Talking about Skyline Festival in Los Angeles. Sorry, I had been sitting on this video for a while. Been busy with work and other projects, which I hope to share with y’all as soon as it’s published. Ray and Anthony join me to talk about our Skyline Festival 2023 experience. It was super awesome.
Also, the song “Age of Love” (1990) is a self-titled track by Italian-Belgian duo Age of Love. I guess you can say the track is in 90s era trance style. Paul van Dyk and Cosmic Gate remixed this track in the mid to late 2010s. I just wanted to clarify that comment near the end of the video.
Just messing around and making a music video about Dreamstate SoCal 2022 and Lane 8. Obviously, I don’t own any of the songs, nor am I monetizing this project; I wanted to piece together fragments of videos and memories to celebrate my friends and the music we shared.
Songs Cher “Believe” Lane 8 “Sunday Song” Elysian “Moonchild”
As Xmas ends and Mariah Carey sealed away til next December, I finally got the time to coerce my friends into doing a podcast thingy! In this Festies with Besties episode, Lance and Ray join me alongside new faces Lucy and Layal to recap our Tranceventures at Dreamstate SoCal last November. The event was hella sick as we saw the likes of Bryan Kearney, ATB, and Trance Jesus Armin Van Buuren!
You might want to skip around if you’re looking for a comprehensive discourse about Insomniac’s trance festival. But if you want to hear some friends share some laughs, please come along for the ride. If you were at Dreamstate this year, comment below about your experience and why you loved/hated the event.
Last weekend, Insomniac took over the Port of Los Angeles with its newest addition to the Dreamstate series: Dreamstate Harbor. With only two stages, this rave by the bay is smaller when compared to the massive DS SoCal coming in November. But, this intimate group therapy was more than enough to barge into my heart with all the big festival feelz.
The first stage I went to was The Hydra because it was the closest to the entrance and the only set of GA bathrooms. Its layout reminded me of kineticFIELD with its monstrous LED screens and speaker towers spread across the dance floor. Like the serpent in Greek mythology, this stage showed the versatility of styles steaming from the body of trance.
On the first day, The Hydra took me on a trip filled with psychedelic riffs and energetic tempos from Alchimyst, Astrix, and Infected Mushroom. All the psytrance made Saturday a battle because everyone in their mamas was trying to get to the front. The next day went just as hard with aggressive percussion and driving basslines from the likes of David Forbes, Will Atkinson, Mark Sherry, and Bryan (Bryan, Bryan effin’) Kearney. It’s been over two years since Bryan played in the USA, but his set was utter Kearnage.
Across the harbor was The Aquaria, where the DJs still wrecked my legs but in a loving take-you-out-for-breakfast-after kinda way. A silver cage of naked Truss Segments encompassed the stage, forcing everyone to huddle together for an intimate dance floor. Even when it was packed like sardines because the cold wind was blasting everyone from a state of trance, it was still easier to move around than in The Hydra.
Christina Novelli, Craig Connelly, Estiva, and Giuseppe Ottaviani were some of the DJs who opened The Aquaria, easing us into the night. But when it got dark, so did the music because it was banger after banger from Sean Tyas, Paul van Dyk, John O’Callaghan, and Sander van Doorn (presents Purple Haze). So many fantastic DJs played at this stage, but my favorite act from this pool was Markus Schulz.
Why? Well, I suppose it’s because I feel like a man possessed every time I see the Unicorn Slayer. The way he balances the vigorous snares and kicks from techno with the euphoric melodies of trance is a work of art that makes me want to hug friends and strangers while also punching the air like it owes me money. chef’s kiss
Honestly, there’s not much for me to complain about besides wishing there were more bathrooms, but space in the venue is limited, so I understand. But the free and quick in-and-out parking was fantastic! There were moments when I encountered some not-so-PLUR people who would elbow their way through the crowd or to the front, but that’s not Insomniac’s problem. People were generally friendly, spreading the good vibes from the Book of PLUR. There weren’t all the bells and whistles you would typically see at a festival, but I don’t think DSH needed the extra production or stages because the sound management was perfect.
Rewatching my “Sun & Moon” recording during Ilan Bluestone’s set made me realize something. I realized how much I suck at singing and that I dance like I’m losing a game of DDR. But none of my horrible singing and terrible dance moves matter because, in these small moments of imperfection shared amongst my friends and strangers, I am happy. Thank you, Insomniac, for creating a culture celebrating the magic of trance.
