Ok, so I like electronic dance music, more specifically Trance. When I started in the 1990's, the US was a bit behind in that department.
Still, with San Francisco and San Jose nearby, I've had some opportunities to see some great EDM/Trance DJs. Back in the early 2000's, they sadly played club music in the US that was nowhere close to the hits they had composed and were known for, but over the years, as Trance started becoming more popular, those DJs finally started playing their good tunes in the US too, and maybe from 2004 on, it's only been getting better. Popsicle Halloween 2004 was really the beginning of great music parties in the San Francisco Area, and thankfully things have gotten even better since then
As a matter of fact, after another 10 years (2015 and beyond) the good news is that Trance has grown quite a following in the US, and places like the SF Bay Area, and while Trance has been declared dead a few times in the last 10 years, it's still going strong here.
Trance Family SF is definitely strong in the area, we've been getting more big trance parties every year, including many top DJs that come visit us what feels like every other week now (as of 2018-2019), and through those events, I made many friends in Trance Family SF. Thanks to you all.
Over those years, I got the chance to meet a few of my favourite DJs, including Armin more than once, and my last hobby has been to work on lights for my shirt and pants (version 3) and (version 4)
It was great to have Solarstone back in SF, this time for a day show, which worked out just fine for me as I had just gotten back from Texas Eclipse Festival less than 24H earlier, and was kind of jetlagged in the wrong direction :)
The 2nd good luck is I'm not a fan of outdoor shows, especially in SF where weather is unpredictable, and sure enough it rained that day, so the show was brought indoors, which was perfect for me, I much prefer dark anyway :)
Solarstone did a lovely OTC from 15:00 to 20:00, starting nice and easy, and ending with a long list of bangers:
Great to run into friends again:
We had a fantastic time, and Rich was nice enough to stay for pictures until we all go kicked out:
I had planned for the so called Great American Eclipse of 2024, and thanks to my friend Marc Antoine who lives in Austin, I did indeed pick Austin as a destination, and at the same time, he told me about a big festival. I was invited to join NAPF, North America Psytrance Family, and we had a great group camping spot just next to the psytrance stages, woot!
I was able to bring my outfit and find a way to charge it nightly without external power (more on solar below):
As a one off festival, I found it was reasonably well organized, at least from what I got to experience:
- ok, tickets were weird, you had print at home tickets that told you they were good enough to get in, but that was not true, they had to be swapped for actual car stickers at will call. Thankfully there was a convenient will call at the airport baggage terminal with virtually no wait when I arrived a day early (thursday)
- early entry on thursday wasn't bad, by then they worked out the kinks of stupid pointless searches trying to take people's vitamins and other personal items that are more than reasonable to have in your vehicle and campsite (like tools to fix things), but I was specifically very annoyed with them feeling they had the right to go through people's personal drugs, over the counter, or prescription and take everything away that wasn't prescription in original bottle (if you have pill boxes, you're screwed). Thankfully by thursday they had less time to search people's stuff, but still, not acceptable
- My wait in line for search was less than 15mn and the search of my car was 5mn, at most.
- The drive in to the NAPF camp was long and slow on a very dusty road, took over 20mn. All in all from the outside road to camp was a bit less than 1h, not too bad
- I've been told that of course the next day (first official opening day), it took longer to get in, and for people with RV who had paid for and reserved a spot with power/hookups, didn't get them, either because they were partly oversold, and/or because some people who hadn't paid for the spots, took them :(
Setup
I was able to bring a reasonable tent in my check in luggage to austin, as well as enough of a solar system to use the rental car battery as a power station that would get recharged by the panels I bought. It was a bit last minute, experimental, and rough looking, but it worked well enough. The couple of times when I didn't get enough sun, the car came with a free generator ;) (external generators were not allowed in camping):
please don't judge, it worked :)
charging the LED outfit batteries from the car batteries, in turn recharged by solar panels
North American Psytrance Family's (NAPF) camp
We had a nice little setup:
Venue/Grounds
Pictures from arrival:
car search line
many camps, reasonable signage
pretty dry and dusty overall, but a few places with water
the nature looked pretty nice in places
The venue
After getting to camp with early arrival on thursday just before sunset, setup camp and went to check out the venue. All the stages were not open yet, but enough things were running:
festival grounds had several entrances with a pretty quick somewhat pointless looking search
it wasn't burning man, but there was a descent selection of lit art
Lots of vendors of hippie gear :)
And other misc things:
A reasonable number of food options for all tastes:
They had multiple water refill stations and lockers, although the water refill stations ran out at times, which was not ideal, and I'm told they were turned off (no more water) on monday afternoon after they asked people to evacuate, not great...
