Decadence Arizona Sets the Tone for an Amazing New Year [Event Review]

The only way to set the tone for an exciting new year filled with stellar music and positive vibes is to kick it off with an amazing New Year’s Eve music festival, and that is exactly what we did as we welcomed 2018 at Decadence Arizona.

The fourth annual Decadence Arizona drew in hundreds of thousands of festival goers on December 30 and 31 at Rawhide Event Center in Chandler, Arizona. The venue was made up of one-of-a-kind art installations, a variety of vendors, carnival rides, and of course our main focus of the event, the performances that took place upon the three dazzling stages, Diamond Atrium, Sapphire Ballroom, and Ruby Courtyard.

Day one began with Arizona’s hometown hero Bijou, his signature G-House stylings shined at the Diamond Atrium and was the perfect way to warm up our dancing feet for the remainder of the night. After Bijou, we wandered the grounds to get a feel for the festival. By doing so, we found ourselves at the Ruby Courtyard, which held some of the state’s premiere local talent. Over the course of the weekend, we caught a handful of sets here and we must admit, the local acts rivaled some of today’s leading artists.

The night consisted of us hopping from stage to stage to catch all of our must-see performances. Luckily, this wasn’t too difficult since the stages were in close proximity to each other. One of the highlights of Saturday night was the talented French producer, Petit Biscuit. We’ve been looking forward to his set for quite some time and we are pleased to say that he delivered a beautiful performance. After vibing to the chill melodic sounds of Petit Biscuit, we were ready for some heavy bass. Cue, Black Tiger Sex Machine. It was time to go to church and boy was the Diamond Atrium packed. BTSM dropped an ultra heavy set and church members were going hard AF! We followed BTSM’s mass with the sweet sweet sounds of Duke Dumont. Duke radiated the Sapphire Ballroom with his light-hearted and hip-shaking tunes, “I Got You,” “The Giver,” “Won’t Look Back,” and more.

The rest of the night consisted of sets from RÜFÜS DU SOL, Zeds Dead B2B Jauz, Oliver Heldens, ZHU, Borgore, and finally, Steve Aoki and Tchami closing out day one of Decadence. As you can see from the roster, it was difficult to choose from these A-listers, but ultimately we had to make a decision. We caught a bit of the B2B, where Zeds Dead and Jauz showcased their new collab, “Lights Go Down,” but eventually made our way to Sapphire to catch one of our must-see acts of the weekend, RÜFÜS DU SOL (DJ set). As expected, RÜFÜS brought the feels, uniting the crowd as they all sang along, “if you want me, if you need me, I’m yours”. Check out the video of RÜFÜS DU SOL playing their emotion packed single “Innerbloom” at Decadence:

Next up on our schedule was the Grammy-nominated producer, ZHU. After raving reviews from his last Arizona appearance at Phoenix Lights, ZHU was a non-negotiable at the NYE extravaganza. The brilliant composer delivered a flawless performance, mesmerizing us with “Automatic,” “Superfriends,” “Faded,” “Nightcrawler,” and more as his signature logo irradiated the tented mega-structure. Lastly, we caught a set from the Parisian house producer, Tchami. The highly-acclaimed label head rocked the house (like usual) with his future house flair and Confession hits to properly close out day one.

Day two being New Year’s Eve, the excitement and adrenaline were at an all time high. Attendees arrived in their sparkliest of attires ready to ring in the new year. Upon arrival, we were given bracelets that read, “less bitter, more glitter.” New Year’s resolution? We think so!

Day two brought performances from Louis The Child, Armin van Buuren, Gerry Gonza, Destructo, k?d, Crywolf, Deorro, Snails, Destructo, Madeon, Galantis, Justice, and more. We began the night at the Diamond Atrium for a vivifying set from the young Chicago-based duo, Louis The Child. The Atrium suddenly lit up (and we’re not referring to the lasers) when LTC took the stage, playing their uber popular tracks, “It’s Strange” and “Love Is Alive”.

When their set was done, we made our way through the crowd to get as close and personal for the legendary Armin van Buuren. Armin did what he does best and put us all in A State Of Trance with Gareth Emery’s “Saving Light,” “Heading Up High,” “This Is What It Feels Like, and “Great Spirit”. Get your tissues ready, we have another feelsy video, Armin with “Heading Up High”:

One of the major highlights of day two and the overall weekend was Gary Richards aka Destructo’s set. Since it was Destructo’s birthday, fans made sure to commemorate his special day by belting out “Happy Birthday”. The crowd went extra hard for his celebration of birth and so did he with his flawless song selections, playing “Techno,” “Party Up,” “Dare You 2 Move,” and Chris Lake & Chris Lorenzo’s “Nothing Better”.

When it was time for the highly-anticipated NYE countdown, festival goers had two options: head to the main stage for a little panda funk with Deorro or “break it down” with Boys Noize. We went with option number 2. Boys Noize delivered the underground sound we were longing for, playing “Overthrow” and “Cerebral”. Truly MIND BLOWING.

Finally, Decadence Arizona came to a close with Galantis and Justice. We decided to get our disco on with the elite French duo Justice. Their set consisted of classic throwbacks, such as Run-DMC’s “It’s Tricky,” Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet,” and “Phantom Part 2” from their A Cross The Universe album. It was the ideal set to conclude a beautiful weekend with our friends. Check it out for yourself:

Decadence Arizona is a yearly tradition for us and every year it far exceeds our expectations. Thank you Relentless Beats for a wonderful festival experience and for setting the tone for a great new year. We can’t wait to see what next year brings for this amazing event!

Happy 2018 RaverRafters!

Connect with Decadence Arizona:
https://www.facebook.com/DecadenceAZ
https://twitter.com/DecadenceAZ
http://decadencearizona.com

Connect with Relentless Beats:
https://www.facebook.com/relentlessbeats
https://twitter.com/RelentlessBeats
https://www.instagram.com/relentlessbeats
http://relentlessbeats.com

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