Freaky Deaky 2019 was the ultimate gathering of Halloween creatures, witches, ghosts and everything else in between. The Houston Raceway was transformed into a haunted wonderland, complete with giant zombie hands reaching from the ground below, a creepy haunted house, and even a tattoo and piercing studio for those brave enough to push the limits. Freaky Deaky pulled out all the stops with terrifyingly incredible stage design, ghoulish lasers, and spooky dancers that really got our bones dancing. If you’re like us and aren’t ready to start planning your Thanksgiving side dishes or sing Christmas carols, read on to relive the best Halloween weekend of 2019.
Day One:
A flurry of skeletons, jokers, and glitter streamed through the gates on Saturday to rave to the grave. We kicked our night off with Dimibo at the Haunted Hallow. He dazzled us with stellar psy trance that pulsated throughout the crowd. With tracks like their remix of Seven Lions’, “Island”, and their own powerful collab with Magnus, “State of Mind”. We can’t wait to catch these again at Dreamstate SoCal this year as well as their debut with Seven Lions as Abraxis.
The Haunted Hallow continued to play host to a range of genres, from hard hitting trance to unique fusions of percussion, techno, and drum and bass. With a powerful lineup featuring Desert Dwellers, John Askew, Delta Heavy and Planet of the Drums, this stage kept calling us back. Askew particularly held our attention, with variations of different sub genres of trance keeping us on our toes. With tracks like, “Through the Looking Glass”, and his remix of John O’Callaghan’s, “Stresstest”, thumping through our chests we found ourselves dancing like the crazy skeletons in his visuals.
Next up was Walker & Royce B2B Shiba San at the main stage. The visuals perfectly matched the title, The Shrine; spiraling logos hypnotized us to shuffle our little witchin’ hearts out. They kicked things off with Walk & Royce’s playful, “Uh Oh”, filtered into Shiba San’s, “Rock da House”. We “Let Our Bodies Do the Talking” as they kept us under their spell with tracks like Channel Tres’, “Controller”, and Shiba’s scratching out with his disc flying hands.
They were followed with an epic buildup welcome message from Freaky Deaky before the biggest house set of the weekend blasted off, brought to us by Fisher. With a monstrous two-hour dance party, the enigmatic Australian magnified us to the dance floor. He had us “Losing It” to his addictive melodies and even got cheeky with it with throwbacks to Eiffel 65’s, “I’m Blue”, and The Fugees’, “Ready or Not”. Dance floor thumpers both unreleased and staples, including “You Little Beauty” and “Ya Kidding” brought out party animals in us.
One of our favorite stages was the Big Top, with the sound dancing circles around us with a totally immersive audio experience. The first day featured major performances including Amtrac, Cristoph, and Lane 8. Cristoph was just beautiful as always. The bass rumbled and the lights fluttered in memorizing patterns. Cristoph floated us off into his eloquently built melodies like, “Slow Burning”, and his remix of The Temper Trap’s, “Sweet Disposition”. For those looking for something a little more magical, aka Lane 8, ravers could settle beneath the kaleidoscope tent and explore the realms of deep house to close out the night.
The Crypt was reserved for all the bass heads looking to raise the dead. Artists like Lucii, Subdocta, Blunts and Blondes, Space Jesus and Borgore were breaking necks in masse. Space Jesus really took us to another dimension, quite literally, with some throwbacks such as to the beloved “Space Jam”. In all Hallow’s Eve glory he released a fire tribute to the Nightmare Before Christmas’, “This is Halloween”, and even showed off his slick word flow. Of course, we couldn’t leave the bass stage without getting down and dirty with the bad bass daddy himself, Borgore. Tracks like his 2012 banger, “Ice Cream”, and his more recent, “Gore on the Dancefloor”, had fans stirring up the ground and shake the rails.
Tucked away between the stages was The Rising, a spot dedicated to local Texas artists. Rising producers took the decks throughout the evening including Vinny, Madhatter!, Ghost Data and Chris Shambacher. One of which that especially caught our ears was the Houston native, Ghost Data. As we made our way over, we heard the bright guitar riffs of the theme song to the Nickelodeon classic, Drake and Josh. This has become a signature staple in his set lists, as was seen at iLLfest and other performances at local Texas venues. He showed off his production dexterity, from hard hitting, “Siren Calls”, to the angelic, “Echo Chamber”. Fans were also treated to being the first to hear an unreleased track played outside the studio for the first time.