multiple first aid stations, but apparently they were underequipped (more on that below)
the general store I went to was reasonably equipped, but the prices were hidden and very high
the better VIP area had an IV station where you could pay a lot for some fluids
A few "art cars"
The grounds were quite big and had multiple areas:
There was even a nice river and a makeshift beach:
To pass the day, they also had 2 stages with talks, some were pretty interesting:
great to see Rick Doblin again to talk about his work
The festival had close to 10 stages, 6 of them were pretty big. Honestly they were impressive given that they were indeed in the middle of nothing. The only downside was that the map was pretty poor and it was not too obvious which stage was which from the symbols. But yes, the stages were pretty:
NAPF was adjunct to the Ether stage, so we had our own party:
A highlight was to see Oakenfold's day set:
People
Like each festival I go to, I always enjoy the party that other people bring, with lights, costumes, and more:
glad to see the same friends across different festivals
TFSF represent
Videos
Drone show:
Samskara show:
Small summary of the event:
Nice Lit Display:
A minute of my outfit:
Eclipse and Evacuation Day
Early Departure
Monday morning, with barely a shred of a bar on one of my 2 cellphones, I got an urgent message that said bad weather was on the way, that everything left was cancelled (including the main party monday night and the DJs I really wanted to see), and to evacuate as soon as practical. I was weary that the traffic to exit would be terrible, especially from the southernmost camp, about as far from the main road as you can be, so I packed everything in 15mn and got on the exit road. Thankfully I beat most people to it, and was only delayed an extra 25mn or so by the people closer to the exit who had had more time to pack up and get in line too. All in all, I was out to the main road in 45mn, which wasn't bad. While I expected burning man level exodus lines and many hour long waits, I heard most people got out in fewer than 2h, which wasn't bad.
By then, the weather forecast was such that we wouldn't be able to see anything, so I figured I might as well leave early, but most others chose to stay until after the eclipse and some had renegade parties and stayed until tuesday anyway. The very bad weather that was forecast and caused the organizers to cancel the rest of the event, ended up not happening, but after a statement made by the organizers later, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and that they acted reasonably given the forecast they had at the time. It's true that if hail had come, or even just a lot of rain, the whole event would have become a muddy mess with potentially many cars stuck, getting everyone else, stuck there.
my early departure plan worked out pretty well
obviously not the only car in line, but we got out pretty well
Eclipse
I had looked at the weather forecast enough to have 0 hope to see the eclipse, as the forecast was for a solid overcast and then some rain, but with the evacuation I got out about 1.5H before totality and figured I'd go drive to my friend Marc's ranch about 1h away to spend the rest of the time with him.
Sure enough, the weather did not look good:
from time to time, the sun poked out for a minute or so
made it in time to Marc's ranch
and as we got closer to totality, the sun became visible more often
yes!
and yes!
not bad for a handheld camera
and before long, it was over
and the sun went hiding again, that was close!
Thoughts/Conclusion
Medical Facilities
There were concerns with the medical staff, they had plenty of it (good), when I got bitten by a big spider, I was able to see someone quickly enough to make sure it wasn't poisonous (also good), but for at least one person who needed more serious help, apparently they didn't have a defibrillator at most stations (causing one person not to get medical care for over 45mn), or even a more simple blood pressure monitor, which was suboptimal.
Apparently at least one person died, most likely due to lack of timely medical care, but it's also fair to say that when you have so many people in one place, by the sheer law of numbers, someone is likely to die anyway.
I'll also add that prompt first rate medical care was not included in the ticket, when you're in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a field, more than 45-60mn away from a hospital, expectations should be set accordingly.
Other things
The map in the app was not very useful as it didn't show you where you were on it. An attendee nicely made a pretty good web based map with location dot, but unfortunately it mostly didn't work for me and wouldn't show me where I was. Getting around was somewhat harder than it needed to be.
