Tag Archives: Green Velvet

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Insomniac’s 16th annual Nocturnal Festival brought in a “record breaking 42,000 fans.” There were several unique additions to this year’s festival which took place on Saturday September 26th, 2010.

“We are committed to making each festival even better than the last one. For Nocturnal, we presented fifty of the world’s best DJs and brought this amazing new tent all the way from New York. We also offered all our guests free filtered water and we look forward to continuing this program at our other festival venues.”

“Insomniac super-sized the main stage area by introducing the most enormous tent structure ever seen on the West Coast. With black interior walls, 56 foot high ceilings and 78,000 square feet of space, the tent creates the ideal space for special effects, multimedia concert performances and, of course, dancing music fans.”

Although we had planned to be in town in time to see Bird Peterson (4-5pm) and Hudson Mohawke (5-6pm) at the Upside Down Room stage we barely caught the bitter end of Felguk‘s (6-7pm) set. Luckily we had already seen them perform before, but for those unfortunate ones who haven’t seen them perform, we highly recommend the enlightening experience. These two get down and dirty creating a wave of energy that shocks the crowd into dancing throughout their whole set.

Next in the Upside Down Room stage was Kavinsky (7-8pm), who for reasons unknown (to us) didn’t begin until 7.15pm. Dan Oh (3-4pm) kept the crowd going after Felguk’s set til Kavinsky took the stage. It was worth the wait, unfortunately a big chunk of the crowd went to other stages when they impatiently thought Kavinsky wasn’t showing.

Kavinsky is one of the more talented underrated artist I know in the electronic scene. As a french DJ he payed tribute to Justice, playing ‘Stress’ a tune I hadn’t heard in awhile. He also played his signature original tunes, ‘Testarossa’ followed by the newly appreciated ‘Nightcall.’ In preparation for the next performer Kavinsky dropped TC’s ‘Where’s My Money’ and then took us back to our Nu Disco.

Still in the Upside Down Room 12th Planet (8-9) took the stage opening with the famous Network (1976 film) quote, “So I want you to get up now, I want all of you to get up and out of your chais. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell I’m as Mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” He then proceded directly into into his heavy fast-paced pounding dubstep. Fortunately, I’ve had the pleasure of watching this performer deliver his electronic attitude several times and I am always satisfied with the performance. His dubstep comes in hard, mean and fast paced. Heavily paying tribute to the roots of Drum n Bass.

The next stage we ventured into was the Queen’s Ground. The electronic band Autokratz (8.05-9.05) was playing to an emptier crowd, but their hearts were fully in it. I always respect artist who use real instruments and have unique styles and Autokratz is definitely one of them. We made sure we stayed long enough to hear them play ‘Speak in Silence’ one of our favorite original tunes.

The next stage had more to offer than just great performers. Inside sources told us prior to expect amazing visuals by Vello Virkhaus at Alice’s House. The Alice’s House “stage this year will be something never seen before.  The designer and main stage lighting director, Stephen Lieberman, has created two isometric platforms (one on each side of the stage), giving the look of something out of the video game Q*bert.”

We checked into Alice’s House just in time to catch the end of the Bingo Players (8-9pm) set. Giant blown up champagne bottles were brought on stage followed by one of our favorite duo’s Dada Life (9-10). We’ve had the pleasure of seeing, reviewing and meeting Dada Life, but I do have to say that their set at Nocturnal this year was the best set I’ve seen them perform and the hardest. We made sure to stay long enough to hear their newly appreciated tune ‘Cookies with a Smile’ before venturing to the next stage.

At The Labyrinth, Markus Schulz (9.30-11) was performing an awesome set. We tuned in for a few tracks, grabbed a couple good photos and headed to The BassRush Arena where Noisia (9.30-11) was performing a heavy Drum n Bass set.

Two Mc’s up on stage and as I sat and listened I thought to myself, the powerful Aphrodite’s Dub, DnB, style still rocks hard even with the evolutionary Dubstep is performing just next door.

We then made our way back to a much more packed Queen’s Ground stage where the Plump DJs (10.25-11.25) were rocking the scene. I was happy to hear Bangkok and surprised to hear the duo drop their remix of Deadmau5′ ‘Strobe.’ A highly original tune and their work on it is just up my alley. (I love contrasts, so when one can successfully take a smooth, soft, rhythmic tune and mash it with a heavy, dirty sound…that’s art!)

We took a quick break from the Plumps and made our way back to the Upside Down Room, where Chase & Status(11-12.30) were performing. Their style was more DnB then I had expected, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable.

Even after seeing them perform just a month earlier at HARD Summer, we made our way to the Sunken Garden in time to catch a little Skream & Benga (10-12am). Delivering nothing less than original dubstep madness we stayed until it was time to catch a behind-the-scenes moment with the Plump DJs.

[intermission]

Thanks to the beautiful and wonderful Melissa Mac, we were given the opportunity to sit in on an interview with the Plump DJs. As we waited for the people ahead of our interviewers Less Than 3, fireworks were going off above our heads. Less Than 3 is a website that tries to act as a content filter, “like the Rolling Stones.” We appreciate this, since the internet is the least filtered public resource in existence. And it plays a huge role in the electronic scene.

From the interview we learned that the duo has been working together for some 10 years now and has a primary focus of innovation in the scene. They mostly use Logic to produce and a little of Ableton. I believe they told us that they come from a Pop music background, which was funny to hear because Pop music itself, despite it’s catchiness…is not what I would at all describe the Plumps as. They described the UK music scene as being ‘monopolized,’ which made a lot of sense, with the strong influence of BBC and the clubs themselves, i.e. Fabric. So it was a great move for them to start up Grand Hotel and have a place to innovate and create a family of artist sharing the same ideals. Personally I want to add that the two were very humble and had a great sense of humor. They were also very generous in sharing their time, thank you again.

[back to the show]

Now back at The Labyrinth we watched the ending act for this stage, Ferry Corsten (12.30-2am). I myself am not a HUGE fan, but I don’t dislike this artist. So hearing him perform was a great experience, but I was glad to be able to switch over to the Upside Down Room ‘s last act Green Velvet (12.30-2am), who also performed only a month or so prior at HARD Summer 2010. Less crowded, but still a good show.

Of course though, I had to end my night at the Sunken Garden stage with the deadly dubsteppin’ mad Caspa (12.30-2am). I already knew what to expect, having seen him perform just earlier at HARD Summer, but I was happy to feel the heavy vibrating bass as we made our way into the early am. For the curious, he ended his set with his remix of Swedish House Mafia’s ‘One (Your Name) ft. Pharrell.’

In Conclusion, the festival was a HUGE success. I saw a couple people being helped by paramedics, but I feel that the energy and vibes are much better with the new 18+ restriction. As always, the only real con with festivals is the conflict of set times with performers, I listed each performer’s set time and stage when mentioning them so that you could get a feel of the festival process.

The festival process: When there is 50 DJs and six stages it is highly likely that one is forced to pick and choose who to see or to run around like made men/women. That being said, the only artist I really regret not checking into, that performed while I was there, was Steve Angello, according to many he provided an outstanding performance. And I really regret not making it in time for Bird P and Hudson Mohawke after hearing Plump DJs positively mentioning his name during our interview.

Insomniac Website

Nocturnal Website