To close out the night, we waited for the queen of hypnosis herself, Rezz, to grace us with her presence. As the screens lit up with deadly red hues and a pair of swirling eyes glowed from the decks, we knew it was time to be put under. Rezz lived her Halloween fantasy with us, adorned in her Jack Skellington costume perfectly paired with her cold, palpating bass. Rezz commanded us into the “Witching Hour” and we felt our souls slowly slip away from us with tracks like, “Relax”, and, “Spider on the Moon”, wrapping around us like a boa constrictor. Fans were also surprised with her latest collaboration with Malaa, “Criminals”, with the bass queen bringing the mysteriously masked bass house master out to perform it live. We all left the festival in a daze, hoping our souls may find their way back before Sunday.
Day Two:
As we entered through the gates for day two, we rushed over to main stage to get swept up in the world of Notaker. Even though it was incredibly sunny, we felt ourselves duck into the darker dimensions of his set. Playing out his own stunner tracks like his remix of Haywyre’s, “Tell Me”, his most recent single, “From Dust & Ashes”, and his highly beloved, “Who I Am”, from his Genesis EP. We had a chance to catch up with the talented producer, check out our exclusive interview here.
Next up, Spencer Brown put on some dazzling trance that took us into the depths of flow and melody. Tracks like his remix of Deadmau5’s, “fn pig (ov)”, and his collaboration with Above and Beyond, “Long Way From Home”, smoothed us into the afternoon. Soon after, Cosmic Gate took command of the stage and we got to experience a taste of their 20 year career. Opening with their LP’s intro, “Come With Me”, trance heads lifted their hands to the sky and couldn’t put them down. Nic and Bossi met our “Need to Feel Love”, filling the main stage with energetic synths and thumping bass. From the classics such as, “Fair Game”, and to their Grammy nominated remix of Gabriel & Dresden’s, “Only Road”, we got to see the sparks of their journey play out on stage. We had the opportunity to meet with Cosmic Gate to talk about it all, you can read up on our interview here.
Finishing out at main stage, attendees fell under the siege of twelve cakes from powerhouse Steve Aoki, let themselves fall under Armin Van Buuren’s a state of trance as he ruled the decks, and finished with a bang with crowd favorite Martin Garrix. We got to hear incredible renditions of Buuren’s highly streamed “Great Spirit”, his latest “A Million Voices” from his album Balance, his 2015 classic “Another You”. Martin Garrix closed out the festival at The Shrine in an incredible explosion of life. His party starting “Animals” and “In the Name of Love” reverberated throughout the crowd. He even gave us quite the surprise, something like a Halloween present, and showed off his skills with his own take on dubstep.
The Haunted Hallow was transformed into the hardstyle arena, with legs flying and bass thundering into our into our guts. Artists like Lady Faith, LNY TNZ B2B Frontliner, Da Tweekaz, Coone, and Lil Texas really showed us the fast and furious nature of their music. LNY TNZ b2b Frontliner blended in modern hits like Post Malone’s, “Rockstar”, and Macklemore’s, “Can’t Hold Us”, all with a devilish hard twist. We found ourselves returning to the Hallow to keep us well energized and get our healthy dose of hardstyle.
The Big Top kept on with having a slew of highly talented producers in the house and techno game. Home runners like Dirtybird’s VNSSA, Tom Baresko, Mason Maynard, Chris Lorenzo, AC Slater and Green Velvet had us stirring up the dirt. VNSSA’s, “Rave Grave”, was perfectly fitting for the occasion, Lorenzo had us craving “Pizza” instead of brains and closing out the night with our favorite green mohawked beat master on his soon to be chart topper, “Jolean”, was just a house head’s dream.
The Crypt continued into day two as the spot for our fellow melodic bass lovers. Shadient, Charlesthefirst, Clozee, Kill the Noise, Black Tiger Sex Machine, and Ganja White Night had attendees fastened to the rails and heads on a swivel. Clozee presented a peaceful balance between her melody and rhythm, but wasn’t afraid to show off her ability to make her bass menacing. Black Tiger Sex Machine was as glorious as ever, calling all the “Zombie”-s out to play and playing out love to Illenium and Excision’s “Gold”.
Freaky Deaky 2019 was one for the books. Although we were sad to leave our Halloween fantasy behind, it was reassuring to know that the Disco Donnie team was already planning to make next year even more unforgettable. While we have to tuck away our spooky costumes, we know we have found our very own coven in the heart of Houston, Texas.
Photo Cred: Rukes
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