All-in-all, the first Dreamstate Harbor was pretty cool. I have no regrets, not even when I spent 17 dollars on dry chicken tenders and fries. (No lie, I saw a basket of fries on the floor and thought how someone wasted nine dollars.) The star-packed lineup and breathtaking sights of laser-colored fog with giant ships in the background made it all worth my while. TL;DR: New location, same feelz, 100 out of 10, highly recommended.
On this episode of #sorryasainparents, I’m joined by CupCake, RidicuLance, and Vortex for a mini ZipperSquad reunion. We will be sharing with y’all stories of a time when we were just a bunch of broke youths trying to make festivals happen and (of course) EDC!!!
When I started this YouTube project, I knew I would be talking about my music festival journey a lot. This video is the second time I’ve brought up the Electric Daisy Carnival, and it probably won’t be the last. I am grateful to have these three (this time and probably more times) with me, so y’all won’t have to hear just me blabbering on about my glory daze for almost two hours!
So, you’re welcome.
It could be a bit hard to follow our overeager-storytelling as we zip and zap through a bunch of cautionary tales of our early raver days. Still, we couldn’t help getting excited when talking about our nights under the Electric Sky. For this reason, I’ve included timestamps marking things like our early struggles raving in a pre-smartphone era and having to deal with paper tickets, Nocturnal Wonderland and the NOS Event Center, and even infamous TomorrowWorld! I know our conversation may seem a bit erratic, but I’m sure our love for the events hosted by Insomniac will make everything seem connected . . . I hope.
It’s a shame I can’t get all of my rave family together in one video (because that would just be a chaotic mess, let’s be honest). I wish I could, though. I love everyone whom I’ve met throughout my rave journey. Being in this pandemic, I’ve come to realize how much I miss every one of those beautiful souls. And If I’ve learned anything from being stuck at home, limited to Zoom calls, it’s not to take your bonds and friendships for granted.
So I hope this video can bring some of y’all (who are also missing their rafe fam, festie besties, and the euphoric feeling of being on the dance floor surrounded by beats and lights) a little comfort. If y’all have any stories y’all wanna share, feel free to post them down below.
PS, I want to apologize for some of the crappy pictures; I had to extract most of them from Facebook. But like the memories we made, these shitty pictures are an accurate representations of the times we shared, cloaked in a beautiful haze of dreams and stupidity.
Timestamps
0:00:00 – Intro
0:01:00 – Welcoming In The Gang
0:02:00 – Starting Off 2020 w/ A Bang!
0:02:50 – Prepping For 2021 Festivals (COVID Measures)
0:05:00 – INSOMNIAC And EDC 2020 Problems
0:07:30 – 2020, The Year Of DJ Livestreams
0:11:50 – We Used To Deal w/ Physical Tickets, GrooveTickets, And MapQuest
0:16:30 – The NOS Event Center and Beginning Our Journey At Nocturnal Wonderland
0:23:17 – HARD vs INSOMNIAC Events
0:28:10 – Evolving Our Music Taste And Timeless Artist On Repeat (Above & Beyond, Seven Lions)
0:32:00 – Beyond Wonderland 2012 w/ ASOT 550 and The Knights Inn
0:35:55 – EDC Part1: 2012 Duststorm, Thursday Night Bar Crawl, And The Friendship Lineup
0:46:30 – Vegas Kinda Sucks w/out EDC
0:48:30 – Doing Crazier (Stupider) Stuff When We Were Younger
0:50:45 – TomorrowWorld 2015, Chicago Fam, And Risking Our Life And Jobs For Squad
1:05:40 – EDC Part2: EDC 2013 (Da Best Year), Fitting 13 People in a 2 Bed Hotelroom, EDC Traffic
1:13:00 – Boomer Ravers, Raving Used To Be Controlled Chaos, Off The Main Stages
1:18:40 – Being Messed Up At Raves and TomorrowWorld (Again!)
1:20:30 – Those EDC Moments, Our EDC Numbers, And Our Favorite EDC Stages
1:31:20 – The Last Time We Gave Out Kandi At A Festival, And The Scene Has Changed
1:35:20 – Prohibited Rave Items And Festival Security
1:39:00 – Safety At Festivals, Finally Getting Free Water, And New Friends
1:44:40 – We Miss Festivals And The Friendship Lineup
1:49:43 – Being Broke And Raving Made Everything Stressful
1:52:53 – Saying Our Goodbyes, Till Next Time
#SorryAsianParents 