- You could tell this was the first year of Florida's Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival: it was slightly disorganized, accurate information was hard to come by and the festival's lineup didn't yet have its own identity, pulling together a mashup of sounds and styles. But despite its flaws, Okeechobee was, for the most part, fun and impressive, especially when you consider that no other festival in the state has hosted such a strong programme of underground DJs.
Entrance to the site late on Friday night was anything but pleasant. I had to park miles away in overflow and haul my camping equipment into the grounds. Once everything was finally set up, I followed the lasers peaking over a distant line of trees towards Jungle 51, the festival's designated house and techno stage. As I stepped into the clearing, the sight of over a thousand bodies dancing to the sounds of Keith Worthy took my breath away. The Detroit DJ was one of the few to spin vinyl at the festival, and he also dropped my pick for the record of the weekend: NDATL's remix of The Dangerfeel Newbies' "What Am I Here For?" It was one of the only times that the Jungle 51 crowd collectively responded to something. The rest of Worthy's set was just as good, hitting that soulful, driving sweet spot between house and techno. It made for a fitting welcome.
It was strange, though, to see Berghain regular Marcel Fengler play the same stage the night after to only a few people, something that was sadly a reoccurring sight at Jungle 51. Unlike Virginia, who had quit 15 minutes into her neglected set earlier that morning, or Anton Zap, who never showed due to visa issues, Fengler ploughed ahead with selections of minimal, melodic techno. Tracks like Truncate's "86" worked particularly well in the open-air surroundings, leaving the dedicated few that had come to see him more than satisfied. The crowd gradually swelled as 2 AM approached, thanks largely to some of the other stages closing. You wouldn't have thought that Skrillex fans were the ideal audience for a live set from L.I.E.S. artist Voiski, but somehow it worked.
Delano Smith followed the French artist with a set of groovy, pumping 4/4, unleashing a volley of classics (Carl Craig's remix of Theo Parrish's "Falling Up," Ron Trent's "Altered States," Robert Owens' "Bring Down The Walls"). He was originally billed alongside Derrick May as Legacy Detroit, though the two didn't actually play together. Instead, May took over after three hours, cutting a typically frenetic figure behind the decks. He wove his way through bits of acid house, Latin percussion and stab-heavy techno, airing Jimmy Edgar's "The Dip Chair," DJ 3000's remix of Gary Martin's "We Get Down" and Aril Brikha's "Groove La Chord." The crowd slowly thinned as dawn approached, though this only spurred May on. At one point he stopped the music entirely to encourage the crowd to dance harder.
DJ Three played on Saturday night to a larger group, mostly made up of familiar faces from his hometown of Tampa. Indeed, Okeechobee could have benefitted from booking more regional DJs, especially as most of Jungle 51's smaller filler bookings came from cities like LA or New York. Three got into the mood with records like Genius Of Time's "Juno Jam" and a host of eccentric acid tracks and brooding vocal cuts. He even managed to work in Untold's "Motion The Dance" towards the end of his set.
In the end, it felt like Okeechobee's organizers had thrown everything at the wall in that hope that some of it would stick. Some of it did, and the festival was, on the whole, musically diverse and satisfying, even if attendances at Jungle 51 were often poor. It was a shame, because all the details—sound, production, atmosphere—were healthy; it was just the connection between the DJs and their audiences that fell short. Okeechobee tried to bridge the gap between EDM and more underground styles, encouraging fans of the former to dip their toe in the latter. In that, it didn't exactly fail, though it also didn't look like many EDM fans were that interested. But then maybe mere exposure is enough? Only time will tell.
Photo credit: Jeff Kravitz (lead), Wes Rolan (rest)