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That’s a wrap on 2023. Insomniac, the foremost promoter of North America West Coast raves, simply capped off their thirtieth anniversary yr with Countdown NYE on the NOS Occasions Heart in San Bernardino. That includes unbelievable performances from Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, Kayzo, Eli Brown, the Chainsmokers, deadmau5, Porter Robinson and plenty of extra; all amongst the theme of an impending alien invasion. This yr’s Countdown simply acquired even greater and higher, as Insomniac all the time appears to do.
As per traditional Countdown was held on the NOS Occasions Heart in San Bernardino, so if you happen to’ve been to a different Insomniac competition there, it’s a reasonably simple place to navigate. Headliners had been greeted by a photograph opp that includes the invading Lazer Rayz in addition to the Ravebots from final yr’s version of Countdown. Insomniac once more comes by way of with an excellent immersive setting that includes all types of alien performers, alien craft and only a common feeling like you’re within the Twilight Zone. It’s all in good enjoyable after all, the principle hazard is alien probing.
The phases and manufacturing had been greater than ever. The primary stage at Countdown is the Mothership and it’s a gigantic display screen within the form of a flying saucer outfitted with a mind-blowing quantity of lasers and pyro stacks alongside the underside a part of the stage. Whereas it could be kinda cool if there was a large alien behind the stage, just like the Grimm at Escape, there’s one thing to be stated for simply blowing away the gang with the utmost quantity of lighting, coloration and lasers.
The second stage was Nebula and it was primarily a mini model of the Mothership. The display screen on the stage was extra trapezoidal, but it surely was the identical idea, full with lasers and pyro. The third stage was Space 51 which hosted Bassrush for the weekend. Head bangers had been handled to sick stage design that includes screens formed like capsules with aliens floating in suspension had been broadcast on the stage.
One main change from Escape was that the Manufacturing unit 93/Insomniac Information stage, the Twilight Zone (not the present) acquired moved indoors to one of many hangars close to the south a part of the NOS Heart. Not solely had been the vibes on level, however an indoor stage could be very welcome when the climate is on the colder aspect. (Sidenote: This was one of the best climate I’ve skilled at Countdown in so long as I can keep in mind. See final yr’s recap.) A fifth stage, Galactik Gate, was additionally added. It was an out of doors stage simply south of the lagoon, the place the Psycho Circus is normally positioned for Escape. It hosted Area Yacht and Misplaced in Goals over the weekend. Whereas I didn’t catch a set at this stage, it appeared prefer it was going off each time I walked by.
As all the time, the lineup was completely stacked. And, heading into 2024, it appeared like all of the artists had been embracing laborious techno and laborious dance generally. For Saturday I made a decision that I needed to discover as many phases as I may and that I’d attempt and take a look at some artists whose units I don’t normally get to catch. I arrived simply in time for Morten’s set on the Mothership and met a pal, and identical to that, the weekend was off! Morten dropped a bunch of his Future Rave hits and simply introduced unbelievable power.
After that, I knew that I needed to get some techno in, so I headed to the Twilight Zone and caught a few of Layton Giordani’s set. Like I discussed earlier than, the indoor stage was such a pleasant change of tempo, and heated too! After that I headed again to the Mothership for Mau P’s set. Onerous to imagine it’s been a yr for the reason that Dutch producer burst onto the scene with “Medicine from Amsterdam.” Quick ahead a yr later and his set was stuffed with different hits together with “That Bounce” and “Metro.”
Subsequent, Alison Wonderland took the stage, and that is the place the laborious techno actually took over. She began out with a few of her extra old-fashioned entice stylings and her psychedelic visuals had been thoughts blowing. Ultimately although, the thumping kick drums of her laborious techno took over. Right here’s hoping for extra of this from Alison in 2024.
I headed over to the Nebula stage for 4B x JSTJR and so they dropped an unrelenting set stuffed with laborious techno. The intro was truly JSTJR’s simply launched single, “Bassline.” These two understood the task and delivered possibly essentially the most energetic set of the weekend.
Though, that honor would possibly go to the person who adopted them on the Nebula stage, Kayzo. Kayzo completely killed it with a formidable and revolutionary set of laborious dance music. This man dropped every little thing, heavy dubstep, hardstyle, laborious techno, hardcore, Kayzo placed on an absolute masterclass.
For Day 2, I just about simply planted myself on the major stage, the lineup was too stacked. SOFI TUKKER began the evening off and so they had been unbelievable. They principally went from their hit with John Summit “Solar Got here Up” into blistering techno, all of the whereas their backup dancers introduced the power. This was the right set to kick issues off on New Yr’s Eve.
One of many quirks of Countdown is the typically unusual scheduling, since high tier artists are in all probability taking part in a number of reveals. That’s why the Chainsmokers took the stage at 6:40 PM and completely packed out the Mothership. Having simply buzzed his hair, Drew and Alex, unchanged, took the stage and mesmerized the gang with a set that included all of their basic hits like “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Paris”, “Nearer” and “One thing Simply Like This” with a wide range of drops and mashups throughout the spectrum. Techno, psy-trance, drum & bass, Alex & Drew threw all of it down. Oh, and of the course, the lasers.
After that Oliver Heldens took the stage, and he blew the gang away with a mixture of some Oliver Heldens classics, some new Hello-Lo tracks, and every little thing in between that Oliver all the time incorporates into his units. His remixes of “Push Up” and Dua Lipa’s “Let’s Get Bodily” had been additionally highlights. Lastly, deadmau5 was up on the principle stage, and he saved the nice occasions going. Joel opened issues up with some darkish techno, however finally he began mixing in the entire deadmau5 classics, from classics like “Some Chords”, “Channel 43”, “The Veldt”, and, after all, “Ghosts N’ Stuff”.
I lastly broke from the principle stage to take a look at APASHE’s set at Space 51, and, oh boy, the classically educated entice lord didn’t disappoint. The Belgian-Canadian producer confirmed why his mix of classical and digital is on the innovative. It’s all of the power of a dubstep set with the exact musicality and instrumentation of a John Williams’ rating. 10/10 advocate trying out APASHE if he visits your city.
From there, there was no query the place I used to be going to ring in 2024. On the Mothership stage with Porter Robinson. This was Porter’s first look at Countdown since he closed out 2019’s version. The fan favourite didn’t disappoint, dropping a few of his classics from his Worlds interval, together with “Straightforward” and “Language” at midnight. After that Porter thrilled with some laborious dance tunes. At one level, he advised the gang, “I do know you want ‘Shelter’ however we’ve acquired 10 extra minutes of rawstyle earlier than that.” What a means to herald the New Yr.
There you’ve it, Insomniac continues to dominate. Even with no scarcity of choices on one of many largest social gathering nights of the yr, Insomniac nonetheless managed to tug collectively one of the crucial spectacular lineups of any competition that went on this weekend. Countdown 2023 was enterprise as traditional for Insomniac. I’d anticipate nothing lower than excellence in stay occasions in 2024. Beyond Wonderland will be returning to the NOS Occasions Heart in March, and tickets are also available for EDC Las Vegas in Might. Maintain following Insomniac’s socials for updates on festivals in Southern California.
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