Just a few weeks ago, we were closing out 2025 at the country’s largest New Year’s Eve music festival, Decadence Arizona. Produced by Relentless Beats, Decadence invited us to enter the ‘The Portal of Illusions’ which took place at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona for two nights, December 30 and 31.
Thousands of festival goers gathered from all across the nation for a fully immersive festival experience featuring large scale production, brand activations, thrilling rides, and performances from dance music’s most notable artists. Relentless Beats curated a diverse multi-genre lineup, energizing the stages with a mix of house, techno, dubstep, UK garage, dance-pop, drum and bass, and hardstyle.
We’ve experienced every era of Decadence thus far and 2025 marked our eleventh year at the NYE celebration. The festival has grown so much since its inception and this edition was the largest to date. This year’s layout was similar to past years at the Raceway, but there appeared to be an overall expansion across the grounds to make room for the resurgence of the ferris wheel (which we haven’t seen since Decadence 2018) and our favorite addition, the new and exciting stage, The Conservatory.
The majority of the performances took place at Decadence’s two main stages, Grand Palace and Royal Ballroom. These lavish stages made their debut at the 2019 edition and have kept elevating in production and talent. Grand Palace invited ravers to step inside the portal with buzz-worthy sets from industry greats, Adventure Club, Darren Styles, Fisher, GRiZ, Kaskade, Mike Posner, Sammy Virji, Sara Landry, Subtronics, Zedd, and more.
Night one took us on a trip down memory lane to our early rave days. Bass duo, Adventure Club played a throwback set and Darren Styles hit us with his nostalgic hardstyle anthems. They filled the palace with melodies, bass, trap and turned BPM’s up to the max. Sara Landry kept the momentum going by blessing the crowd with her ground-shattering hard techno. She was our standout of night one.
Royal Ballroom lived up to its name with monumental back to back performances across both nights. The roster was packed with notable acts including Chase & Status, Green Velvet, Hamdi, Hayden James, Kai Wachi b2b Sullivan King, Level Up, Max Styler, Meduza, Odd Mob, SG Lewis, VOYD, Whethan, and more.
It wouldn’t be a New Year’s Eve festival without the iconic countdown sets and this year’s time slots were reserved for two funk masters that cater to different sides of the dance music world, Green Velvet and GRiZ. House legend, Green Velvet brought his laser beams and funky house music to the Royal Ballroom, while genre-bending pioneer, GRiZ saxed it up at the Grand Palace. GRiZ counted us down to the new year with an explosion of funky bass and saxophone driven melodies. The celebration proceeded with a giant balloon drop running along center stage.
Decadence had four other side stages drawing in local artists and attendees, The Playhouse, Quiet Quarters, The Bazaar, and The Conservatory. The Bazaar served as both a stage and communal area for ravers to rest, interact with brand activations, play classic arcade games, and even send off postcards from the post office booth. The three-channel silent disco, Quiet Quarters was booming all event long with over 40+ artists throwing down on the decks. It has become a staple at every Relentless Beats festival and we always make some time to check it out.
The newest addition was The Conservatory stage. The dome-shaped structure was presented by Relentless Beats’ house and techno festival, Body Language which meant the lineup was flawlessly executed. Conservatory’s roster included Ben Sterling, OMRI., Prunk, Riordan, Wakyin, Wax Motif, and many more. The covered dome and moody feel gave us underground vibes and served as the perfect setting for house music.
Connect with Decadence Arizona:
https://www.facebook.com/DecadenceAZ
https://twitter.com/DecadenceAZ
https://www.instagram.com/decadencearizona
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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