Coming hot off a sold out night at Bass Academy, Seasons Festival was about to have their minds blown. Despite not having gotten their own Paradox tour stop this year, Vancouver lucked out with the addition of Excision to the Seasons lineup. With a ton of fresh tracks and killer visuals, Jeff “Excision” Abel certainly gave the city what they wanted. It’s no secret we love bass music, so having not one, but two performances in the same month from Excision was a bit of a treat.
The first main event night would be finished off with a live performance from Galantis and brought with it plenty of CO2 cannons, lasers, and of course…CONFETTI! Just because the final act had hit the stage it certainly didn’t signal the end of the night, and in true Blueprint fashion we trusted in the after party. Doubling down of Boombox Cartel and Illenium, Celebrities would once again be the place to be. Unfortunately we missed opening acts Sleepy Tom and Fury, but when we arrived, the Seasons Festival afterparty was already staying true to its nature.
We’ve always said to trust in the afterparties whether you know the lineup or not. Blueprint has always delivered on surprise performances and some seriously insane B2B sets that won’t soon be forgotten. With so many producers based in the city it’s not uncommon for them to stop by and put on a show for the unsuspecting crowd. Seasons 2017 would be no different, and when we arrived to Celebrites, joining Illenium was none other than Vancouver local Ekali. We’ve had the opportunity to catch both acts several times before, so seeing them together was proof again to not miss an afterparty.
With three days already down, Seasons Festival was in it’s full stride and had fully taken over the city. With eight separate events on schedule for Saturday, attendees had the pick of just about every genre of music at their disposal. With our 5 day wristbands granting access to every Seasons event across the city, we certainly felt a bit overwhelmed with the amount of options we had. Saturday saw performances by Pat Lock, the Pacific Rhythm showcase, Sam Gellaitry, Lee K, Throttle & Loud Luxury, and of course the 2nd main event.
Arriving back at the Pacific Coliseum, night two was opened up by Vancouver based producer Landyn. Shortly after would bring The Him to stage with their take on house, nu disco, and pop music. Blueprint has always done a great job bringing both crowd favorites and new acts to their massives. The next act would see their Vancouver debut, and featured a live duo consisting of brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha. With quite the following on Soundcloud and a backlog of remixes, The Grey have been fast tracking themselves on becoming another hit electronic act. Continuing the trend, The Grey would be followed up by another rising act, and at only 18 years old, Alan Walker has plenty to look forward to on his music conquests.
The Pacific Northwest has seen Troyboi quite a bit in the last year, but each opportunity we’ve had to catch a set have provided us with something new and fresh. His versatile and original approach to production have certainly helped bring him out of the underground and into the mainstream. With already classic tracks like OG, Do You and ili, Troyboi has become a favorite one of our new favorite artists, and we never miss an opportunity to catch him perform. Towards the tail end of his set, Troyboi would be joined by Ekali to debut their new track, Truth.
Closing out the final main event of Seasons Festival 2017 was the highly anticipated return of Above & Beyond. With the recent announcement of ABGT 250 coming to The Gorge later this year, the buzz behind the duo’s return to Vancouver could be felt in the air. Bringing their on screen message paired with plenty of original tracks, this session of “Group Therapy” would once again give us another reason to love Above & Beyond. A rollercoaster of emotions and plenty of “feels” was a great fit to close out our final night the the Pacific Coliseum.
With the main events officially closed we once again made the trek to Celebrities for the 2nd afterparty of Seasons 2017. This night would bring The Him, Alan Walker and once again a surprise b2b with Ekali. At this point we’d almost expect to see Nathan just about anywhere. Being in his hometown however we enjoyed having him close down Celebrities with local artist Yurie.
Seasons Festival once again showed how we can bring together music and art and showcase across a multi-day festival. With an event that spans five days and multiple venues across the city, it was a great way for us to shake the winter blues and get ready for festival season. With a five day wristband costing under $200CAD and granting access to every event, Seasons has been dollar-for-dollar one of the best valued events we’ve ever attended. Blueprint has done a great job bringing together both some of the best established names in the scene, as well us local talent and the up and coming.
As Seasons and Blueprint continue to grow, the possibilities of the event expanding are really limitless. The festival shows that Vancouver is a rising hub of electronic music culture. From producers, DJs, artists and even technology, Seasons Festival truly is a showcase of the best that Vancouver can offer. A city that once was given the nickname “The No Fun City”, has clearly evolved into something much more. Events like this one are great at providing those who are uneducated with our music scene a place to learn. We’d like to once again congratulate everyone involved and making Seasons happen and look forward to returning in 2018.
Stay tuned to our Facebook page for our full event album with photos of the entire week. We shot plenty of photos and look forward to sharing them all with you very soon!
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