“The 2012 SnowBall is a one-of-a-kind music experience that proposes the ultimate marriage: music and mountains”
Music. Adventure. Party.
SnowBall Music Festival “A one-of-a-kind music experience that proposes the ultimate marriage: music and mountains.
A dance-music-adventure party set in the mountains at a park right in my back yard in the small town of Avon, Colorado in the Vail valley. SnowBall is just a baby, at two years running, but that’s not to say this festival isn’t packing some serious heaters. The lineup was quite stacked for a festival in only its second year of life – bringing in headliners: Rusko, Snoop Dogg and Bassnectar to close out the festival. The feel & experience of SnowBall is very unique and extraordinary – snow on the ground, covered festival tents, packed heat huts and loads of bouncing ravers and hippies. That is what really set SnowBall apart in my eyes; a music festival set in winter time.
Music enthusiasts traveled from all over the country to come out for this music adventure party. I knew groups from Maryland, Chicago, Miami, west coast, Ohio and the Carolinas. A very diverse crowd came out for this mid-winter rager; it was a mix of hippie loving jam band crazies and DJ-fanatic, ultra-ravtastic party people. I made a real attempt to connect with the crowds of people when I was standing in front of them pointing and snapping photos, passing out tons of white raver rafting stickers all weekend – people love free shit and they love having their photos taken. Festivals to me are largely about the people that attend them & the connections/friendships you make but in all seriousness the crowd at SnowBall music festival was warm, accepting, lively, energetic, and inviting! It had to be that way – it’s below 30 degrees, potentially snowing get ready to get close to someone, drop a layer of clothing off and bust a fucking move.
I ventured straight to the Heat Hut, one of the smaller stages at SnowBall, cruising past the massive Groove Tent at the entrance of the festival – my friend and I were heading to check out the Acidophiles. A musical pair consisting of a male and female producer – who seemed to be rocking some type of live Reason setup on two different laptops… I wasn’t entirely sure because I was still trying to take all of the SnowBall escapade in, a music festival in the middle of winter…? Wtf!?! Pulled out my camera snapped a few photos of the Reason-rocking dub-electro duo… “SnowBall … this is going to be one adventure of a weekend, let’s do this!”
Gramatik was already rocking the Groove tent by the time I made it to the front of the media area. The groove tent, located on a massive parking lot, was absolutely huge, stocked with racks on top of racks of professional, tour grade speakers, not to mention multiple bass bins laid out, I honestly think this stage was the best at the festival. This tent always filled up quickly and everything was always on point in here: the party vibes, lights, sound, everything was money and groovy in the Groove tent. I spent a lot of time in this tent and it host some of the favorite artists along with some of my most fond memories of the entire music adventure party.
Gramatik really puts on a great show DJ / producer / guitarist combo was really exciting and got everyone in the mood to groove as the festival was just getting underway. I wish they put more emphasis on the guitarist – but nonetheless they put on the great show and I’m glad I caught them live!
Marty “bring the f-ing” Party !
I was able to chat with him a few minutes before he went on stage, really humble dude – got to express how much I enjoyed all the tunes he creates and that I was really excited to be snapping photos & watching him throw it down!
The groove tent absolutely erupted when he started dropping some of his hottest purple dubbed jams. He’s very energetic on stage, demanding power over his bass and getting everyone on the floor involved in each and every build-up. I got the chills as I went on stage to snap photos right behind him as he would throw his arms in preparation to drop some hammering bass on everyone – was a very exciting moment to be on stage with Marty Party.
It was tough for me to walk away from one of my favorite producers but it was time to catch Major Lazer finally getting the music-adventure-party started at the main stage. Diplo & company certainly know how to heat up a snowy, icy dance floor! Diplo was the main force behind this main stage act. I watched him seamlessly flowing between old and new Major Lazer beats, sassy moombahton and some pounding electro like Calvin Harris – Awooga. Commanding the crowd from the microphone – Diplo is always such a powerful DJ to watch, and has always been an idol of mine. He climbs a top the DJ table in his classic suit and tie attire nearing the end of the 1-hour Major Lazer set – yelling at the crowd insisting the everyone feel the ‘lazer’ inside. SnowBall was finally beginning to erupt into that massive party feeling – and I was loving every second of it.
