- The humble citizens of San Bernadino—a small city an hour outside of LA—were not shocked when over 80,000 barely legal teens in oversized sunglasses, frilly lingerie and rabbit ears flooded city sidewalks and thrift store parking lots. This had all happened before with last year's Beyond Wonderland, one of Insomniac's five annual commercial "mega raves" aimed at the Los Angeles County's younger party crowd. The NOS Event Center, normally reserved for the National Orange Show, and whose 2011 motto "orange you glad it's back" says it all, made a surprisingly snug fit for the sold out event, dividing 120 acres among 40 local and international artists.
Photo credit: David Singer
The festival kicked off at 3 PM, with lines quickly diminishing through TSA-style security check points where guests were given a welcoming pat down. Inside, visitors were met with light and fire installations including Syzygryd, an interactive 60-foot-wide spiraling sound structure of LED cubes controlled by grid sequencers, and Holding Flame, a steel pagoda with a flame ceiling that doubled as a giant space heater for the underdressed crowd as day became night.
Photo credit: David Singer
Although five stage areas powered by premium sound and lighting systems provided a rich palette of audio-visual stimulation, a Spring Break crowd opted for trance, mash-ups and top 40 house remixes. While few earlier acts were of note, some performers took advantage of the corporate vibe. LA-based Kill The Noise was in his element in the outdoor Cheshire Woods area, transitioning from a retro remix of "Pon de Floor" to a glitched out ode to Justin Bieber. House champion Donald Glaude was on hand afterwards to push irony to its apex, supported by a chorus line of topless graffiti-covered dancers and Tron-style futuristic crowd surfers donning illuminated silver catsuits and rolling around in clear PVC bubbles.
Photo credit: David Singer
The real question was how the crowd would distribute at midnight, with Kaskade, Bad Boy Bill, Showtek, Joker + MC Nomad and Richie Hawtin each headlining separate stages. Despite the Hawtin hype in the weeks leading up to the event, I was surprised to find the M_Nus boss' Chess Village stage, with a solid supporting lineup of M.A.N.D.Y., Paco Osuna, Marco Corola and Loco Dice, at half capacity while 2011 Hard Dance Awards-winner Showtek packed Madhatter's Castle with their set following Israeli trance ambassadors Infected Mushroom. In the largest of the five stage areas, the Queen's Domain, cameras swirled above an overflowing High School crowd as Kaskade spun generic dance music sandwiched between bursts of fog machine and screen saver visuals beamed in straight from the '90s. After overcoming my brief disappointment in humanity, and reminding myself that Southern California is only a very small portion of the world, I returned to catch the end of Hawtin's set, happily entering a dark liquid vortex of sound.