Photo: Andy Quella
AUSTIN, TEXAS ― There are infinite reasons to make Euphoria Music Festival one of your first stops during next years festival season; ranging from the ethereal location and festival setting of the stages and campsites to the transcendent musical lineup and production value of the event. Finding your state of Euphoria at this unique and nearly unparalleled festival becomes very easy, very quickly as you are greeted by smiling faces, happy vendors, and amazing aesthetics as soon as you hit the festival.
These grounds are truly lit up through and through with spectacular lighting, fantastic artwork, and most importantly: awesome and open people who will all happily explain the ‘Austin Bubble’ and demonstrate a level of southern comfort that you wouldn’t imagine. But overall, the thing that made this epic summer kickoff party stand out above others was the amount of massive, funky, retro, diverse, and out-of-this-world music that the production team brought together for this lineup!
Photo: Andy Quella
At Thursday’s kickoff party Autobody, Resonant Frequency, The Bishops, and Manic Focus took the crowd out of their bodies as they took over the Art-Outside Village Stage to provide dedicated festie-goers with a chance to extend their weekend with one more day of partying. Manic Focus, however, took the cake this night as they debuted several new ManicScience tracks along with tracks of their latest album, “Minds Rising” which was released earlier this week. The energy was definitely going at an all-time high during this set, and you could undoubtedly feel the love in the air at this stage all weekend thereafter as you came back every night to rage out the silent disco until the wee hours of the morning.
Photo: Andy Quella
Friday, the main party started as top headliners from around the world stormed the main field and three immaculately built stages to bring in a heavy dose of epic tunes and sweet dance moves to the table. The main headliners were Pretty Lights, Knife Party, and Spag Heddy. Although everyone had amazing performances, especially DVS (Pretty Lights) and Rob Swire (Knife Party), the main spotlight was taken by none other than The Disco Biscuits. The biscuits, who have been crushing the East Coast scene for decades, revamped everyone’s musical experience and ideas of Jamtronica as they played their hearts out for four hours straight on the main stage!
Photo: Andy Quella
The Floozies, Papadosio, Bob Moses, and Poolside helped turn Saturday night into a retro disco dance party. The Floozies had to be one of the best performance of the night though, as they jammed out some of the classic golden oldies while mixing in a plethora of their newer and heavier material. Plus, they had the great opportunity to rock out the ‘Dragonfly’ stage as they jammed for a fun-loving terrace set-up with their backs to the majestic Colorado River.
On the final day of the festival, the energy was even at a higher level as Chromeo and Moby took the spotlight to bring the crowd to their electronic roots, while also bringing us to our knees. Never before have such imaginative and unique sets been played for a better audience in a better location. Hands Down. The vibrations emanating from the crowds during these sets can only be described as Euphoric. More contemporary acts such as Wiz Khalifa and Zeds Dead also combined with this mixture to ensure a balanced serving of bass and beats.
The music was no-doubt the highlight of the Euphoria Festival experience, but what also worked to make this one of the most truly amazing festivals of my life was the amount of added production value that was given to the patrons for free or little fee. Euphoria collaborated with Art Outside, Eno Hammocks, relaXsonic, Tentsile, and Water for the Americas to ensure that everyone at the show was in their own little bubble of euphoric ecstasy. Unrivaled production quality, music quality, and overall quality of the environment work intrinsically at this monumental festival to provide the most excellent experience that will not leave you disappointed.
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Written by: Jon Gentner
