Another year has passed and another Global Dance Festival has come and gone. This year I attended my 5th GDF in as many years. One thing I can take away from all five years of attendance is that Global is a well oiled machine. Every year I have attended the production has been flawless, the artists have all been super excited to play, and most importantly the fans leave happy. Though it’s not hard to leave happy from any Red Rocks show it is hard to stand out and shine for the twelve years that Global has in the Rocky Mountain market. Now onto the music…
Day 1:
After work ended on Friday I ran home, threw on some casual clothes, and raced up to the rocks to catch my most anticipated set of the whole weekend, Kygo. As I arrived inside the venue I was able to catch the very end of Louis Futon’s set. They had the crowd grooving pretty well to some deep tunes mixing in a couple of their new originals that got some good reactions. As they closed out it was time for the young man Kygo to take the decks for the next hour. As he took the stage he opened up with arguably his biggest track, his remix of I See Fire by Ed Sheeran. This got the attention of the many that showed up early to catch his set and we knew it was on from there. For the next hour we were taken on a journey of Kygo remixes. Though the tempo was much slower than most of the crowd was used to, it was fantastic to see so many people enjoying their opportunity to watch an up and coming star in the electronic game. After Kygo cemented his name in the hearts of the people, we were treated to sets by trap artists Bro Safari and Brillz and a live performance by Infected Mushroom. As many people made their way to the main stage for Carnage, I decided to check out the upper stage. Boy, am I glad I did. After Norin and Rad closed out their set, I was able to catch an up and comer in the game, Ben Negative. Though I hadn’t heard of this guy before, he surprised the hell out of me with his groovy funk infused house. He was definitely the biggest surprise of my weekend and I have included two of his tracks in my top 10 tracks of the weekend below. After catching half of Adventure Club’s high energy set I was spent from a long work week and a long night of dancing so I called it a night and rested up for day two.
Day 2:
As I made my way back to the rocks for day two, I knew it was going to be a different kind of day. With a lot of anticipation to see the new super act, Destroid, there were many more dubsteppers that made their way to the rocks. I was able to make it inside to catch most of Global Dance Festival legend Ecotek’s set. He has always been a staple of Global and it was good to see him still doing his thing at the rocks. After Ecotek we were treated to a high octane set by Borgeous that brought the crowd to life, followed by Alvin Risk that did more of the same. After Alvin I caught a little of Andy C before I made my way to the upper stage to see Odesza. I’d heard good things about these guys and boy did they deliver. They had the attention of the crowd throughout their set and had everyone on the next level with their glitch-hop vibes. With great reactions to their originals and their remixes, of artists like Pretty Lights and Ki:Theory, Odesza earned an encore chant that brought them back out for one last track. After Odesza destroyed the upper stage it was time for the actual Destroid on the lower stage. Not being too up to date on the whole dubstep scene I didn’t know exactly what I was about to witness. I knew they were made up of three dubstep super stars Excision, Downlink, and KJ Sawka but I didn’t know their whole gimmick. As they took the stage I saw a trio of people dressed in alien type suits, not the typical “DJ” attire. Their suits were something new, their live aspect was interesting, and their music was super heavy which came to much delight of the bass happy crowd. As most acts these days are trying to bring something different to the visual aspect of their sets it was pretty cool to see their take on it. It was also great to see some live drums thrown in there for an overall great effect that showed off these dj’s live instrumentation talents.
Day 3:
Again I showed up to Red Rocks fairly early to catch another guy making big waves in the house scene, Oliver Heldens. This guy is known for going Heldeep and that is just what he did from the get go. Getting the crowd moving with originals such as Koala and his smash hit Gecko, and his remix of Animals (lots of “animals” here) he definitely delivered a great show. Next up another house guy took the stage. Tchami being known for his punchy house originals and remixes played out one of my favorite sets of the weekend. His tracks sounded fantastic at the rocks and he was one of the only DJ’s all weekend to not touch the mic. He let his music speak for itself which I respected a lot. Sunday was a main-stage day for me as I caught awesome sets by Madeon, Wolfgang Gartner, and Zedd. These three artists need no explanation as they all put on high energy performances that were perfect for the last night of Global 2014.
Thank you to everyone that came out to the rocks. We have a picture album that will be posted to our facebook page in the next few days and I have also included my top 10 songs of the weekend below. Let us know which songs you liked most and be sure to check out the photos when they become available!