[HARDKORNATE]

Ok, before I say anything else –

This was by far the best party of the year. 95% of everything was pure winning.

Things I would tweek to make it flow better and maintain dance floor attendance better…

Move the camping closer to the mainstage so people are between the two stages. There were WAY too many people at the second stage on the first night and it was nearly impossible to get them to come over to the main stage. Maybe playing chill music on the big system not such a great idea? It's chill music, it doesn't need to be loud. People need to dance when its cold or they will just go to bed(which they did) and having the dance music on the quiet stage straight up killed the dancefloor.

Posting the set times is something that should be mandatory. I talked to a few DJ's who did not know what time they played or on which stage. This also helps people know when they need to be at a certain stage to see their favorite artists. It also helps when a DJ is finishing up and the next guy isn't there, it makes it really obvious so interested bystanders can take action and round up the AWOL DJ before it gets too late.

TOILET PAPER – never let the bathrooms run out of toilet paper. It sounds like a minor thing, but can be horribly inconvenient for guests.

[thefixer]

TOILET PAPER – never let the bathrooms run out of toilet paper. It sounds like a minor thing, but can be horribly inconvenient for guests.

brilliant. Very good point Nate. Some of those outhouses were like the ninth circle of Hell by Sunday early morning.

[edais]

Maybe playing chill music on the big system not such a great idea? It's chill music, it doesn't need to be loud.

This is a VERY important point.  I have thought this numerous times at parties…  It should be loud enough so it can block out most of the other stage at least, and so you can hear everything happening in the music.  Maybe keep the subs a little louder…but that's it.  Soft and soothing is what we should be shooting for, IMO.  I was over at the second stage in the middle of the night and it freaked me out because it was not chill at all and way too loud.  Later on, I did have an amazing time dancing over there, but the chill stage was hardly ever chill.

[paradigm]

Awsome party, and a big job well done goes to Tyler, Brad and everyone else invovled with it, especially given the current circumstances in your personal lives…. Thumbs Up…

So Ill break the remainder of my review into 2 parts , good and bad

Lets get the negative out of the way first, so then we can focus on the glowing good stuff.

As for the spirituality part. Im not so much into the quasi-religious boom shanti psy trance mumbo-jumbo. However I think a proper chill space is a very very important place and a altar whether at the chill or main perferably both) does give a focal point for energy and meditation, particularly if that is your thing.
With the chill out, i understand numerous dj's just dropped the ball on it. Stuff like that is expected, but i think its almost preferable to put on a mix cd of some chill out, or even just some medatative background noise like ocean waves crashing than just fill it with whatever music and dj can be found to fill in. Perhaps a sign with a 125 bpm speedlimit tapped to the mixer next time? I understand the need to have some moving and grooving stuff being played , especially when the other stage is also chill out, but its a little much to have 148 bpm on one stage, and a 147 bpm on the other at 8am.  Also in making a chill out space , a little more welcoming as a chill out space, Ive always found its nice to put up a EZ-UP in a area for the crowd to hang out under the warmer parts of the day, as well as some old carpet. (Almost all carpet stores have tons and tons of old scrap in the back that they are always more than happy to get rid of)

Moving on to bathrooms……. yuck. I know having on site facillites is nice and should preclude the use, or help in not having the extra cost of Porto-Potties, but If you choose not to bring in extras, please remove Wasp nests, large spider webs, and hose em out before the show. On saturday when using one, I feared what might crawl up into certain nether regions.

Dj equipment…. This seemed to be a re-occuring problem, Proper working CDJ's are a must, and should be checked out before the show. Im sure Dan Effex can echo this sentiment. Also certain brands of equipment simply do not work for a mixing dj, and are really only made for a bar or club dj to jukebox. This includes everything made by American DJ. Please do not put this garbage on the main stage, Its ok for chill in most cases as chill is not as mix sensative as trance. Thank goodness for Agent Hurt and his Stantons who saved saturday night. Please note for future reference that while the Stantons that the Iowa folks love are great, and ive got no problems with them, the international standard is Pioneer. Either cdj 100 /200/ 800/1000 or CMX 3000. Just to cite a hypothetical example, If a rave promoter booked Qbert or Bad Boy Bill and had something other than Technic turntables, they would refuse to play untill they had them. Ive seen this same scenario play out with international psy djs, so a word to the wise…… and i do understand that again someone bringing the decks dropped the ball, so the best was made with what was on hand.