Water locations were not well indicated on that map either and were not easy to find at night
The festival did have a wristband money scheme, but thankfully it was not required and all vendors also took contactless credit cards, so that was the best of both worlds. I happily ignored the wristband money scheme and used my phone to pay without issues
The security started wrong (taking people's vitamins on their campsite location, totally not ok), but they loosened up over time. Honestly the perimeter to the inside festival was mostly to keep honest people honest as they say. It was trivial to get past the fence in many places, but at the same time, who would travel all the way there just to try to sneak in? I think it was just enough for good measure
I'm not entirely sure what was meant to be disallowed between the campgrounds and festival ground. Once a security person was trying to take a can of mixed drink I had (which did contain alcohol), but that's about it. You could take food in as far as I know
The water points were not 100% reliable, which was a potential problem, but I brought enough of my own water that it didn't matter
There were no official showers included with the price, not even for VIP, but there was a spa built not too far from my camp that offered showers for $16, a reasonable enough price considering.
VIP was a bit of a ripoff in my opinion. The "expedited" VIP entry was totally pointless, there was no wait ever between my camp and the festival grounds. One VIP area had a couple of interesting things and better toilets (although still no place to wash yourself), the other VIP area was just a few toilets and shade, nothing much. I definitely regret paying extra for VIP.
Conclusion
Honestly, given that this is not a yearly festival in the middle of nowhere in a place that wasn't used for that before, a lot of things went right
The stages themselves were actually pretty good considering it was the middle of nowhere, I was pretty impressed.
I'm told the organizers spent several months getting the site ready, including adding the dirt roads to get around and making all of this possible, just once, for only a few days. My impressions were actually "not bad at all".
Price may have felt a bit high, especially VIP that offered very little for its added price. The add ons like group car camping (around $250 extra), early entry (another almost $100 extra), did add up.
The cancellation on monday was very unfortunate, I think it was the right call, but it really damaged the event. The organizers promised a partial refund, still waiting for it at the time of this writing.
All in all I still had a good time, the eclipse itself was fantastic, especially since we were some of the few people in Texas that actually had enough clear sky to see the eclipse when it happened.
It was not my first Beyond Wonderland, but definitely the best one yet, as Insomniac made it even bigger at NOS this year, adding more rooms and more stages. They definitely went all out on the decors, and it totally sold out.
The small lake looked even better this year:
Festival Grounds
As I said, even bigger this year, especially a new Factory93 techno stage in the back:
Chesire Woods in the middle had dreamstate on day2 and was beautiful
The pond was split in two with a big bridge in the middle decked out with LED patterns
about as beautiful as it's been
their LED guy did good work
A fun thing was the half useless maps and directions, to help you get lost:
the map was very approximate, but pretty :)
Queen's Domain VIP (aka mainstage) was nice:
Plenty of nooks and crannies to find fun stuff:
Passport was very nice:
And the usual fun vendors:
And the part my non night festival friends sometimes miss, is how different (and not as exciting), festivals look during the day without all the lights:
the calm before the storm
big chairs to sit in ;)
People
The insomniac performers were top notch again:
And people brought very nice costumes too:
led2rave4 backpacks are awesome
Great to run into friends again:
pixxie.poly was easier to recognize this time :)
Ulrich, in his official work outfit :)
All the way to the Trancefamily Meetup
Day #1
Anyway, let's not get to the two days of festival. This year, beyond started earlier, 14:30 with a pre-party before everything else opened at 16:00. We did arrive too late for that on the first day due to pretty bad traffic delays at SFO airport, which is worse than usual right now, but arrived just in time for sunset, which is the magical time for beyond anyway:
new factory93 techno stage this year
cheshhire woods was a beautiful stage
After the event was over, went to check out the after party, but it was 2 guys playing basic EDM that wasn't too exciting, so it felt like a better idea to try and find an uber to get back to the hotel that was not walking distance ($70 with tip for a 10mn ride, that was not fun...)
Video of Day #1:
Day #2
Day 2, came back early to check out the grounds before they got mobbed, and see the Trance DJs:
nice!
Gareth played a nice classic set, I liked it
Bryan Kearny closed the trance stage
Video of Day #2:
Should you go? Would I go Back?
I was supposed to go to Miami Music Festival/Ultra this year, but it didn't happen in the end, and they ended up getting a lot of rain, which dampened the event somewhat. Still, I do want to check athat out too. Hpefully next year.
