I parked myself up to the front row for the whole night as I wanted to get a good view on the DJs and as for the crowd when I turned around occasionally. The first act was a local DJ name Johnny Kage that got voted on from Facebook to perform at the festival. The only song that I can clearly remember he played on his set was a mashup with Deadmau5's song "Ghosts 'n' Stuff." He also had a local rapper, whom I forgot his name, that shared the stage with. I thought his vocals mashed up with Kage's set were unnecessary, but the crowd seemed somewhat intrigued with the duo.
After Kage came another guy named Kevin Focus. He played a combination of trance and house music in his hour long set. As the sun was coming down and his set was just about over, the crowd grew about six times as it was when Johnny Kage came on. I couldn't remember any of the songs that he played but most of his set was upbeat and always kept the audience at a medium throughout his time at the main stage.
By the time it was 8:00 p.m., the crowd grew enormously as the big acts were about to hit the main stage starting with Zedd. The fans of El Paso, by popular demand, wanted Skrillex's protégé back at this festival after a great set back in the previous year. This was Zedd right before he released Clarity - now a certified gold album as he announced on his Twitter/Facebook feed - and at the time he released his newest single "Spectrum."
As he entered the festival and onto the deck tables, the crowd was roaring with enthusiasm and praise as he was going to rock the main stage once again. He played some of the crowd pleasers like Swedish House Mafia's "Save The World," Axwell's remix of Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl's "In My Mind," and a mashup with Daft Punk's "One More Time." Zedd also played some of his own songs like "Shave It," "Spectrum," and his remix of "Legend of Zelda" - which was a personal favorite of mine. He put on a good show as he addressed the crowd occasionally and had a great approach toward being somewhere like El Paso.
After the highly-praised Zedd, Nicky Romero took the stage. He was another guy I was looking forward to as he had some songs that I liked from him along with occasionally collaborating with David Guetta. He started of his set with his popular song "Toulouse," which grew the crowd into a screaming roar and started to explode. He also played his new single at the time with Calvin Harris called "Iron." But his notable song he played in his set was a mashup of Swedish House's "Save The World" and the song that David Guetta and Romeo collaborated on called "Metropolis." As his set finished with "Metropolis," I was ecstatic as it was time to see the guy I was dying to see - David Guetta.As Guetta made his red carpet appearance, people left and right were quickly getting out their smartphones and record the French DJ's first ever appearance in the Southwest region of the US. It was amazing how he entered the main stage. Everything was dark until Guetta's dazzling background reflected the crowd with awe as he entered the stage with glee. As his intro music faded into his opening song "Titanium," he took a long look at the audience and for a second noticed me pointed at him and he quickly pointed back at me. I knew from there and on that he was ready to take this festival to a new level.
As he played "Titanium," confetti spewed out of both sides of the stage like wildfire. The confetti came out as a surprise for everyone because the festival wasn't close to being over because there was still one more act to go after Guetta. He also played "When Love Takes Over," "Sweat" featuring Snoop Dogg, his newest single at the time "She Wolf (Falling into Pieces)," and "Sunshine" - a collaboration with Avicii. Song after song, Guetta was electrifying the crowd with his hard house beats along with his memorizing colorful background. His background read at one point of his set "El Paso, you rock." He then closed out his amazing set with the crowd pleaser "Without You" featuring Usher. As I was singing along with everyone else, I remembered hearing the Ultra 2012 set from David Guetta and said to myself that I wanted to be a part of that audience that sang "Without You." My wish became reality as Guetta was here in El Paso and I was living that moment I dreamt of.
Instead of David Guetta closing out the first day of Sun City, like I thought at first before they released the scheduling times, it was the duty of Australian duo Knife Party. I saw these guys before at Stereo Live in Houston months before and I knew these guys were going to put on a show. They played their 100% No Modern Talking EP songs, "Rage Valley," "Centipede," Skrillex's and Wolfgang Gartner's collaboration "Devil's Den," and their remix of Porter Robinson's "Unison." I was a bit fatigued after Guetta's stellar performance, but I toughed it out and kept jamming until day one was over. Every hard beat Knife Party dished out, the crowd kept getting wilder and wilder. As they finished, Knife Party quickly praised the crowd and then day one of Sun City was over.I remember walking all the way back to my hotel from the venue. It was a painful an hour and a half walk. But every minute I spent walking, I was just humming and dancing to the beats that I vividly remember after day one. I got back to my hotel room, took a bath, and hit the sheets. Overall it was a great first day - the day I was mostly anticipated for - and it didn't disappoint one bit. But for day two of Sun City, I didn't expect anything to come out from it but little that I knew that it was going to be just as good as day one.
Next Post: Memory Lane - SCMF Day 2
Posts to Come: ML - Something Wicked; Album Review: Armin Van Buuren - Intense; Special Announcement from One Nation Under EDM.
No comments:
Post a Comment