I didnt come across any of the problem people myself and im glad that the person breaking into cars has been identified, but these are things that every org, can and should expect to happen at some point.
Lesson, even at the most family oriented events, lock up your belongings. Many times there has been some agressive male that has grabbed or harrassed girls. Ive seen it in LA NYC and SF. I beleive the proper term is Meathead. In this scenario once more than one complaint from different sources is received, its best to kick out. or if neccessary remove said Meathead. It always helps to have at least one large friend with a intimidating posture on crew just for these cases. Ladies please dont hesitate to tell a org when something like this happens, chances are if youve been grabbed, someone else has, and the sooner it gets reported the sooner something can be done

and as for the too much alcohol and drunkenness, my bad… I was indeed quite tossed friday night. So much so that being loud with Aktif almost cost me my voice for the remainder of the weekend.

As for the good. I do hands down think that this was the best Midwest psy party ive been too. Taken in the context of being a midwest event, the dancefloor was amazing. Biggest ive seen, and long lasting too.
First time ive had a proper morning dancefloor here. Even if looked at as a party by itsself and not just a midwest event, it was quite a corker. Im very happy in seeing that psy is just growing and growing here, bringing in new faces, new people and bigger and better dancefloors, and im looking forward to seeing what next year brings.
Musically i enjoyed quite a bit of it. I didnt catch much of anything on friday because of my drunken shenanigans, but did see the end of Nick and Abes tag, and 3.14 as well as Damon on the other stage. Damon i cant classify what you were playing, except to say it was the hardest chill out ive heard and i liked it.
For sat afternoon, I as im learning i like everything i hear from him, really enjoyed Machi's set. XPulse was quite good as well.
Also Hahn over on the main stage had it bumping quite nice with some good pitched down full on around 3ish. I went and played a chill set then at 4, so i missed Nick Synergy and Professor X.

As for the main on sat night i enjoyed quite alot of it. I showed up in time to see Underfoot and enjoyed hearing him play some stuff off of Nutek's Flaminco Mania. Spanish guitars and psy work really well. Dan was next and if not for the skipping cd players, would have had an awsome set. Cant help but feel bad for another dj, when that happens to em. Next was Telepathik, whos a really nice guy BTW. Good music, if not a little minimal. Maybe not the best suited for the timeslot he had, but being a headliner and the necessity of giving him a dancefloor well, you work with, what you can. Mubali was next, and though it seemed he had some computer troubles, folks got into his new funka-danish-forestadelic sound. Ooze i think played one of the more dancey and less abstract sets ive heard from them. From a musical standpoint, i can really apprecaite what Scott and Gor do, but from a dancers standpoint im quite often frustrated with the scatterd and glitched beats that are often a Ooze hallmark. This set seemed more focused and maintain a steady beat with less glitch and kept things on the floor moving. Then came Spook, who did what Spook does well. Played a hard hitting set layerd with melody and neo-goa vibes. I think the dancefloor really swelled to its peak point for Spooks set. I myself had a preety good one, despite having a scratched cd in the begining(sorry about that) It was really nice to finally play a midwest sunrise and have a into it dancefloor to vibe and feed off of. Airyck came after as a perfect complement, and while taking things down a notch kept things and the dancefloor going.
Dont know what went on after that, as i was dead and headed for much needed rest.
Deco on the main stage was nice. I really liked the tapestries, and seeing Spooks visuals on the massive screens from high end projectors was a really nice bonus.  Also the projections into the trees were way cool, especially with people dancing in the lights and making shadow puppets. Lasers were cool and i liked their placement, but the smoke was obsessive, and since getting up to pack and go home yesterday, ive had some nasty alergy and breathing problems. Not sure if one is connected to the other, but im sure it didnt help.
Rexroat sound is way cool btw, I just one day want to hear that fucker at full power…..

In the end a very satisfying weekend, Well worth the 8 hour drive, and next to Gemini the best party of the year for me, and the best midwest one for sure

ps. what was with the wierd rain that was falling like crazy, for a bit  but not getting anyone wet…. ????

[thefixer]

Wow, great write-up.

I think part of what was happening re: outhouses etc. is that there really aren't enough people to do all the jobs that need to be done.

Like, somebody mentioned the lights in the luminaries going out Saturday night. Well, the luminaries need to be relit and new candles supplied usually at least once during the night. Devorah and I didn't mind making the luminaries, setting them out and lighting them, but then when they go out at 2 AM who is going to relight them? I didn't want to do it all over again. Same thing with toilet paper in the outhouses – who will go around to the outhouses and do that? So unless we get more people seriously committed to the event, and with a radio so we can reach them, it's hard to do everything that needs to be done.

[X-Pulse]

video – was – impressive !!!!

[HARDKORNATE]

Wow, great write-up.

I think part of what was happening re: outhouses etc. is that there really aren't enough people to do all the jobs that need to be done.

Like, somebody mentioned the lights in the luminaries going out Saturday night. Well, the luminaries need to be relit and new candles supplied usually at least once during the night. Devorah and I didn't mind making the luminaries, setting them out and lighting them, but then when they go out at 2 AM who is going to relight them? I didn't want to do it all over again. Same thing with toilet paper in the outhouses – who will go around to the outhouses and do that? So unless we get more people seriously committed to the event, and with a radio so we can reach them, it's hard to do everything that needs to be done.