I stumbled over to the heat hut immediately following Major Lazer – it was time to warm up and throw on some extra layers. I lit up some headies in the heat hut and readied my camera to snap some photos of Supervision off of Pretty Lights music label. Flat brimmed cap just like the rest of the Pretty Lights team, Supervision impressed me with some live scratching, tasty DJing and his ability to send warm vibes through the entire heat hut. It was a great set, by a talented musician – and another first time performance for me.
As the clock struck 8:30 everyone seemed to turn at once with that crazy look in their eyes “OMG Rusko is on in 15 minutes”. The party was just getting started and this was only the first day.
Rusko took the main stage, in somewhat of a drunken stupor, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying nor could any member of my crew. The alcohol and british accent were not mixing nearly as well as his dubstep tracks – he threw down a really impressive hard, thumping, heavy dubstep & drum and bass set! He was kind enough to share some new tracks with us – and they were bangarific. He also didn’t pass up any Rusko classics – from new to old and unreleased this guy is a completely beast. He’s truly a dubstep monster and was a perfect closer to an amazing day one of crazy fun adventure and music.
SnowBall 2012 Highlights from Cheekyfire on Vimeo.
SnowBall started very late for me on Saturday due to prepping for an official sponsored White Raver Rafting after party. Dillon Francis was set to play from 5 to 6 in the groove tent, another new performance for me – of which I was especially excited about because I have purchased and downloaded almost every tune this guy has put out. Dillon is a crafty producer and a skilled DJ as well – he jumped on stage and immediately got that groove tent moving.
Dillon grabbed the mic and announced “Yo what up SnowBall my name is Snoop Dogg!” this guy seems like a complete clown and I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to meet him in person. I snapped some photos and danced along really smoothly to all the moombahton tracks holding onto the railing and bouncing up and down with the raging crowd on the other side of the media fence. He played all of my favorites: Masta Blasta, Brazzer’s Theme, I.D.G.A.F.O.S., he had a really cool “tequila” remix that he dropped into a heavier moombahcore/dubstep track – definitely a big highlight from the festival! His entire set was fantastic, I quickly packed my camera up and joined the crowd so I could feel the energy he was pumping into that groove tent. It was really sweet looking around seeing tons and tons of arms go up and jumping heads bouncing perfectly in unison to the moombah drums and bass – what a cool sight indeed, Dillon Francis’ set certainly went down as one of my favorites of the entire music party.
Wow does Dada know how to make the party pop – “this shit is bananas b-a-n-a-n-as.. this shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-as!”. Before I even started shoving my way through the crowds – people were flowing outside the back of the massive swarming tent fist-pumping and jumping to the sky. Inflatable champagne bottles and bananas (true to Dada style) were being punched around above the heads of hundreds of Dada-crazy dance fiends. This groove tent transformed from the earlier groovy moombah vibes to all out club-raging electro pounding party paradise. I couldn’t resist I flung my arms up and jumped up and reached higher and higher for every single Dada build up and drop. Another really exciting live show, perfectly matched visual experience, tons of strobes and tons of energy to warm everyone up standing in the 30 degree temps.
I ran over to the heat hut to catch my last set of day two – GriZ. I had heard of GriZ previously thru a friend overseas living in China – I checked out his soundcloud and was instantly captured by his unique sound and amazing style. I was more captured by his live performance – where he played a saxphone perfectly in sync with his catchy, bouncy, remixes and original tunes. He has some really great tracks some personal favorites: Rolling in the Deep remix, Kaptain Krunk and Where is the love.
The final Sunday-fun day at SnowBall was here; the weekend seemed to fly by with all the excitement, energy and amazing live music. I was anxious to start my third day at SnowBall and got yet again another late start due to excess partying and rowdiness in the VIP at the after party. I sprinted through the festival gates and immediately went to the groove tent: Minnesota BASS time.
