When I Went To My First Apocalypse Zombieland…
Last weekend I attended Insomniac’s Apocalypse Zombieland festival at The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. The two-day festival began at 1 pm and lasted until 6 am at The Queen Mary Afterparty. Nearly 100 artists played across 4 stages: Zombieland, Apocalypse, The Containment Zone, and The Lab.
The festival took place at The Queen Mary’s dock. The 30-minute walk over the bridge from Long Beach shores was a tough trek but Insomniac’s recognizable road signs led eventgoers to and from the venue. They also offered a free shuttle service from the venue to East Shoreline Drive. Although the shuttles were wonderful, the shuttle line was long. Insomniac’s Ground Control was also present at the festival. In fact, members of Ground Control were standing outside security gates and sharing love with attendees who had to walk past religious protestors to enter the venue (check it out!)
The venue entrance was through The Containment Zone where attendees immediately walked past 1 of the 3 First-Aid tents, as well as the End Overdose tent where they also offered CPR Training. Right beside them was the first of 4 water stations, one of which was in the VIP section at the Zombieland stage. The water lines were fairly short, except for the station at the entrance of the venue, and bathrooms barely had lines. The Containment Zone was connected with the rest of the festival through a fairly spacious tunnel by the Apocalypse stage, and a pretty crowded bridge over the Queens Hwy near the Zombieland stage.
The venue was crawling with Zombie Actors everywhere you looked. In the crowd, at the rail, on the paths, around the beautifully designed photo-opps; so many unique characters littered The Queen Mary docks. The venue had art installations in every corner. Whether it’s a graffitied and folded 18-wheeler or a line of zombie bikers, the theme of the weekend was expertly produced.
On the first day of Apocalypse Zombieland, we got inside at 2:30 pm. The walk was much warmer than we expected so our first stop was lockers and water. Our next stop was the Apocalypse stage for Austeria and Drinkurwater, followed by the Zombieland stage for the end of Hekler then Level Up. Level Up’s set was heavier than usual and she played her newer IDs as well. We took a short break after watching half of HOL!’s set and returned for Caspa b2b Rusko. My favorite set of the night was Boogie T, as always. Around this time we went to the Afterpart entrance to check in and get our wristbands, and then we finally finished the 1st day of the festival with Subtronics. But the night wasn’t over yet…
We returned from Subtronics to find the stuffiest bottleneck at the Afterparty entrance. Trains of people were shoving through each other before the gates even opened. There were no fences to organize the horde of people and it took way longer than it should have to get inside The Queen Mary.
On the second day of the festival, we got inside at 4:30 pm and got to the Apocalypse stage by the time Canabliss started. Soon after, we moved to the Zombieland stage before Samplifire started and stayed until the end of Kompany. Then we caught The Widdler at The Lab before returning for Riot Ten. We shortly left the stage for Bou b2b Hedex at The Containment Zone but came immediately back after for ATLiens. My favorite set of night 2 was VOYD; it was my first time seeing a VOYD set and I enjoyed every piece of the production. We stayed for 20 minutes of Excision before we raced to the Apocalypse stage to end the festival with Crankdat. To beat the Afterparty line we suffered in night 1, we left Crankdat about 15 minutes before the end and got in line for night 2 afters.
Thankfully, most of the discomfort we experienced entering the afters on Friday was resolved for day 2 with fences; however, the line was still pretty major for the second night. I was at the Grand Stage both nights for the afters. On night 1, Britannia Stage’s speakers blew out for good, and on night 2, Grand Stage’s speakers blew out but were quickly fixed. My favorite sets from the afters have to be HOL! B2b Shiverz & Kompany b2b Samplifire. My only disappointment is that we were too tired to stay for Tape B’s after set.
Apocalypse Zombieland 2024 was one of the best music festivals I had the pleasure of attending. It promised and delivered stunning music and production, lured out the wooks and bassheads from their hidey holes and gave us a haunted weekend full of the best memories. This was some of the most fun I had this year and it definitely triggered some gratuity in my heart. I’m so grateful to have been able to attend Apocalypse Zombieland with my closest friends and rave family. I can’t wait to come back next year and do it again, but better!
For more information on Apocalypse Zombieland please visit:
Website: www.apocalypsefest.com
Instagram: @apocalypsefest
Twitter: @apocalypsefest