That’s a wrap on 2023. Insomniac, the foremost promoter of North America West Coast raves, simply capped off their thirtieth anniversary 12 months with Countdown NYE on the NOS Occasions Heart in San Bernardino. That includes unimaginable performances from Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, Kayzo, Eli Brown, the Chainsmokers, deadmau5, Porter Robinson and lots of extra; all amongst the theme of an impending alien invasion. This 12 months’s Countdown simply acquired even larger and higher, as Insomniac all the time appears to do.
As per ordinary Countdown was held on the NOS Occasions Heart in San Bernardino, so for those who’ve been to a different Insomniac competition there, it’s a fairly straightforward place to navigate. Headliners had been greeted by a photograph opp that includes the invading Lazer Rayz in addition to the Ravebots from final 12 months’s version of Countdown. Insomniac once more comes via with a brilliant immersive atmosphere that includes all types of alien performers, alien craft and only a common feeling like you might be within the Twilight Zone. It’s all in good enjoyable in fact, the principle hazard is alien probing.
The levels and manufacturing had been larger 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 will be kinda cool if there was an enormous alien behind the stage, just like the Grimm at Escape, there’s one thing to be stated for simply blowing away the group 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, however it 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 facility 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 the very best climate I’ve skilled at Countdown in so long as I can bear in mind. See final 12 months’s recap.) A fifth stage, Galactik Gate, was additionally added. It was an outside stage simply south of the lagoon, the place the Psycho Circus is often positioned for Escape. It hosted House 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 at any time when 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 onerous techno and onerous dance basically. For Saturday I made a decision that I needed to discover as many levels as I may and that I’d strive and take a look at some artists whose units I don’t often get to catch. I arrived simply in time for Morten’s set on the Mothership and met a buddy, and similar to that, the weekend was off! Morten dropped a bunch of his Future Rave hits and simply introduced unimaginable 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. Arduous to imagine it’s been a 12 months because the Dutch producer burst onto the scene with “Medicine from Amsterdam.” Quick ahead a 12 months later and his set was full of different hits together with “That Bounce” and “Metro.”
Subsequent, Alison Wonderland took the stage, and that is the place the onerous techno actually took over. She began out with a few of her extra old skool entice stylings and her psychedelic visuals had been thoughts blowing. Finally although, the thumping kick drums of her onerous 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 they usually dropped an unrelenting set full of onerous techno. The intro was truly JSTJR’s simply launched single, “Bassline.” These two understood the project and delivered perhaps probably 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 powerful and revolutionary set of onerous dance music. This man dropped all the pieces, heavy dubstep, hardstyle, onerous techno, hardcore, Kayzo placed on an absolute masterclass.
For Day 2, I just about simply planted myself on the fundamental stage, the lineup was too stacked. SOFI TUKKER began the evening off they usually had been unimaginable. They mainly 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 12 months’s Eve.
One of many quirks of Countdown is the typically unusual scheduling, since high tier artists are in all probability enjoying 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 group with a set that included all of their traditional hits like “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Paris”, “Nearer” and “One thing Simply Like This” with quite a lot 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 group away with a mixture of some Oliver Heldens classics, some new Hello-Lo tracks, and all the pieces 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, in fact, “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 leading edge. It’s all of the power of a dubstep set with the exact musicality and instrumentation of a John Williams’ rating. 10/10 suggest 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 “Simple” and “Language” at midnight. After that Porter thrilled with some onerous dance tunes. At one level, he informed the group, “I do know you want ‘Shelter’ however we’ve acquired 10 extra minutes of rawstyle earlier than that.” What a approach to herald the New 12 months.
There you’ve it, Insomniac continues to dominate. Even with no scarcity of choices on one of many largest celebration nights of the 12 months, Insomniac nonetheless managed to drag collectively some of the spectacular lineups of any competition that went on this weekend. Countdown 2023 was enterprise as ordinary for Insomniac. I’d count on nothing lower than excellence in reside occasions in 2024. Past Wonderland will probably be returning to the NOS Occasions Heart in March, and tickets are additionally out there for EDC Las Vegas in Could. Maintain following Insomniac’s socials for updates on festivals in Southern California.