The first few times I heard DeathStar (consisting of MartyParty and Minnesota) I was awe-struck by their amazing remix of Rolling in the Deep. Purple, dubby and just all out raunchy remix – their sounds mesh perfectly together creating some baby making bass music – which turned my attention to exploring Minnesota’s music as well. Minnesota took the stage in fury dropping some of his lazer bass infused hip-hop remixes like Roof Back and then smoothly transitioning into some more melodic purple crunk like his Stary Eyed remix. Another first time live show for me, this guy kills it and I had a blast singing along to all my favorite Minnesota remixes.
I spent basically the entire final day in that groove tent the next two artists were some of my favorite performances of the entire music adventure party & some of the most talented musicians I had ever seen live: Boombox and Beats Antique. I knew very little about Boombox before seeing them live and only new Beats Antique from a few tracks and their remix to Bassnectar’s VooDoo.
It was a lot of fun getting down to Boombox grooving, jumping, jazzy-electro vibes radiating through the entire tent – this was a perfect Sunday fun day. On their site there is a brief description of their style, and I couldn’t agree more “BoomBox consists of two versatile producers, DJs, songwriters, multi-instrumentalists and longtime friends Russ Randolph and Zion Rock Godchaux. Together they develop an electronic blend of vintage Rock and Blues made to move dance floors while incorporating their signature Backbeat, Psychedelia and Funky House sounds.”
Rasta-electro-funky-jazz what a killer combo, and what a catchy vibe; both of these musicians are extremely gifted/brilliant and it shows in their production and live performance – once again a perfect artist for a Sunday afternoon in Vail, Colorado.
Next up was Beats Antique – my jaw was already dropped from watching Boombox and it continued to drop to the floor as I saw the beginning of Beats Antique powerful, jungle-y, exotic and adventurous live performance. I really like the live dancer / drummer – it was really exciting, watching her get very involved with the crowd, her vibes and energy on stage are incredibly powerful and striking. They dropped their Bassnectar remix to close out their set right before the man himself was to take the main stage and close out the entire SnowBall music festival.
Walking up to a Bassnectar performance from a distance while his pulsating visuals are just beginning and watching an entire hoard of Snowballers start flurrying to crowd around the nectar of his bass – a really trippy sight to capture. It’s as if we’re a herd of fruit flies quickly rushing around some scrappy leftover picnic fruit – but instead of fruit we’re crowding around to eat up waves and waves of Bassnectar bass.
I was standing in a few inches of mud and ice by this point in the festival the ground could no longer take the thousands upon thousands that we’re crushing it’s snowy, crunchy surface every day. Regardless of the mud – we danced anyway, slowly unzipping our coats and getting close to each other letting the bass warm up our souls and letting the miraculous visuals tickle our minds. Bassnectar seemed quiet, and I knew it was quiet since I could talk over it to those around me – Sunday night quiet but no one seemed to care, we raged along with Lorin and slowly he would turn it up as he dropped into some of his heavier tracks. He played classics like: Lights and some other tasty remixes and even a few new tracks for us. He put on a really energetic performance and his visuals are outstanding – I wasn’t out of my mind but the visuals made me feel as if I was. Raver babes and snow bunnies alike were raised up on shoulders as we all bounced along to his stabby, distorted bass riffs – glow sticks were flung sky high, and Bassnectar made us all feel like one big family as he prepared us for the bass-head family photo.
An amazing finish to a beautiful music adventure party weekend; SnowBall was an epic festival and one I will remember forever. Music festivals change me and SnowBall inspired me with such creative music, so many new performances that I saw in one quick weekend, in addition so many amazing, special people that traveled from near and far to be a part of this winter time get down. Shout-out to my raver family that took me in graciously from South Carolina (and Breezy!) – we had blast partying together and its incredible how you can go to a festival with only a few friends and leave with a ton of really incredible musically bound friendships. SnowBall was an incredibly memorable experience for me, and in it’s only second year of production this festival has some serious potential for growth and will continue to be astonishing in the future. I am excited to say I will be attending again and look forward to somehow being a part of the next SnowBall music adventure party!
Peace, love and good vibes to all those I met at SnowBall: the artists, the DJs, producers, photographers, fans, ravers, hippies – we all made history and established SnowBall as one of the most unique combinations of elements: music, mountains and unforgettable-everlasting memories!
Frankie aka FreeWater
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