Back to Beyond:
Honestly it was cold this year, and the light rain in day 2 didn't help. Maybe it's time to consider moving the event a bit later in the year?
Decors were fantastic again, and the event was even bigger this year. Best one yet.
The many theme appropriate performers were still there, maybe more even, and it really added to the event.
I'll repeat other insomniac festivals, like EDC and Dreamstate, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. Many small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless
Security was more than reasonable as usual, thank you
San Bernardino still worked out for me. I definitely preferred the bigger venue compared to the more limited footprint of Queen Mary where Dreamstate got moved last year
It was extended from 17:00 to 02:00 to 14:00 to 02:00 plus an afterparty until 06:00. That's more than you can do :)
8 stages this year? Definitely a lot...
There was only trance on Day #2, but that gave me a chance to go explore all the grounds and see other kinds of music.
Like last year, I'll respond to: Is it worth flying across the world for? I would go to EDC first, and then Dreamstate for the music (despite lesser decors and costumes compared to BW), but if you are able to fly there, it's definitely a fun festival to attend. If you cannot afford EdC Vegas, as it's not cheap, BW is probably the 2nd festival in the world I'd recommend after EDC if you're not looking for a trance only festival. It is really good and just a beautiful atmostphere.
It was a bit of a last minute trip, and challenging to attend as all tickets (GA, GA+ and VIP, although they had different weird names), had sold out. In the end, although it felt risky, I was able to get some on stubhub, and thankfully they worked.
Just like EDC Vegas, it is also located at a racetrack in the middle of Mexico City, although I would say it is maybe only 50% of the size of EDC Vegas, but all the bits that mattered were there and I was quite impressed by the setup for what I was worried might be a lesser EDC. I was delighted to be wrong.
The one thing that may have been a surprise was the altitude (7350ft or 2240 meters) which will definitely get people out of breath. Thankfully I had just gotten home from a snowboarding trip at higher altitudes, so that was not an issue for me, but I could tell it was for others. The one surprise I didn't know about was a nearby volcano that has been constantly putting some amount of ash in the air, and that was affecting the air quality, making breathing harder, especially for those with allergies. Actually the ash was bad enough that it cancelled the fireworks on the first 2 days, and cancelled most flights a few days later as enough ash in the air will actually damage jet engines.
Back to EDC, arriving the day before helped a bit, and getting there via uber the day of, was not too bad (nearby hotels were booked or too expensive). The one downside was it was a very long walk from the dropoff point. It was so long of a walk that you could pay people on bikes to bike you part of it, but even then it took 15 to 20mn from the street to being at the security gate.
So, let's look at EDC Mexico. How does it compare with EDC Vegas? The venue definitely has room, although the footprint used is smaller than EDC Vegas. Yet, it was still big and all the things from EDC that I've come to enjoy, were there:
The Grounds:
lots of people getting in when we arrived on day 1
outside the venue was filled with unofficial vendors
after a long walk or hired bike ride, you got to the rainbows
nice owl during the day
and nicer at night, even :)
other nice burning man-like art
a much smaller pixel forest, but still nice
Many food vendors, including dicks :) but since they required that "stay in line to get some and lose anything left over every day" wristband money, didn't get anything, and vendors lost out:
Ah, one thing I need to mention is that smoking was prohibited across the entire festival, including vaping. One thing I read said "all nicotine containing products". Obviously nicotine is not great for you, but I personally don't mind if others vape. Not sure if it's over reaching or not, altough I personally didn't mind:
I already mentioned it looked like a smaller EDC Vegas, and it did. Electric Avenue was nice:
road to kinetic fields
definitely a good job decking out the place with lights
oooh, shiny :)
VIP area also had video games. Why not? :)
They had 2 very nice Ferris Wheels, which I always enjoy to get a view from higher up:
Let's have a look at the grounds from higher up:
stereo bloom
yes, it was in the middle of skateboard park, which made getting around awkward when it was full
nice LED art :)
The People
Great to see the insomniac performers, awesome team as always
the performers deserved extra credit for wearing costumes in warm weather and working in thinner air
OMG, and ran into pixies.poly, hard to recognize under that costume :)
Running into good friends, as always :)
and more :)
Also, finally got to meet Thor Wixom, videographer extraordinaire:
woot!
Day #1: Trance Day at Stereobloom. Mexico Love Trance!
