Must Read

North Coast Music Festival: The Perfect End To Summer [Event Review]

September 8, 2016 By Maggie Forbes

NCMF 16 (2)

Over the long Labor day weekend in downtown Chicago, Union Park was home to the seventh annual North Coast Music and Arts Festival. The festival which scheduled 80+ acts brought in an estimated 54,000 attendees. The festival attracted people from all walks and musical tastes, but chose to return to their original EDM heavy lineup of years past. The weather throughout the weekend could not have been anymore perfect at a breezy 75 degrees. The ideal temperature for the city part festival.

The stages which included the North, Coast, and Skyline (which was the main stage) were evenly spaced and timed out. The festival coordinators cut a stage this year to prevent sound bleeding, which had been a problem in the past. The 3 stage layout this year worked perfectly with the layout of the park and provided the attendees with a much more ideal festival experience.

The Heineken house which was a sponsored indoor stage for local DJs provided a perfect oasis to escape the crowd, listen to unique Chicago tunes, and charge your phone. The event also hosted two Silent Discos which were just the right anecdote during the wait between artists.

Friday: Day one of the fest had the soulful sounds of Jamila Woods, The Revivalists bringing the alternative music from NOLA, the upbeat happy vibes from Grouplove, and the combination of current and throwback stylings of the one and only Juicy J.

Vibration was the word that seemed to be the theme of the festival with every band, group, and artist adding their own style into a perfect mix that embodied NCMF.

Hermitude kicked off the EDM vibrations on Friday like only the Australian duo know how. The crowd started off small but flooded out into the drink and merch area by the end of the set. The remix of Hyperparadise by Flume with the In the Jungle intro had people with no idea who Hermitude is singing along. The two artists also played their remix of Say My Name (feat. Zyra) in honor of Odesza who would be taking the stage at the end of the night as the headliner. Bauuer picked up right where Hermitude left off with his heavy bass nasty trap sound. If I can say one thing about Bauuer he is not relying on his Harlem Shake stardom, he has proven himself as an unique and versatile artist time and time again.

NCMF 16 (1)

Louis Futon lit up the stage with positive energy and definitely turned me on to his track Wasted on You (feat.Rozes). I could not keep myself from vibing with the beat. Galantis followed on the Skyline stage. The Swedish duo’s played some of their hits such as Runaway (U&I) and In My Head.

To close out Friday night at 8:30 all the attendees packed and pushed in front of the Skyline stage to see what was hyped to be one of the best shows of the weekend. The hype did not disappoint as Odesza took the stage and completely blew the crowd out of the water with the stage presence. The the music was complimented perfectly by the beauty of the unique lighting design and visuals. Odesza’s vibrations took everyone by storm as they played Say My Name (Feat. Zyra), their remix of Porter Robinson’s Divinity, and the obvious NCMF attendee favorite My Friends Never Die.

Saturday: Day two of the festival had a completely new feel to the vibrations. The amount of people who attended day two of the festival was at least double the amount of day one. The chatter of excite about the nights headliners Bassnectar, the time machine that is The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and the witty lyricist that is Logic.

The local Chicago group The Trap House started out the dance marathon that was Saturday, they were followed by Hotel Garuda and their own warm and inviting brand of House music that inspires the feet to move in ways you did not think possible, up next was Big Wild who prepared the crowd for the wild night ahead with his unique style of EDM that can only be defined as Big and Wild. The remixes that come from the speakers while Big Wild is on the stage make you wonder who the original artist of the song is. The guy is an artist and does a fantastic job of making each song uniquely his own.

Brillz took the Coast stage at 5:15 right as the sun was going down. The pace of the night was sped up and as the fast forward button was hit everyone started dancing harder. The people beside you faded away and all of your focus was directed to the Trap music in your ears and the sun’s last little bit of light popping through the buildings. Keys N Krates was by far one of my favorite sets of the weekend. The group stayed true to the their heavy Bass roots and put on a show that was something only Keys N Krates could pull off. The energy of the crowd was transferred to the stage and translated into an amazing set. The group threw down Hypnotik, their remix of Tove Lo’s Habits, and Throw it Back. I walked away from the set pumped and ready for the remaining hours of the night.

NCMF 16 (3)

The transition from the Coast Stage to the Skyline stage was a steady fast paced jog to make it to The Floozies set. The Hill brothers brought the funk with Wild Card and Stuntin’ to just name of few of the jams emanating from the stage. I do have to say I was so antsy to see Bassnectar , but the time just flew by with The Floozies on stage.

As 8:00 rolled around the crowd started to grow and did not stop until Bassnectar himself hit the stage. The crowd was full of Bassnectar virgins who were preparing themselves for their first experience of the man, the myth, the legend. The set started out strong with Music is the Drug with vocals from Freestyle, but quickly lost steam as due to technical difficulties he lost power to his set three times and it seemed to kill the crowds hype. The problem was a quickly resolved and Bassnectar being a true professional apologized and went right back to doing what he does best. A remix of the Rage Against the Machine song Killing in the Name with visuals of Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump got everyone fired up and singing along. He also had one of my favorites on the set list for the night, Mindtricks with contortionist visuals always sends me to another level. Bassnectar also confirmed his upcoming Halloween show in Peoria, Illinois, which made the Illinois native dominate crowd go crazy! Despite the beginning the show as a whole was definitely worth the anticipation.

Bassnectar NCMF 16

Sunday: Day Three you could see the events of the weekend taking it’s tole on the crowd but half way through the day you could see everyone getting that second wind of energy to finish out the weekend.

The final days bands were definitely chosen to keep the crowd moving and that they did. Stick Figure a reggae style band with and Australian Shepherd mascot, Matt and Kim the couple from Brooklyn that know how to turn a show into a party with gigantic beach balls and balloons, and Action Bronson a big man with an even bigger personality brought the festival to a very eventful close.

Sam Feldt a new comer to the U.S. festival circuit was a great addition to the NCMF. The young artist proved himself by giving the crowd exactly what they wanted in the form of his catchy tunes including Show Me Love. Zomboy appeared on the Skyline stage with a great set that left the crowd satisfied. Matoma took the stage next and showed the crowd how tropical house was meant to sound. The set was full of tracks from his newly released album Hakuna Motoma including the False Alarm which is straight fire.

The final show of the night and the weekend was Zedd. The crowd packed around the Skyline stage to get one last taste of the festival atmosphere before they had to return to reality. The laser show alone was enough to make the crowd go wild. Beautiful Now, Clarity (feat.Foxes), I Want You To Know, and his own remix of Closer (feat. Halsey) by the Chainsmokers were just a few of the songs that Zedd used to bring this amazing weekend to a close. If North Coast Music Festival is not on your 2017 music fest lineup I recommend that change immediately. NCMF 16 (5)