NOV. 6, 2014
Disco Donnie Presents and Night Culture have done it again. For the third year in a row, they put together their Halloween music festival Something Wicked, this time for its first full weekend. And yet again, fans from all over the country traveled to the Sam Houston Race Park where the festival was held in Houston, Texas this past Oct 25th and 26th weekend.
Similar to last year, there was a three stage setup. On both days Shadowlands was the main stage. On Saturday the large skeleton stage was the Beatport stage and on Sunday it was the Bass Crypt stage. The Mystic Meadows stage was only on Saturday and became the Beatport stage on Sunday. Confusing, right? Each played different genres of dance music. Energy was flowing through the atmosphere as attendees traipsed towards the venue; the gates had opened and madness was about to ensue. The majority of attendees were dressed up in the spirit of Halloween. Ghosts, monkeys, geeks and nerds, zombies, avatars, Groot’s; you name it and it was there. I even saw what appeared to be a 15 foot dinosaur walking around. I had to take a second look at that one.
The main stage, Shadowlands, was once again a sight to behold. Large LED screens lined the left, right and back of the stage, providing monstrous light displays throughout each artist’s set. The lineup at this stage was massive. The likes of Bassnectar, A-Trak, Kaskade, Cash Cash and too many more to list all threw down HARD at this stage. The next stage, the Beatport (Saturday)/Bass Crypt(Sunday), was once again my personal favorite. The mere size of the glowing skeleton with lasers shooting from it’s eyes was absolutely insane. Zeds Dead, Borgore, Flosstradamus, Excision and many more amazing artists held nothing back. My favorite set on this stage and, in fact, of the entire weekend, would have to be, hands down, Zeds Dead. This stage in general added so much more to each artist’s performance. The massive skeleton looming over the crowd, flickering beams of light erupting from the eyes into the crowd as the skeleton pulsed in an aurora of colors; an amazing sight, and one that I will never forget.
Lastly, there was the Mystic Meadows (Saturday)/Beatport (Sunday) stage. This stage was smaller than the first two and set back to the right of the Bass Crypt stage, next to the water refill station. Similar to last year, I didn’t spend much time at this stage. I did, however, catch the Bixel Boys here on Sunday and they did not disappoint. Other notable artists at this stage were Cosmic Gate, Ferry Corsten, Madeon, Art Department, and Andrew Rayel. SO many prime time performances at this stage; I wish I’d had time for all of them.
If I had to sum up my experience of Something Wicked this year in one word, that word would be astonishing. The number of rock star DJs and producers that made the journey to Houston for this up-and-coming festival was beyond belief. The layout of the festival was perfect, bathrooms everywhere and the water refill station was easily accessible from all three stages. There were fresh fruit vendors, merchandise vendors, a photo booth and glow motion tent. Disco Donnie and Night Culture know how to throw down, and Something Wicked 2014 was no exception. I’m excited to see what extravagant things they have in store for next year.
Photo credits go to: Rukes, Christina Kuhlmann and Julian Bajsel
Brian Lockhart