Day 1 was mostly spent at Stereo bloom, as it had a great Trance lineup that day. While the stage was literally on top of a skateboard park, it was a bit weird from the attendee side, but the stage itself was stellar and the visuals quite good. They were not dreamstate mainstage or quantum valley good, but very close.
had just seen Rinaly weeks before at Unkonscious, but happy to see her again :)
Day 2, arrived a bit earlier (it also started earlier), but warmer air is more thin, harder to breathe and hot. Unless you're a local, it was definitely harder to party until the sun, until it set. No trance on day 2, so it was a good excuse to walk around and check out all the stages and other music:
kudos for wearing this in the sun :)
first time seeing kinetic field, it looked identical and as pretty as the Vegas one
Bionic Jungle was stellar, and used the beautiful jaguara from Burning Man, which was fantastic:
I have to give props to the visuals guys again, they were awesome
Went to check out VIP for kinetic fields for an OK-ish side view:
such a beautiful stage
Circuit Grounds also looked fairly similar to EDC Vegas:
Day #3: Another trance at stereobloom day, lovely!
Arrived just in time for some psytrance with Lumina
Interactive Noise
a bit of techcno in the middle
so went to check out Circuit Grounds in the blazing sun
Back for John 00 Flemming
John is always having such a great time :)
David Forbes barely made it (late plane), but did make it!
Then Will Atkinson came to bring the energy even higher!
By the time infected Mushroom arrived, the place was packed to hell, in an unsafe way (almost impossible to get in or out)
Maddix
Then back to mainstage just before Armin:
they did have lasers, but they weren't used enough in my opinion
finally, fireworks were allowed!
And that was it, end of day 3. Managed to get out in a dense crowd and catch an uber back.
Video Summary:
Security
First, I need to state that while some parts of Mexico need to be avoided carefully, the mexican government allocates security to keep big cities and tourist areas safe, so basically going to Mexico City (also called CDMX), is perfectly safe.
Security was impressive. They were *very* thorough, as apparently locals like to cheat, have fake wristbands and jump fences ;) and yet they did a fantastic job having the most thorough perimeter security I've seen, including double checks of tickets and thorough checks of wristbands before entering VIP areas.
More importantly I really appreciated that they focussed security on what mattered, while not being dicks at the entrance and during searches, unlike some other festivals I won't name, like one at a beach in holland :) I'm told that locals can be a hard to handle bunch, and they honestly did a great job without any unnecessary show of force, which I've seen in other places. This takes special training and restraint, and I was positively impressed.
The search getting in was thorough without being over-reaching, and yet efficient:
Should you go? Would I go Back?
After the flight to mexico city, it was easy to get to the festival or to/from hotels
Overall mexico city is way cheaper than vegas
Ah, but they had that bullshit wristband money that was required inside the venue. That is the one thing I was quite unhappy about as always. Not only forcing its use for people who already have contactless credit cards, is not ok, but worse, 3 day wristbands were 3 single day wristbands, and you lost the money you had on the previous day's wristband if you didn't use it. Absolutely unacceptable, but more generally while cashless is ok, forcing wristband money is not ok. I bought absolutely nothing in protest of this BS. I'm not standing in a long line to put money in a wristband to stand in another line to get what I wanted just to do it again forever unless I put a lot of money that I won't get back if I don't use all of it.
Festival was from 14:00 to 02:00 due to neighbors. I don't mind festivals starting in the afternoon, but the sun before sunset was punishing. It was quite warm and we went hiding in the shade until sunset.
that said 14:00 to 02:00 is 10:00h of partying for 3 days, so that's plenty, even the first hours under the sun, were be rough
I have no idea how they got away with going until 02:00 when people literally lived behind the stage blasting bass :)
Altitude and air pollution was no joke for many. Not a reason not to go, but keep it in mind
Like other insomniac festivals, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. MAny small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless
Not as many carnival rides as EDC Vegas due to lack of space, but still a few and 2 nice ferris wheels
Smoking prohibited throughout the festival, was pretty cool, even if not 100% enforced.
Can't go to Vegas or afford EDC Vegas? If so, EDC Mexico is a very fine choice, you will not be disappointed.
Looking for a different vibe/atmosphere? Mexicans know how to party. The atmosphere was fantastic!