If you need volunteers, I'm very easy to put to work.

[Energon]

Sounds like this was an awesome event! I can't wait to see pics of the stages.
It's a shame Carli and I couldn't make it there… just too much personal “stuff” going on.  :'( :'(
We could have probably helped out with some of the deco concerns too, ohwell

[Sudo Make Install]

Maybe playing chill music on the big system not such a great idea? It's chill music, it doesn't need to be loud. People need to dance when its cold or they will just go to bed(which they did) and having the dance music on the quiet stage straight up killed the dancefloor.

You are right, however, it IS mandatory that we put the chill artsts on the big stage.  Having the trance stage on the main stage area this year was just a bonus for you guys anyway for being supportive of us.  We've made it our intention to showcase more of the chill artists, and model events around the chill music with Trance as an extra. 

As one person told us, i can't remember who, “you've never heard psytrance until you've heard in on Rexroat's system” they were right — but even more so with the downtempo/chill/psydm/ambient.  It's incredible.  You'd have had to heard Aes Dana last year — it was absolutely unreal. 

So while i understand your point completely, i think we've fallen off a bit by not making it clear that our intentions with hosting “Earthdance” events was to create a chill event series anyway.  Very ironic since it seems that the chill stage got the shaft this past weekend.

[HARDKORNATE]

Maybe playing chill music on the big system not such a great idea? It's chill music, it doesn't need to be loud. People need to dance when its cold or they will just go to bed(which they did) and having the dance music on the quiet stage straight up killed the dancefloor.

You are right, however, it IS mandatory that we put the chill artsts on the big stage.  Having the trance stage on the main stage area this year was just a bonus for you guys anyway for being supportive of us.  We've made it our intention to showcase more of the chill artists, and model events around the chill music with Trance as an extra. 

As one person told us, i can't remember who, “you've never heard psytrance until you've heard in on Rexroat's system” they were right — but even more so with the downtempo/chill/psydm/ambient.  It's incredible.  You'd have had to heard Aes Dana last year — it was absolutely unreal. 

So while i understand your point completely, i think we've fallen off a bit by not making it clear that our intentions with hosting “Earthdance” events was to create a chill event series anyway.  Very ironic since it seems that the chill stage got the shaft this past weekend.

Why not chill during the day and psytrance at night?

[Sudo Make Install]

Why not dark chill at night and goa during the day?

🙂

[PookztA]

TOILET PAPER – never let the bathrooms run out of toilet paper. It sounds like a minor thing, but can be horribly inconvenient for guests.

brilliant. Very good point Nate. Some of those outhouses were like the ninth circle of Hell by Sunday early morning.

my LORD i am glad i didnt use one. great description Fixer! haha

@Nate: GREAT comments! i agree this party was the most ridiculous one of the year, and you did a great job of intelligently and confidently asserting where the party could have been improved, without being negative about it in anyway 🙂

[HARDKORNATE]

Why not dark chill at night and goa during the day?

🙂

I thought we wanted people to dance?

[damon]

TOILET PAPER – never let the bathrooms run out of toilet paper. It sounds like a minor thing, but can be horribly inconvenient for guests.

brilliant. Very good point Nate. Some of those outhouses were like the ninth circle of Hell by Sunday early morning.

Bring your own roll 🙂

[PookztA]

ps. what was with the wierd rain that was falling like crazy, for a bit  but not getting anyone wet…. ????

haha i know! it seemed to be raining fairly steadily / heavily for quite sometime yet nothing got wet, including the ground! i remember laying in the grass later in the evening and suddenly thinking, OH SHIT it rained, but then i got up and the grass where i had been laying, and all the grass around me, was perfectly dry!

almost as if the rains sole purpose was to cool us off a bit, since so many people were dancing so damn hard. 😉

@ Zero Six

the Chill Stage did not get the shaft all weekend, only Saturday… I and many others spent plenty of time up at the Chill area Friday, because the sound system was amazing… but once the Psy made it to the big sound system on Saturday, there was no chilling out for me 🙂

Psytrance + Rexroat sound = Abe can't stop dancing.

Also, why must the Earth Dance series be focused on Chill when most people come to dance???

Why cant the series be focused equally on both? Psytrance shouldn't be a “bonus” at an event called Earth Dance, considering chill music is far less dance able / inspiring to dance. I think the only way to continue this series is to equally credit both Psytrance AND Chill, as they go hand in hand. One is not near as good without the other in my opinion. Psytrance breaks us down through intense dance, Chill partially builds us back up through soothing vibes and beats, and the process repeats until we reach the morning, a time at which Psytrance simultaneously rejuvenates us with neo-goa melodies and breaks us down with powerful basslines.

[Author]

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