridiculous costumes, undeniably funky grooves and a strangely sexy vibe engulfing the whole thing. They certainly are not my favorite and this night was no exception but I must give them credit as they received by far the biggest response from the crowd on this night. It was pretty funny to see the crowd (a lot of whom were dressed just as ridiculously) jumping about screaming the lyrics to every song and at times reminded me of scenes from the movie ‘Mr. Magorioums Wonder Emporium.’ Needless to say my interest faded quickly as their performance continued and halfway through decided to cut my losses in favor of getting some sleep for the following night.

It was a very unique ‘live’ first night of a Dance Music Festival that I must say was very refreshing, enjoyable and a perfect way to start a three-day event.

Friday: I arrived on Friday in a salty mood after a day of work followed by my realization that I was going to have to listen to a whole lot of dubstep on this night. The first group I caught while stuffing my face with a cheese steak was the Manufactured Superstars. These two cartoon like individuals dressed in spaceman suits are exactly what their name states…manufactured superstars. Their musical offering entail taking major pop and EDM/pop singles throwing them in a blender and then re-serving them to you with their own hard electro dubby breakdowns that are by no means unique or noteworthy. I cannot think of a single track they played that stood out more than the giant south park style logo of them that was permanently displayed on the screen. I am not trying to be an asshole but I really could not understand what makes them so worthy of a main stage spot at an event like this. They should have been at a local high school dance DJing a prom if you ask me. Thankfully my cheese steak was good enough to keep me pre-occupied through most of their set…

Nero followed the south park characters and I have to admit I was not excited for their performance in the least. I have regularly expressed my general distaste for just about anything dubstep and as one of the hot new names in the genre I was anticipating an un-enjoyable bludgeoning of my eardrums. But to their credit the performance was not nearly as bad as I anticipated and must admit I quite enjoyed bits and pieces of it. Most songs would start off well with a nice uniform buildup and maybe even a little melody tucked underneath the heavy drum and bass but then the dreaded dubstep epileptic freak out where everything that had built up to this moment is lost in a glitchy tweak out that just makes me scratch my head and wonder “why?” Nevertheless, it was clear why Nero had just won best dubstep act at the beatport awards because every time the craziness was released the crowd chock full of Boulder students erupted into an all out dub party.

Skrillex took to the stage after Nero and didn’t skip a beat further whipping the dub party into a hand waving frenzy. His energy, crowd interaction and overall performance was second to none on day 2 and I am proud to say he was the catalyst for my first dubstep breakthrough. From his opening track of ‘Hips Swing’ to his cheeky bootleg remix of Montel Jordan’s ‘This is how we do it’ I found myself grooving to the music instead of cringing in despair. Of all the dubstep acts I have seen live to date Skrillex had best grasped the concept of keeping a musical flow to some degree in between the chaotic dub drops and would quickly bring the music back to the melody so as not to feel disjointed and forced. He played a good sampling of material from his “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” album and every track was stuffed with a crushing bass that perfectly straddled the line between just enough and too much. From my perspective his was by far the most ruckus set of the whole weekend and with every drop the crowd undulated into a sea of disjointed and spastic dub party ‘dancing’ if you could call it that.

As I would not even consider staying for LMFAO, Major Lazer closed out my night with an almost identical set to what they played closing out EDC a few weeks ago. A rock hard and dancehall laden electro set complete with his own ragga MC incessantly pumping up the crowd and only stopping to take a liberal swig of the Hennessy he always had on hand. It was a good set but it all felt very repetitive and my interest began to fade as my fatigue set in. I will not dispute the massive talent that DIPLO has and would have much preferred to hear an original DJ set from him instead having to see the exact same performance as EDC.

Saturday: My excitement was at its highest level of the weekend on Saturday as the lineup was full of more traditional dance music acts that were right in my wheelhouse. I arrived later than desired after waiting for my counterpart to get out of work but we got there in time to catch Emma Hewitt’s live performance. Emma has made quite a name for herself over the past couple years with her gorgeous vocals which have become a favorite of trance producers and fans all over the world. Many times before live vocal performances of this nature have left me running for cover but Emma was on point and on key throughout. The melodic sounds of hits like ‘waiting’ and ‘not enough time were a perfect warm-up to the evening and I cannot say enough about her true talent for singing as it was at times better than listening to her pre-recorded and mastered tracks. All things considered she put on a great performance and to top it off she is pretty easy on the eyes if you know what I mean.

Avicii was next on the decks and received a typically warm welcome from the crowd. This Swede has arguably been the biggest name in dance music over the past six months and put on a pretty darn good performance stuffed to the gills with his unmistakable productions and remixes. Although he has seemingly perfected the art of making music this youngster still has a bit to learn when it comes to putting on a performance. Throughout, his monotone movements and gestures did little to encourage the crowd and at times the crowd seemed to get a little sleepy. I am not saying it was bad by any means, just that he could learn a thing or two performance wise from his fellow Swedes about how to keep the crowd engaged. The set was very similar to that at EDC (a trend for the weekend) but nevertheless did not feel stale or repetitive, as his tunes are truly eargasm material.

And now the drum roll for my favorite set of the weekend…

Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of catching Gareth play a number of shows never failing to properly shatter the joint…and Saturday was no exception. In true Gaz fashion he started on the progressive end of the spectrum with the Ashley Wallbridge remix of his track ‘arrival’ and continued to build the energy and BPM throughout, culminating an all out trance party with tracks like ‘kernkraft 400 (Chris Schweitzer remix), ‘sanctuary (Giuseppe ottaviani remix)’ and John O’Callaghan’s ‘stresstest’. This was the only set of the weekend where I put the camera away for an extended period of time and let myself enjoy the music to the fullest. It was a very unique set from what I have heard in the past and was a great sampling of the massive tunes that his Garuda record label has been churning out recently. My high point for the night was a new remix of the classic anthem ‘born slippy’ by underworld, which lulled the crowd into a state of trance before cutting loose like only trance can. My only wish is that they had given Gareth the headliner spot instead of Benny Benassi but oh well.

Benny was at one time one of my favorite artists in dance music with his groundbreaking electro sounds that almost single handedly put the genre on the mainstream map. Since that time he has undergone a significant style change for the worse (a la Tiesto) and now plays predominantly dubstep. As a result he has fallen well out of favor with me and was a less than ideal way to end a great night. I will give him credit that his new dubstep sound is far more enjoyable that most dubby acts out there today, however I couldn’t help but think back to his glory days and how badly I yearned to hear ‘Finger Food’. Like previous nights the crowd clearly did not share my same sentiments and the crowd gobbled up every track always yearning for more while they cut loose with their glow sticks.

Looking back after a few days to digest, Global Dance Festival 2011 was a great success and was a truly unique event for a number of reasons. First, the variety of great music available was unlike anything I have ever seen at a dance event. Second, the venue was gorgeous and probably the nicest outdoor venue I have had the pleasure of seeing. And lastly, I have never seen an event bring together such a wide cross section of people, from frat boys, candy ravers and hippies to old disco fans looking to revive their youthful spirit. They all came together in a swirling ball of PLUR, making each and every night a true pleasure to be a part of.