The moment you walk into the Washington State Fair, your senses are flooded by the smell of funnel cake, kids running around hopped up on more cotton candy than is reasonable for a normal-sized human, and the unmistakable sound of heavy bass. Keeping in mind that a typical music lineup for a fair is usually somewhere in the realm of Carrie Underwood, walking in and hearing DJ Snake’s “Bird Machine,” was something of a welcomed relief.
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DJ Snake was of course only the beginning of what was to be a night like no other. With a full-on USC production replete with LCD screens, giant flowers, and an enormous stage set-up, no expenses were spared. At the entrance to the venue, you could hear fair patrons asking one of the fifty security officers roaming the area why it was so loud, so needless to say the kids in neon and leg-warmers were a little out of place. That mattered little to a crowd that was treated to a miniature musical odyssey though.
The crowd begins to file in for Audien
After the trap portion of the evening concluded, Audien came on to a slowly expanding audience. With a smaller attendance in a venue that was practically arena-sized, people were dancing their hearts out around the fringes of the crowd as we eased into a nice relaxing trance/house feel. As everyone sang along to “Leaving You” and the sun began to set, the energy began to rise.
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With The M Machine taking the stage for their live DJ set, we had officially transitioned into the “jump around and go crazy” part of the night. For a trio more known for their 80s synth-pop sound, the San Francisco-based artists threw down and threw down hard. Shying away from their calmer music, it was a perfect example of artists in a live set reading a crowd that wanted to go wild.
The M Machine comes out as the sun goes down
Night fell as The M Machine finished up, and it was Chuckie’s turn to take over. The Dirty Dutch stylings of the talented house DJ provided the perfect transition from the electro-dance mood that had settled in. Bringing a set that was equal parts Beatport Top 40 and music you couldn’t hear anywhere else, songs like “Clarity,” were thrown into dirty progressive house that somehow went together perfectly. Chuckie flew into a steady rhythm of sing-along hits followed by dance drops that was just rowdy enough to prepare everyone for what was to come.
After an hour of Dirty Dutch it was time for the main event, as Excision entered with just one goal.
We could only imagine the reaction directly outside the venue once the bass hit, but if we had to venture a guess it was probably somewhere between “absolute panic” and “sheer terror.”
All cowboy-frightening aside, Excision threw down a set that ran the gamut of bass music. After a hard dubstep drop, we’d get some drum & bass. After the drum & bass he’d throw in trap. It was a selection of music full of originals, remixes, and even some Destroid that always kept its audience guessing, providing the perfect contrast to the “sing-along-and-then-dance” style of Chuckie.
The crowd throws up their X’s for the main event
As the bass faded away and the rave-kids wandered back out into the wilderness that was the fairgrounds, we couldn’t help but reflect on what was a perfect combination of music in a venue that had never experienced anything like it before. It was an event full of the types of people that fair-goers would normally never come into contact with.
We watched as a girl patrolling the crowd clutching a signed soccer ball (with her phone number) threw it on stage to Excision in hopes of getting that dream phone call. We ran into someone with a green teddy-bear in tow who would go up to strangers and yell “BEAR!” as loud as he could. Complete with all these characters, Digital Affair managed to bring the madness and music of the rave culture out of the club-scene and into a completely foreign land. We only hope we didn’t scare too many cowboys in the process.
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