FVDED in the Park & More After Dark (Review)

We didn’t get to the Commodore until after midnight, but we were there to catch DJ Mustard throwing down one of the sickest hip hop sets we’ve ever seen. Maybe we’re just showing our age here, but he threw down our favorite hip hop tracks that reminded us of childhood, reminiscent of middle school dances, and brought us back to riding in the car with our friends in high school.

One of the best parts was that he played a bunch of dance-specific tracks like Teach Me How To Dougie, Pop Lock & Drop it, and even the golden throwback Macarena. You’d think that I Got 5 On It or This Is How We Do It would have been the highlight, but oh no, it was a sneaky one. We never even saw it coming when he dropped Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You which ended in the most epic group-serenade of the weekend.

We were already on cloud 9 when Skrillex took over the stage. Sure, we’d seen him perform earlier as part of Jack Ü but there’s nothing quite like Skrillex on his own. Aside from a song or two that was a little trappy for what our dubstep hearts were yearning for, it was absolute bass heaven. Well, that and the part where he played Crank That (Soulja Boy) to carry on the night’s tradition of hip hop throwbacks. Our headbanging muscles were sore the next day, but we were ready for what Day 2 of FVDED in the Park had in store for us.

We made it inside in time to see all of Seven Lions, which we really try not to miss. There’s something about his presence on stage that makes the audience feel connected to him and to each other. Neck soreness be damned, we raged our way through our first set of the day with our energy miraculously renewed afterward. We were ready for more, and we got it at the Northwest Stage.

One of the most surprising sets of the weekend was TroyBoi. Many of us had never seen him before and we were blown away by his catchy blend of hip hop and bass. What started out as zero expectations ended in “not missing him again.” We bounced around between the three stages for the rest of the day. Having a particularly good sing-along time with Galantis, as one might expect.

Just for kicks, we decided to check out a bit of Travis Scott which wasn’t at all what we expected. Or rather, the music was what we expected, but the his response to a mosh pit at the front of the crowd was not. When people were getting trampled he stopped the set and made sure that everyone was safe and standing up again, pleading with people to back up and get everybody up. When people started getting crushed again seconds after starting the song over, he stopped it again, and again. At one point he left the stage only to return and have no sound. We’ve seen a set stop due to a crowd that was getting dangerous, but we’ve never seen it stop three times in a row. Then we got down to Antidote just like we’d hoped to. Although a little detrimental to the mood of the crowd, it was nice to see someone care about the safety of their fans.

Never staying in one place for too long, we checked out Shiba San for what felt like house heaven at the tent stage. That is, until Zedd started across the lawn and we had to spring to go sing Beautiful Love to strangers as we passed. Some of the highlights of the weekend were actually from interacting with strangers at the festival.

While Zedd was closing out the weekend on Day 2 he not only dropped his essential filthy electro, but also some surprising dubstep, all right before his first explosive hit Clarity. There’s nothing like bouncing through a crowd and serenading strangers with a line of a song, only to bounce away moments later. Everyone was so happy and having such a good time, the good vibes were tangible.

Overall, we spent our weekend at FVDED in the Park hearing great music, seeing new (to us) artists, and dancing with the beautiful people of Canada. We explored beautiful Vancouver and felt a little envious of their club scene. Always a couple places to go, and dancing ’til 4 am is the norm. It may have only been an after-party but seeing Skrillex perform as his true Skrillex-y self in a club will be a night we never forget. Hats off to Blueprint Events for putting on a festival worth traveling for, and to all involved who made it possible. Stay tuned for our photos from the event and our coverage from our next adventure: Bass Coast!