If there’s one thing that can be said about the greater NYC area, there’s absolutely no shortage of entertainment. If you’re not out doing something then that’s how you want it, you’re being held hostage, or you’re a boring person.
I started writing this at the Long Reach train station in New Jersey, going off three hours of sleep after watching PANTyRAid turn Webster Hall in NYC into a trapaholic workshop for the ages, showing the city where hip hop was born why they wear coordinating Brooklyn Nets jerseys to summon the powers and let everyone release their inner ratchet. Then, before I knew it, I was on my way to the world’s largest theme park for a dance music festival, Electric Adventure. Coming from someone who relocated from Montana, there’s more entertainment under every rock you turn over in these parts than a person can handle…
I arrived at the gate and checked in, a golf cart escorted myself and a couple other media personnel from the main entrance around the park into a private entrance where we saw some of the park’s monkeys chillin’ on weathered and retired pieces of arched roller coaster tracks. Monkey’s are dope and I think they had fun at Electric Adventure too.
I arrived right as Figure took the stage, firing the heavy artillery bass canons as loud as he could, delivering a set that he said was a 75% new music, which is great news for fans of the dubstep monster. He’s slated to release his Horns of the Apocalypse EP on OWLSA soon.
Deorro provided the only set of house later in the day, putting on a captivating and high energy performance that made me a believer. Another first for me was seeing DJ BL3ND. Pretty much everything I’ve heard about the guy leads me to believe he is the Milli Vanilli of the DJ world. Diplo had twitter beef with the massacred-Chuckie-doll-wearing-DJ, but the man knows how to make people dance and keep the set’s energy up to match the adrenaline felt on the park’s coasters. So I guess I can’t hate him… even if he looks like this…
he doesn’t touch his decks as much as his shirt would imply…
GTA stepped up and played an extra half hour because Flosstradamus and Dillon Francis were racing to the venue from the airports to see who would wind up playing first. Dillon won the race, taking a jet from VELD Music Festival in Toronto to play his second set of the night for a New Jersey crowd. The double-header probably inspired his opening song choice, Fatboy Slim’s “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat.” Electric Adventure was pumped!
International travel didn’t phase the cat enthusiast (Dillon…) as he kept the crowd jumping and spun my favorite set of the night. Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus both played shortened sets due to their late arrivals, and with their allotted time trap kings Floss turnt that shit way up to 11, showing the young crowd exactly why these guys are now selling out venues like Red Rocks.
The shortened sets guaranteed Destroid got to melt everyone’s face completely off for their scheduled hour. After seeing them at Bisco and again this past weekend, I was stoked to see it again. If they’re in your area this fall, don’t miss it! Otherwise you’re watching the future pass you by. KJ Sawka’s ferocious drumming combined with Excision and Downlink’s midi guitars creates some truly evil bass music. The production takes it even further, making this act unlike any other.
Aside from the mutters of “So many braces…” heard amongst the older crowd dancing, the all-ages event is a unique festival that provided a day’s worth of music and world-class rides for about the price of what it is to get into the park on an average day. Electric Adventure looks to expand upon their success by adding another date for Six Flags New England at the end of September. With how much fun this combines to take your senses on a wild ride, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see this festival expand to more of the numerous other Six Flags across the country in the future. I know I sure can’t wait until this event takes up calendar space again next year.