Roses, Thorns, and Buds of Seismic 7.0
I had the pleasure of attending Seismic Dance Event 7.0 this past weekend and experiencing some incredible acts along the way. Seismic was held at the Concourse Project in Austin, TX and while it was somewhat of a mission to get there and back from the event center, the time spent while on the grounds was filled with fun times, great experiences with new friends, and a bevy of acts (ranging from all different times of day) that kept me going through the weekend. For this article, I want to do something a little bit different and detail the good, the not so great, and the hopeful takeaways from the festival. In camping, this is called Roses (Good), Thorns (Not so great), and Buds (Hopeful).
ROSES OF SEISMIC
We will start off with the Roses of the festival and the first big rose for me was the set-up of the outdoor “Tsunami” stage. This stage was incredibly well set up for visuals, colors, and overall presentation. During the day, it looked like any regular stage set-up but when it was coupled together with what Gesaffellstein brought to the party, it was a visual masterpiece to behold. The lighting directors did an excellent job on using the stage and the visuals to craft an enticing spectacle for attendees.
The next rose of this festival was their fans. I spent all of day two hanging with one particular group of dancers and day 3 with another group of people who were all connected in the local scene and had no problem welcoming a new member to the squad. I was having a pretty introverted weekend so having them be so welcoming and friendly was a really great way to get out of my shell. They showed me some fun things around the festival, helped me recover a lost phone and get it to lost and found, and enjoyed a lot of dancing with me on this one 3D triangle dancefloor.
The next roses for me were some of the daytime acts that I caught on Day 2. ToBeHonest was the first act I caught on day 2 and he was a vibe at the inside stage for a while. However, after a bit too long inside, the lights had me a little overwhelmed so I went outside and saw Peace Control do their thing. At first, I wasn’t feeling their set as much but after a while, I really fell into the motion of the ocean with their journey and found myself melodically swaying around. They were very ethereal and uplifting with their music. Next up was Hannah Wants back inside and her beats had me grooving even more than I had been up to that point. Hannah was a ton of fun but once the lighting got too much again, I popped outside and sat down at the dance triangle with friends to enjoy the rest of KAS:ST and the beginning of Massano.
My final rose is the Tsunami stage on Day 3. From Jerro to Prydz, this stage was going off all day long. Jerro started the day with a nice and soft set with energy and relaxation but turned up simultaneously. It felt like a warm blanket but also had me up and grooving. Orbital was enjoyable as well but Sammy Virji really stole the show with his set. Lots of different sounds and styles of music during Sammy’s set. He even dropped a few bass songs on us, which had this techno/house crowd very surprised. Sammy led into Disclosure, who is always perfect, and Disclosure did their usual thing and had the crowd singing loud and proud. Eric Prydz finished off the stage in an incredible way but after 3 days of the fest, I could only hang for about half his set before it was time to rest.
THORNS OF SEISMIC
There were a few things that I felt did take away from the festival as a whole, and although they did not damper the experience too much, I feel they are worth mentioning. First off was the location and parking situation. It seems that the Concourse Project is not necessarily ready for the amount of people that attended the festival. Each day, the parking lot filled up very quickly and since the location was not nearby any neighborhoods or businesses, there was nowhere to park except down the road and within little inlets and grass patches. Each day when I was leaving, there were a collection of ravers walking down the fast paced street to get to their cars that were scattered down the road. Feels like something that should be enlarged if they want to keep having larger events at the event center.
The next thorn for me was the use of strobes in the inside stage. There were a few times where the lighting was pure white and flashing really aggressively, even for a rave. I heard multiple crowd members complain about this and I even brought my sunglasses on day 3 so I could counter the lights. Turns out, I wouldn’t even go into the inside stage on Day 3.
Another thorn related to this was the in/out flow to the inside stage. On both day 1 and 2, the line to get inside was so long that I actually abandoned going to see Cloonee or Waxtroda because I would have been standing in line the whole time. I know that the inside stage is usually the whole production but when you make it a mainstage with ins and outs, its pretty difficult to control.
The final thorn for me was that there was not a lot to do around the venue besides go in the crowd at each stage. There were a number of vendors around but it felt a little bit like a large club instead of a set music festival with all the fun side quests and adventures you could partake in. After realizing there was not a whole lot to do, I did find myself waiting for the next set more often than I usually do at festivals.
All that being said, these thorns did not make the festival unappealing to me but it did leave me wishing for me engagement and more excitement. I can tell there are a lot of strengths to this festival team and I am interested to learn more about their company and their festivals.
BUDS OF SEISMIC
With this being the seventh iteration of Seismic Dance Event, there is a lot to look forward to. I am very excited about checking out the team who ran this event and attending some events at The Concourse Club because the venue is huge and has quality sound throughout the indoor area. I am looking forward to how they change around the festival in the next year as well. I looked back at previous years of this festival and it seems pretty well-rounded at bringing some of the current leaders of the industry to play. I look forward to how they might change around the venue set-up, both for the Tsunami Stage and the side stages. The side stages are something that I did not experience too much of this time and I would like to get more time at them for the next event. Another thing I look forward to doing more next time is socializing with the crowd. I will say that everybody I met was extremely friendly and welcoming and were great company when I was chatting to them. I feel like there is somewhat of a community built around this festival and the more you attend their events, the more whole and warm it might feel. Finally, I am looking forward to getting to know their staff better because they were also very accommodating. Any staff interaction I had was very pleasant and they made sure to be as helpful as possible and I very much appreciated that. In the end, I think that Seismic Dance Event put on a great event and I am extremely excited for the next one.