Conclusion
AMy first EDC Mexico, although it was sold out, it didn't feel too crowded. I think the capacity limit was probably related to the ability to evacuate, and except for stereobloom that was kind of a death trap with a big choke point if it was full, the rest of the venue worked out great.
Thoughts about the Mexico location:
it was easy to get to (10mn away from airport and enough hotels within 20mn drive)
Driving yourself may have been a mess, not sure how parking worked out, but while I was worried about not getting ubers on the way out, after walking 10mn away from the venue, was able to get an uber all 3 nights. Traffic was a bit gridlocked, so walking away from it also helped.
Kinetic field looks just like the Vegas one, honestly the whole thing looked like a smaller version of the Vegas festival while still feeling very well done, including lots of decors.
2 days out of 3 with lots of trance at Stereo Bloom (the local quantum valley). 3 day was used to go see everything else. It worked great.
Again, I'll repeat that lots of teams did a great job for this pretty flawless end result. Well done! But please stop the required wristband money bullshit, that part is not ok. Wristband money should only be for people who don't have contactless credit cards/pay by phone. It is not faster, it is definitely not secure, and keeping leftover money at the end of each day, is absolutely unacceptable!
It had been about 1.5 years since Gareth did LSR/City at San Jose Civic, and it was great to see him again. As I always say "More Lasers Please" :)
Of course, it's difficult not to compare this show compared to the show he did 18 months ago, and I'll be honest, it was pretty similar. I was disappointed that the show was only 1.5h instead of the 2H I expected and thinking that it ended at midnight, but it was over at 23:30 sharp. Then I went to check my records from the last show and found out it was also 1h30 only and the only show that was 2H was the original Laserface at Bill Graham in 2018 which remains the best one ever that has never been topped.
Laser-wise, from my imperfect memory, the to SJ LSR/City shows were pretty simliar. The music changed of course, and I liked both, even if I loved "Bring out the lasers" dubstep mix that was in last time. Still, it had all the classics and a variety of genres, it felt like a good selection. Gareth did play some keyboards live, and Annabel got more stage with more singing that she did beautifully.
The big plus this time around was that Annabel was properly lit on stage and it was much easier to see her perform which was a great bonus:
thanks to my real camera, was able to get a few shots from the very back
However, the big plus from this time around at least for us in San Jose, was that Gareth did the show twice, and that was great news because it allowed us to see the show from the rear on the first night, and front row center the 2nd night, and that was definitely a very different experience (both worth doing):
Day 1
Thanks to Ulrich and Insomniac for helping the make the show happen:
like all insomniac shows now, thank you for the free water
Two of our local DJs played from 20:00 to 22:00:
Yeah Shane!
And Garath did 22:00 to 23:30:
one addition was the storyboard, nice
Most of the show from the rear:
Day 2
Back for more, this time, front pit...
different vantage point for sure, worth seeing too
Gareth was playing live
Gareth seemed to have a good time :)
end of night #2
Some of the show from the front
Thoughts/Suggestions
lighting on stage was much much better, so great to see Annabel properly this time around
Laser show seemed pretty similar than last time, very enjoyable but not to the level of the original laserface in 2018
1.5h felt short, consider going back to 2H?
people with VIP tickets had seats that were supposed to be reserved, but really they were not, anyone could go there making the extra price debatable
Thank you Gareth, Annabel, and all the tech guys who do the laser magic, for the great show!
I had heard about Unkonscious several times, but a festival across the world in the middle of my snowboarding season, wasn't super appealing for timing reasons. That said, FOMO kicked in and I was able to align a snowboarding trip in Hokkaido, Japan just before, making the "quick 7h plane hop" to Bangkok more appealing :) and jetlag less of a bitch :)
One big plus of Unkonscious is that they make your trip worth it, as while the main festival is really just 2x 12H days (or 2x 16H with the indoor after party on day 3 and 4), there 2 days with pre-parties and 2 days with after parties in Bangkok. That's a great idea and it made for a pretty intense 6 days, not for the faint of the heart :)
Travel, Where to Stay and Weather
As to where to stay, the first 4 days are not super close but close enough that I elected to stay at the main festival hotel for the first 4 days, and then downtown bangkok for the last 2 days, which worked out well enough. You can easily get rides with grab or bolt and they were plenty cheap by western standards. For that matter, Thailand is reasonably cheap for westerners, making the festival affordable overall.
Also, for those who haven't gone to Thailand, people are super nice and welcoming, although many have limited english, so having google translate on your phone is a must (and it works well). Also knowing how to use google maps to voice out a location and show it written in Thai (as you should not expect Thai drivers to know how to read Thai locations in roman characters).
Carrying my LED outfit and all the batteries through Japan along with my snowboards was extra work, but worth it. As expected every venue during Unkonscious was cool with it, no one gave me a hard time and honestly all the venues were happy to have extra party spirit:
If you ask, yes, it was hot as balls, and it was warm and uncomfortable to wear, haha. I wore more comfortable clothing during the day that LEDs would'nt do much good anyway (it got dark enough around 18:00, so that was 6 hours with more reasonable weather and temps):
We also got lucky that we didn't have rain, which is always a possibility.
So, 6 days, let's go for it:
Day 1: Pre-Pre-Party @ Tappia Floating Cafe
The first day's venue was very interesting. Floating café was pretty cool. They had a fast boat that did rounds back and forth from the pier and took you to the floating café which was definitely a unique venue. Party started at 16:00 and went until midnight (or maybe a bit past):
after a little while, the sun set and it got dark:
The bar had plenty of alcohol, food was more limited and it took long enough that it felt like it came from a restaurant on land and was brought in via the next speed boat:
one Thai specialty is the 1.2L bucked of alcohol, saves time :) (and reasonably priced)
switched to my night outfit
great to see Richard Durand again
Video summary of the day:
Day 2: Pre-Party @ DAM Pattaya Beach Club
Day 2 was a different pre-party at a different beach club. Nice beach location and 2 DJs playing, one on the beach and one indoors:
light clothing to deal with the weather :)
The food options were good, but unfortunately required some fake paper money you had to buy in one place, then exchange it for a voucher, which finally got you food:
same thing with drinks although they were reasonably priced
buckers were popular
that's what the fake money looked like, and it could not be exchanged back or used from one venue to the next.
Before long, it was darker and cooler, so I was able to change and light up a bit:
brought a few lights :)
even got a chance to take that picture Ferry Tayle and I missed a few times :)
haha :)
Indoors was fairly decent for a beach club:
and we got an XXXL set from John 00 Flemming
Video Summary of Day #2:
Day 3 & 4: Main Festival Day 1 & 2: Alexa Beach Club
Finally this was the main festival. The mainstage was honestly pretty simple, it wasn't huge, definitely smaller than lumi mainstage and almost on par with stages 2 or 3 at lumi, but honestly it was big enough for the location and crowd. The entire event was not huge and that what made it nice, cosy and homely, I did like that.
Yeah, so it seems to be a Thailand thing, non refundable fake money you have to buy to be able to then buy things (which was still 2 or 3 more steps depending on what you needed, way too much work IMO). Not a fan...
note that the fake paper money from the previous day looked different and couldn't be used
hopefully contactless credit cards and phones will be allowed for direct pay in the future
Merch store that was reasonably priced:
The festival was then split in 2 each day: 12:00 to 16:00 was the pool party which was low key and easy to get in and out (security wasn't really there yet). Other bonus is you could order from the bar and restaurant from the full drink and food menu and pay with real money (which became not possible at 16:00 once the real festival started). Once I figured that out the first day with great disappointment of having lovely drinks on the menu being rejected as "not available until after the festival is over", I learned the lesson and got them during the pool party the next day:
nice to chill by the pool, listen to music and sort festival pictures :)
and a great time to chat with DJs too
nice and chill
nice beach too
pool party day #2:
working hard, or hardly working? :) Nice to relax for a change
haha, nice outfits :)
by day2 I figured out how to get real drinks
as well as very yummy food
By 16:00, the main festival started with mainstage and the psytrance stage on the 2nd floor of the building which had AC and that was nice because outside was definitely hot:
You could pay for VIP lounge areas:
The views sure were nice:
awesome sunsets
The psytrance area was nice:
And yes, it eventually got dark. It was super nice to just be able to walk by to the room and change:
Richard Durand did another killer set
a few of us brought kandi joy to the party :)
Craig Connelly was next!
And closing set by John 00 Flemming
Day 2 had more DJs and more fun:
yes, sunset again :)
fans were a lifesaving device, I can't describe how much I was sweating :)
But the big surprise of day 2 was the fire juggling which was stellar:
Festival Day 1 Video summary:
Festival Day 2 Video summary:
main festival afterparty
Both nights had an indoor afterparty from 00:00 to 04:00 if you wanted more. It was a nice indoor room:
main festival fun pictures
Many pictures were taken :)
wait, what happened here? :)
awesome to have met Katie Sirisinha, one of the organizers
Day 5: Post Party @ Venti Bangkok
Is 4 days enough? Of course not... After the main festival was over, 2 more days of after parties in Bangkok. After party #1 (day 5) was at Venti Bangkok, a nice club:
great to run into Somna who had just arrived
Rinaly did trance that night
and then Markus Schulz took over
Venti Bangkok Video Summary:
Day 6: Post-Post Party @ Eden Bangkok
Day 6! Last day! One last club, Eden in Bangkok:
Damn right, 6 days!
Rinaly was back for techno that night
awesome to have finally met Andy Moor
and that was it, finally over, 6 days!
Well, not quite over, Srangkun Sirisinha, Unkonscious co-organizer, went to play more tunes across the street, more trance still :)
And then it was finally over, time to run back to the room, pack, and go to the airport for a long trip back home to San Francisco
Eden Bangkok video summary:
Thoughts/Conclusion
Thailand doesn't have drinkable tap water, and no water fountains were provided at any of the venues, although none made a big deal if you brought your own water (or you could buy theirs of course, except for het first 4 days where you first had to buy the fake money)
Yes, those who know me know I don't like money or wristband credits that often fail and are completely unnecessary anyway. I hope unkonscious considers just accepting contactless credit cards, tap to pay, and phones.
As noted above, Alexa Beach Club (main festival) had a great food and drinks menu until 16:00 but those went away when the festival took over: the food and drink options went way down and fake money was required
It was a lower budget festival, and so what? People complain other festivals are too expensive, Unkonscious is definitely cheaper and we had heaps of fun with the DJs who came, even if a fair amount of them palyed multiple days (which honeslty I had no problem with). I loved the way it was, no need to change anything.
Should you go? Would I go Back?
very simply: yes, you should try to go if you can, it's definitely a unique festival and quite enjoyable in its current format. I'll admit that for people in the US, it's a long ass trip, but if you don't like winter, it's a good excuse to go visit Thailand which is a lovely country to visit anyway
organizers were super nice, do care, and it shows
security was more than reasonable at all venues, it was actually minimal and that was refreshing, it sucks to have to deal with airport or worse than airport security (that's you, lumi) when you're travelled across the world and paid quite a bit to have fun, have a good time, and honestly the risk level doesn't warrant over the top security
the festival being smaller in size (not in length) allowed for meeting the DJs more easily, which is always lovely
the attendees had a great vibe which of course made sense for a trance festival, but always feels great wherever you are around the world.
Thanks to the organizers, DJS and everyone who made the 6 days happen!
I was in Paris for the holidays, and unfortunately it's a wasteland for Trance. It's even hard to get good EDM there apparently. After asking around, I found out about a nice trance event in Sheffield, which wasn't super close, but Manchester is only a 90mn flight away from Paris and then 1h30 by train to Sheffield, not too bad. That's barely more than what it takes to drive across LA :)
I was greeted by expected rain, but once indoors, I dried out quickly:
I only brought part of my LED outfit, but still enough to add a bit of fun to the party :)
I was there bright and early, things started at 15:00, the club was not huge but just big enough for the crowd and a great atmosphere
Honestly the music was great from the very beginning, but when Scott Bond took the decks and then was joined by Biacan Blezard playing live violin over some of my favorite trance tracks, I literally melted. I cannot describe how good this was and my camera managed to capture a little bit despite the difficulties of recording loud sound:
27:20: Push - Universal Nation
36:30: Can't get no Sleep - Insomniac
46:00: Lost Tribe - Gamemaster
[youtube:kISd29nupw0:1024x576:t=t=1639]
Then Francesca Faye also sang live over a few tracks:
And Craig Connelly took over for a 3H hour set fully of bliss:
Lucky Craig had a long line of people for pictures after his set ;)
The night was not over yet, 1 more hour:
And then 4H after party at Record Junkee down the road:
Definitely worth the trip from Paris, awesome night and great to meet the UK Trance fans.
Full Video:
