Marc's Public Blog - Dreamstate

2025/11/21 10th Dreamstate Socal Anniversary, in Long Beach by Queen Mary

π 2025-11-21 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

Just like last years, delighted to be back: Dreamstate Socal is still an event I look forward to, all year.

This is our third year at Queen Mary, you can read the first QM report for Queen Mary vs NOS where DS used to be before that. It is true that I still prefer NOS for a variety of technical reasons (from later curfew, shorter distances between stages, no bridge or underpass tunnel, megastructures that allow more kick ass lasers, and a few more...), but honestly DS like it is run, is still going to be (and was) lots of fun, regardless of where it's run. For the record, it's already been confirmed to be at Queen Mary for next year, so we can put that discussion to rest :)

10 Years!

If you like this report, and want to see others/future ones, you can go on these pages:

All festival reports: http://ledtranceguy.org/festivals

IG stories and posts: https://www.instagram.com/ledtranceguy

IG channel future reports and pictures (clickme)

FB future reports and pictures: https://www.facebook.com/ledtranceguy

For IG, all the stories are here:

74 stories directly on IG

but I put all the IG stories in an single video: https://youtu.be/V5pN1lbgSHw

The Grounds: Back at Long Beach by Queen Mary

Let's go through the grounds again, starting with Passport for Insomniac subscribers:

cotton candy :)

if you pay enough, you get to come visit too :)

The Insomniac team still made those magical places:

the ring!

Of course, the water is always nice:

And then, there is the boat, it does look quite pretty from the outside. Unfortunately inside, especially behind the scenes, is literally falling apart. I didn't want to break the magic with pictures there, but honestly it's not looking great.

Generally, my thought this year on the venue:

the layout and footprint looked almost identical to last year

thankfully we mostly avoided the rain this year, but it's still 3 years in a row with rain and mud

It looked full with some choke points with this year's crowds, it wasn't unbearable, but I'd say it was close to the limit

Void was still felt too far even if it's half a perception issue, to the point that I only really went twice, too far for stage hopping.

Sequence was lovely but it felt like a 15mn walk from dream, it's really far end to end. NOS felt more compact while offering bigger and better stages. Not being able to reasonably stage hop between sequence and dream was unfortunate. This did benefit Vision though as it was in the middle :)

barely any lasers at dream, maybe a safety/logistical issue with the location, but disappointing for sets, especially Gareth. What is Gareth without real lasers? :)

but apart from limited lasers, the dream stage was beautiful

Weather

It was reasonably cold this year, but thankfully we barely avoided the rain this year. Obviously this location is much more subject to and affected by rain than NOS. It did rain a good amount just before the event, which sucked for the setup crews, but thankfully attendees were spared. They did a good job getting rid of most of the muddy mess with a better floor they installed:

People say a little rain has never killed anyone, and it does make the lasers look nice (that part is true), but they also forget how the first year at QM, we had a deluge of rain during the boat party that would have simply cancelled the event had it been a few hours earlier. That also made for a muddy mess the next day. So yeah, this honestly makes me nervous every year compared to San Bernardino that is a lot more dry, but I guess for now we just need to keep hoping to remain lucky :) (DS has already been confirmed to remain at QM next year).

The Queen Mary Boat After Parties

The boat had 3 rooms this year again, I think they may have been moved so that 2 of them were on the top floor which was convenient for stage hopping, but they were also the farthest you could be from bathrooms that were all the way down outside the boat, with no working elevator. It was a serious amount of steps to go up and down, and sadly the one working elevator was guarded by someone who made sure no one would get on it without an ADA wristband, and let's be honest, I didn't see many people with ADA wristbands on the boat, it was not ADA friendly in my opinion. So I was not impressed with that person denying the elevator to someone whose legs/knees were hurting but didn't have the ADA wristband. Her answer was to go down a lot of stairs and back up to somewhere not close to try and get an ADA wristband in the middle of the night :-/
I know (from having seen it) that parts of that boat are falling apart, the internal elevators are non functioning and virtually all bathrooms were non functioning too, which is why they were closed. This cruiseship is on its last legs indeed. The corridors with cabins were ok enough, as long as you were not hoping to sleep before 06:00, because the bass was shaking everything (unless you're a burning man veteran that can sleep next to speakers :) ).

People

Like every year, it was fun to see friends and nice costumes:

Pictures with friends:

Finally got to meet Federica/the_roving_raver

Marc from led2rave4

Pystrancemom who gave me lovely kandi, thank you

And the obligatory pictures with DJs :)

Superstrings

Roman Messer

Billy Gillies

My man, Fadi!

Neptune Project

Will Atkinson

Trancewax

John 00 Fleming, OMG his set was so good again

Ferry!

David Forbes, amused to see me yet more more time this year :)

We also organized and took some Trancefamily pictures:

Anyway, let's go through the 2 days of festival:

Day 1

Last year, DS started surprisingly early, 13:00, which was announced late and definitely a surprise. This year it went back to 16:00. I'm fine with anything (even if I want 3 days, haha), but hope the start time gets announced as early as possible so that people can get the right flights (both last year and this year, I had to do a difficult last minute plane change after an unexpected start time was announced).

I did start at Sequence to see Kristina Sky

then went to check out dream

This lovely b2b was quite early in the day

happy my friend Asteroid got a slot to play at Vision before Darren Tate

TFSF's Jonny Atom at Boom box

We also got all the superstrings :)

Anyway, back to dream for Giuseppe Ottaviani, beautiful stage like I said:

And vision:

And dream :)

for this epic PvD b2b Aly & Fila

Of course 01:00 was not the real end, next was the boat party. The lineup was great again, but I had a hard time enjoying the cramped and hot rooms (they did add fans, but it was still not very comfortable):

Asteroid again

FactorB and Neptune Project

One more chance to see superstrings

Day 1 Summary Video:

Day 2: and yes Tiesto Played Trance ;)

Day 2 also started at 16:00 which was no problem to manage:

TFSF's Khromata

Thanks to winter, it got dark quickly, just one hour later:

Trancewax

nice sunset

Many stages, many DJs, let's skip to the end, Dream got packed at the end when many went there to see Tiesto:

So, what happened? ;)
Honestly I just wanted to be happy, and it's just been 20 years since I got to see Tiesto play trance at Tiesto in Concert in LA:

Yes, I was there in 2005

I got the official T-shirt

and I was wearing it for Tiesto's set this DS :)

And yes, I saw him before that even, this was 2004 in New York:

Some people didn't like the first 15 minutes, I did. Some didn't like the rest which was more old school trance he used to play, because it was "the same thing" or "nothing new". I was "Hell, Tiesto is playing real trance, at Dreamstate! Can't we be very happy about that?" ... I was :)

Here's the full set:

So there you go, I had a great time, I was happy! :) But seriously if you're not happy enough with Tiesto, I was not happy with him leaving us for close to 20 years for commercial stuff that I sure don't care for. If he comes back, we have to welcome him back and the people he will bring to trance with him, that's a good thing!

The rest of the night was spent on the boat to finish the fun until we were exhausted:

Day 2 Summary Video:

Aftermath and Conclusion: Should this not be 3 days and with a bit more sleep?

Yes, I'm lazy, I kept the same headline as last year, but it's still fitting :)

DJS and music:

they were somewhat different from previous years, while keeping some favorites, not a bad thing

Some DJs were not able to come because the US has made it fairly expensive for them to get work visas and they can apparently take more than 6 months to be done unless you pay another "go faster" fee on top which is a few thousand dollars more. Sad :-//

And yet, great to see some new DJs like Roman Messer or Asteroid, both I knew from Europe but not everyone gets to go there.

Speaking of visas, I don't even want to know how much it cost to get all of superstrings :)

Queen Mary looks pretty from the outside, but inside:

It's hot as hell, to the point I had to remove my entire outfit to remove layers. They added a few fans, but still uncomfortably hot and humid.

The 3 stages were 4 very tall floors apart with only a single working elevator (the other ones have been broken for a long time and are part of the ship that is falling apart). I already explained above that having staff denying use of the one working elevator that was pretty much unused to people who could really have benefited from it, was poor.

The rooms on top of being too hot and cramped, were not big enough for everyone: on the 2nd day at 04;00, you couldn't get in Grand ballroom without waiting in line long enough for people to get out :-//

I mentioned the boat falling apart behind the scenes: if you get to see behind the curtain (I did), there are so many things that are very broken and left unfixed, we're talking broken walls, barely safe stuff. It's not meant to be guest facing, but not inspiring. So I guess my advice is don't look behind the curtain :)

From last year, it was similar:

still two days but enough DJs for 3 days, easily.

art was was still 5th stage and passport had its secret 6th stage.

Even moving back the start time from 13:00 to 16:00, it was still a lot of hours, although I'd have preferred more of them outside the boat.

And for anyone asking, Jeff Ryan from Insomniac has confirmed that DS will be at Queen Mary again next year, so he's saving us the time to talk about NOS vs QM :)

Should you go? Would I go Back?

I think I don't need to write a long essay to say "hell yes"

It's still the best night trance festival in the world production wise

Yes, too many DJs all at once in not enough hours, but well, better than the opposite problem :)

Where else do you get all those lovely costumes and nicely decorated LED totems? (for the flags in the smack middle of the crowd, blocking the view, maybe we can do without those, though :) ).

The insomniac crew continues to run a well oiled machine and did a great job this year again.

As parting words,

My best photos in google photos

summary video of the many Instagram Stories I took during the event:

So much fun, 'till next time:

PvD!

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2025/04/04 2 Day Dreamstate SF back, in Cow Palace This Year!

π 2025-04-04 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals, Tfsf

I cannot believe it's been 7 years already since our last 2 Day Dreamstate in San Francisco. There was a DS SF NYE last year, but that was while I was with my family in France, so I couldn't attend that. So happy this one worked out.

It was a very welcome Trancefamily SF Reunion:

David and Sony both got to open the vision stage, congratulations!

Welcome back to SF, we missed you!

Back to DS, each time there is a new venue, we always get to wonder how good it will be and what the setup will look like, and I'm happy to report that the production level was the best we've had in SF, bar none! The insomniac folks continue to be overachievers, and the dream stage was absolutely wonderful. Even the smaller vision stage had very nice lighting and lasers:

And vision was cool too:

Thanks to the magicians in the dark who made all the lights, happen

The lineup had more DJs that were lesser known to me, which is not a bad thing per se, although many played too much techno for my taste, with a few hours slots where both Vision and Dream had techno, and that was not my favorite, obviously, but clearly most of the crowd seemed happy with it, so I guess that works out (and as I've written before in my last reports, techno has been creeping in everywhere, even in what used to be a State of Trance).

Day 1

After Blur opened (sadly in the dark, so I don't have any good pictures of him), Anthony from Xijaro and Pitch, was next:

Day 1 Summary:

Day 2

of course, went to support our local boy, Sony ;)

The show (lighting and lasers) for Armin was outstanding:

Ilan proposed on stage, she said yes ;)

Day 2 Summary:

People

This was of course a great time to meet fellow trance lovers:

meetup day 1

meetup day 2

yes to people who brought LEDs!

someone stole my hat :)

Had fun taking pictures with my new and improved LED outfit freshly built for the event :)

I was ready for Anthony, this time :)

ulrich!

Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead

2 for the price of one :)

but we did better later

Triode!

then had fun with Yoji-San :)

that was his idea, brilliant ;)

Thoughts/Conclusions

Honestly, for a new venue, even for an experienced team, many things went right. As I said earlier the production value was amazing.

Of course, nothing is ever perfect, especially in a new venue. Things I noticed:

The event was close to selling out (or barely sold out) on saturday, and it was a lot of people. Enough people that the main floor access got closed multiple times, which is understandable, but it was more vexing for people with VIP tickets to also be denied access to the VIP platform, because it filled up multiple times. I guess it was tricky to get the capacity numbers, right, and they oversold VIP somewhat (since any VIP ticket holder should have guaranteed access)

Security at the entrance, was a bit too thorough and too slow, causing long lines to get in for many. Also, they did not allow totems or many things that would have normally been allowed at a festival, including Dreamstate Socal. Transparent backpacks were allowed though, and so were LEDs, at least.

if you knew where to go, there were bathrooms available, but some of the obvious ones got mobbed with very long lines, at times. This was not ideal.

Vision also had good production value for the smaller room, but too many times, the DJ wasn't lit up at all, and you couldn't tell who was playing. A bit unfortunate for them.

Too much techno for me, but some liked it. Pryda/Eric Prydz however did not seem like a fit for the event and I didn't hear anyone say they really enjoyed his set.

On the flipside, Armin who has been playing way too much techno in his sets for my taste, including at a State of Trance, did an actually quite good mostly trance set that I quite enjoyed. Goes to show, you never know ;)

The event was a success and clearly the best one we've had in San Francisco, yet.

Links

Day 1 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKc9m4d2WeI

Day 2 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nnAstxiBwk

Google Photos Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dTcgwQoouj3c4mJb6

IG Stories: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17850777459429702

Video with all IG stories together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utG-y8UFFUs

And that was it, 2 days of joy with extended times until 03:00, lots of fun, thank YOU!

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2024/11/22 Second Dreamstate Socal in Long Beach by Queen Mary

π 2024-11-22 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

Glad to be back, Dreamstate Socal is an event I look forward to, all year.

This is our second year at Queen Mary, you can read last year's report for Queen Mary vs NOS where DS used to be before that

glad to be back ;)

And if you wanted to compare with DS at QM vs DS at NOS, you can go read this Dreamstate Socal 2022.

If you like this report, and want to see others/future ones, you can go on these pages:

All festival reports: http://marc.merlins.org/perso/festivals

IG stories and posts: https://www.instagram.com/ledtranceguy

FB reports and pictures: https://www.facebook.com/ledtranceguy

FB comments on this thread (facebook)

IG comments on this IG thread

For IG, all the stories are here:

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18144053851357918

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18360518575142360/ (link #2 because too many stories)

but I put all the IG stories in an single video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE79gGPUOo4

Also here:

The Grounds: Long Beach by Queen Mary

Passport (for insomniac event subscribers) was back:

they had meet and greets

Passport was actually the 6th stage with a secret lineup for both days

Dream VIP lost the covered area, but still had nice booths:

Lots of booths:

this time offered heli rides from not somewhere not that far. I'm not sure if they saved any time or were worth it. Please leave comments in the links at the top of this page if you used them

The Void: Still Across the a street, not that easy to get to

Getting to void was the same as last year (and by that I mean inconvenient and 'too far'), although the tunnel was prettier;

boring during the day

nice at night

tunnel to get back, people said it felt slippery and tough to climb when you were tired and altered

So, before people accuse of me #firstworldproblems, the tunel and bridge were a real mental "too far" thing that many reported to me, and that I felt myself.

Some different art this year:

Views from the boat, were great:

what it looks inside

And if you were wondering about sound inside the boat, it depends where your room is, but there you go:

Nice to see the venue late at night/early morning:

People

As always, a big part of what makes US insomniac events so much fun is the people who are part of the party.

it was nice and sunny during the day (until it got very cold just hours later)

Props to Jose, barefoot photographer for all his shots

and also Thorgodofbass, our favorite videographer

Ulrich!

TFSF crew

More fun at night, as always:

And of course, fun totems:

So, due to my LED outfit and the tech I carry/wear, things break but I'm also a McGuyver, so I carry spares and repair tools. Funny thing was a totem that got damaged, the owner asked me "I heard you have a soldering iron", and I had to reply "I'm sorry, I don't have one, I have two" :)

we got it fixed

woohoo, it's working again

We took some Trancefamily pictures:

Big props to the insomniac entertainers, always adding to the party:

oh no, they didn't have batteries for their lights this year ;)

Thanks for taking pictures with us:

Also shout out to ground control:

As always, it's a great opportunity to meet DJs:

JoC

Miyuki and Richard Durand

Astrix

Craig Connelly

Allen Watts

Armin!

RAM

first time meeting Darude!

Fadi after his wonderful set in the rain

Mark Sixma

Orjan Nilsen

Paul Oakenfold

OMG, got to meet Judge Jules from the Essential Mixes I used to listen to in early 2000s from napster

Sean Tyas, having such a great time

Also great to see Alex Morph again

Day 1

DS opened a bit late on the first day, Queen with Mr Brooks was a bit empty

Xijaro and Pitch

nice visuals at vision

Craig Connelly

Sequence was pretty packed

Because Astrix ;)

GO debuted Octagon at DS

Armnin was next (which sadly meant missing Blastoyx b2b Infected Mushroom, my biggest regret of the night)

thank you for adding the lasers

Day 1 Summary Video:

Day 1: Queen Mary Afterparty

TDJ!

And that was it for Day 1, headed back to hotel around 04:00

So if anyone wonders, lots of lights means lots of batteries and things to charge every night:

new bigger 1S lipo batteries for my hat

and more

Ah yes, and did I mention re-soldering broken LEDs, and hot glue gun? :)

Day 2

Back for Day #2, it was hard to be there at 13:00 ;)

thankfully made it to Khromata

it was early for most

Also got to see my friend Triode

Aly and Fila in the light rain, was majestic:

So much joy to enjoy Ferry Corsten - Gouryella, again:

the super tall flags were annoying, they messed up a lot of my pictures

finished the night with Above and Beyond

Above and Beyond:

Day 2: Queen Mary Afterparty

After 01:00, it was time to migrate to the boat:

Ruben again!

Finished the night with Ferry Corsten, who even finished his set with some drum and bass ;)

f

Day 2 Summary Video:

Weather concerns with QM vs NOS

So, I am biased and I still prefer NOS once you're inside the venue (San Bernardino is not great, but once you're inside NOS, it's real wonderland), but the weather aspect is a concern for QM. Both years, QM had rain, NOS did not. NOS is inland in a somewhat arid area, QM is by the water, and even when it wasn't raining, everything was kind of wet due to dew (very high water concentration in the air that would condense on chairs and so forth).

this is what I meant, by dew, almost fog to the ground

So, the relentless light rain that fell mostly all day on day #2, made the lasers on dream look dreamy indeed, but at the same time I was soaked by the end of the day, and my gopro literally had water inside and was barely rescued after several days in rice. Water and electricity aren't friends, this can't be easy on all the gear (although I didn't see anything that failed due to water).

yes, it was pretty :)

The rain was manageable this year, but I need to state again that last year got pissing rain in the middle of the night while we were on the boat party, and if that rain had been just a few hours earlier, it would have ruined the event. This just makes me nervous, Interstellar was entirely cancelled for freak weather, I honestly would prefer for DS to be back at NOS, if only for the more reliable weather.

If DS is to stay at QM, I hope Insomniac plans for full covered spaces to deal with heavy rain if it happens. Of course, this is already present at NOS for 3 out of the 4 stages (2 with megastructures and one indoors)

Aftermath and Conclusion: Should this not be 3 days and with a bit more sleep?

Haha, I just realized this is the same thing I wrote last year. Since last year was too much music with 4 stages and music from 17:00 to 01:00 and then until 06:00 on the boat, Insomniac heard this, and fixed it by:

still two days

added a 5th stage, the art car, with very good trance :)

well, if you could passport, it was really 6 different stages. Insane!

now started at 13:00, making it 12H plus 5h afterparty, 17h per day, so there you go, it's fixed :)

like last year, the long days created casualties :)

So yeah, suck it up people and your FOMO, here's even more music you won't all be able to see and even less sleep, haha :)
It was literally 34h of music, which is usually what you get from a 3 day festival with 3 to 5 stages, a lot indeed. I would personally still prefer 3 shorter days to have more of a chance to see more artists and not miss as much (especially for all the sets that were not recorded), but it is #firstworldproblems :)

The afterparty on the boat helped seeing some artists if you had missed them during the day, but even then it was 3 stages that were not that close from one another, and honestly how stayed up until 06:00 both nights while having started at 13:00? I barely made it for the first sets on the 2nd day :)

For completeness, I did a survey, got 580 responses, and about half the people would like 3 days at QM instead of 2. That's a lot, but not the majority, just half

While I was at it, I also asked about QM vs NOS, and while many people like me prefer NOS for the better footprint, the megastructures, and so forth, more people prefered QM for being closer to them (traffic in LA), and feeling safer outside.

Notes / Thoughts for this year:

This year had more daylight hours, which was a bit rough on DJs who were opening, and made costumes/outfits a bit more challenging (it was pretty warm during the day, but got very chily at night, including wind chill). Sure, it would be nice to have more hours at night, but with a curfew of 01:00 on the venue (vs 02:00 for NOS), the options are limited outside of making this a 3 day festival, which I'm surely down, for ;)

Void unfortunately was still "so close but yet so far" across a bridge that was dicey for some, or an underground tunnel that was a bit of a detour when going from dream to void.

I didn't feel it was easier to get to Void, the venue is very challenging layout, only so much can be done with that location

I missed the animated burning man LED art from last year, there was still art this year though

Dream VIP was shrunk somewhat and lost the covered spaces, which was unfortunate given the rain

As stated above, if DS is to stay at QM, I hope insomniac adds covered spaces to deal with rain.

Sound at Vision was much improved despite the challenging location. Not sure how they did it, but it was better

I still miss the NOS megastructures, but dream got improved a fair bit this year. The added lasers were beautiful

Dream was just beautiful

beautiful front and back

I still wish we could use the passenger terminal dome, looks like a sweet venue:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

Don't let some of my observations/suggestions confuse you from the fact that this was another fantastic Dreamstate and I had so much fun, and so did everyone I talked to

I missed so many sets I wanted to see, I don't know how many sets were recorded, but I missed many I wanted to see and I was there almost every of hour

Insomniac improved some things at QM this year, not that last year was bad to start with ;) and continued to show that, within reason with layout issues (the street cutting off Void from the rest of the festival), they can do incredible things with a mere parking lot.

I'll repeat like each time, that the insomniac team has the most relentless overachievers I've ever seen. I'm thankful we have them.

Security continued to nice overall, they did ask for backpacks to be transparent this year, which is spreading and understandable. I guess we probably don't want people to walk around with big black backpacks that could have anything inside if somehow they made it past security

I'll continue to give the same answer to "Is it worth flying across the world for?" If you like trance and you want a better production value than many european shows (not counting Tomorrowland, but TMRL sucks for trance), yes, it is worth going to. Only 2 days, but it's really good and the night decors and costumes are much better than what you'll find in Europe.

As parting words, I made a summary video of over 100 Instagram Stories I took during the event, enjoy:

So much fun, 'till next time:

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2024/05/16 2nd Dreamstate EDC Pre-Party at Area 15

π 2024-05-16 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Edc

Just like EDC 2023 only had 2 days of trance this year at Quantum Valley, EDC 2024 on, it was nice to have another Dreamstate Pre-Party at Area15. Area15 was better this year than last year, they worked out some of the kinks from last year, which was good.

This year, we got to get in via the normal area15 entrance, which is prettier and more fun:

cool entrance

This year had a great lineup, and some very interesting B2Bs:

Great to see Daxson again just a few days after just a few days in Malta

Miyuki!

lovely to see thorgodofbass again

good crowd

Rinaly!

:)

Then we had cool B2Bs:

Then the night ended with a unique B2B between Blastoyz and Infected Mushroom, I have most of the set recorded below:

And here is a video summary of the rest of the night:

Good night and pre-party for EDC 2024!

BestOf Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zn4eCkKxatFzwe8C8

IG Stories Combined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhMTwsZwj4Q

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2023/11/24 Dreamstate Socal Afterparty at Public Works

π 2023-11-24 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Tfsf

Great time seeing a bit more of dreamstate a week later with a stellar lineup:

Alastair James

Rinaly

Daxson

Ciaran McAuley

Paul Denton

Plenty of people came and we had a great time:

cute overload

Video summary:

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2023/11/17 A New Dreamstate Socal in Long Beach by Queen Mary

π 2023-11-17 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

New year, new dreamstate, new venue!

beautiful

Ok, so for the first time readers who haven't been to previous dreamstate socals, please go read this Dreamstate Socal 2022 in another tab to compare and contrast. Then what's below will make a lot more sense.

Giving feedback/your own opinion/thoughts: please answer on:

this thread (facebook)

this thread on IG

So, the new Venue. Why the move from NOS to QM? Better or Not?

I didn't expect that this topic would be so divisive, so it was very interesting to read everyone's feedback over multiple forums. While I know some people at Insomniac and they've also been super nice to me, for which I am ever thankful, I do not work there or have any inside knowledge on what drove the move, the decision for this year, and the apparent decision to stay there next year that was made before people were able to send their feedback for this year.

So, I'm left to speculate and guess, like everyone, which I guess makes this a bit more fun :)

Let's start with the obvious reason:

"I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat, everyone look at me, I'm on an motherf'ing boat :)", SNL for the win :)

Haha, so now that we have this out of the way :)

(+3) LA people prefer going to Long Beach than San Bernardino traffic-wise. For people flying in, it didn't matter unless you're flying in to LAX internationally in which case the drive from LAX is shorter to LB/QM. I just changed this from +1 to +3 to account for the fact that traffic from LAX to SB did really suck on fridays, even if it did not affect non locals that flew in directly to Ontario or SB (see below)

(+2) Some people said they were getting tired of NOS and liked the new location just because it was new. I personally liked stages and decors they did at NOS so much, and those did change yearly, that I honestly didn't mind going back to NOS, it felt like a very happy home despite the ghetto-ish looking area outside, but I'l try and be fair and still give it a +2 in favor of QM as well as credit the insomniac folks for trying something new.

( 0) For people flying in, flying to Ontario or even a few direct flights to San Bernardino were about as good as flying to Long Beach

(+1) Overall people said SB was kind of a ghetto and felt unsafe. I feel that was over harsh, it doesn't look great, but I've walked back to hotels at night and never felt unsafe, never heard any gunshots, and honestly it felt safer than South Central LA that surrounds Banc of California. But most people disagreed with me, so LB wins this one

(-1): 02:00 curfew at NOS, 01:00 soft curfew at QM (it was really around 01:15 or so). People who pay attention will have noted that things started 1H earlier, and it was still dark enough to be fun for people like me, so we got the same amount of music at the main party, but especially on friday not everyone could get there as early at 15:00 to park, long walk or shuttle and get to the venue at 16:00 when it opened.

(-1) Hotels around the venue were not Cheaper in LB, probably more expensive overall. SB is not at nice and and more cheaper hotel options. LB has nicer hotels nearby, but they wre in the $300+/night range, which really adds up for people who aren't full of money.

(-1) People said it was far to parking lots/shuttles, SB was not much better. NOS has very closeby nearby premium parking, QM has none because the event took over the entire parking lot.

(+1): LB/QM has 2 good hotels that were walking distance in addition to the boat itself. SB/NOS had 3 hotels walking distance too, but they were very poor motels that are pretty ghetto, so LB/QM wins.

(-1) Staying on the boat is cool for those who were able to get room, but you couldn't park any closer than 2 miles away and had to take a shuttle to get to/from your car

(-1) Some people staying on the boat complained of non stop noise depending on their room location, since indeed the boat had 24 hours of music

(+2) for people on the boat, they were right onsite and could get in and out to their room during the event and after parties. I mean this is really a +100, but only for the few who could benefit from it, and with the caveats that in return they got noise when trying to sleep, had to park far away, and their luggage was subject to search before they could go to their room (long list of prohibited items, including not allowed to have certain foods or any alcohol in your room, which many cared about).

(-3) NOS in SB is just much bigger and has plenty of room for 7 stages or more as has been done during Beyond Wonderland. 4 Stages at QM really didn't fit well, the bridge to get to void was inconvenient and hard for people who can't do stairs easily, and the mandatory walk all the way around from void to dream was close to 15 minutes.

(-1): Due to the bridge to void, or the long long way around, LB/QM was less ADA friendly, unless there was some special ADA bypass in and out the event to get the short way across, but I didn't see one (actually I was told there was one, getting in and out of the event somehow, crossing the street in the middle, so I guess that's better than nothing, but the rest of us could not use that).

(+1) Having the real water in the background of the venue and the boat, even if it's ultimately an old tired boat, was still a better view than SB/NOS. At the same time I'm only putting +1 because the Insomniac crew can and does turn any venue into a magical place, so NOS really looks spectacular when they were done with it.

( 0): Safety inside the event was similar at both venues. It felt safe in both places, except for the unfortunate phone thefts at both venues. Everyone really should use phone tethers now. I hope insomniac finds way to put traps for those assholes that ruin the nights of people who get pick pocketed.

( 0): Temperature and Rain. Sure NOS was colder last year, but I looked up average temps for november in both venues, and they were mostly equal. I was also convinced that QM was more at risk of rain than SB, but I was wrong, for that time of the year, they are also mostly equal. The rain this year did suck though, especially in sequence that got deep puddles that swallowed my entire LED shoes, shorted them, and got my socks wet :-( It wasn't raining at SB when it was raining hard at QM this year, but apparently that was just luck or lack thereof and the tables could have been turned

(-1): Cell phone service: yes, different with different providers, but my own experience and anecdotal experience was that it was worse at QM. I do remember using group chats to sync and find people at NOS without issue several years back. Insomniac did offer wifi at some locations for VIP and Passport, but that coverage was limited.

(-2): NOS has at least 2 big indoor rooms (one was vision and another one I only saw used during beyond wonderland for a techno stage) that can be used for after parties. Those rooms are much bigger and better than the smallish rooms on the boat that were also quite hot and uncomfortable in m opinion.

(-1): Ghost stories about Queen Mary. It's not an issue for me, but some expressed concern about it, some think it's actually cool, and one person told me they had a not great experience in the boat related to that. That's all I'm going to say on the topic, but I guess I have to mention it for completeness

(-2): I'm sorry to have to say this, and I also know not everyone shares that opinion, so feel free to discard this point if you disagree: I really really liked the megastructure feel of dream and sequence at NOS. I don't have clear words to describe it, but that semi enclosed space with the lasers flying on to pf your head, and the sea of lights, people, dreamstate balllons and whatnot is such a magical feeling that I really missed this year. It could be brought back to QM in some way, but it won't fit as well as it did at NOS in my opinion, although I'll be delighted to be proven wrong. I'll also add that those exact words were given to me by multiple people, including DJs I asked, without my feeding them that answer.

(-1) I also missed the LED guys jumping on trampolines, it's an awesome show each time that we loved having at the end of the Dream megastructure

( 0): Not venue related, but yes there was a lot more techno and hardstyle this year. I'm not going to say I'm a huge fan of either, but if they are weaved in and out of trance that I do like, I can be ok with them. And according to ASOT and Armin, techno is apparently the new trance, right? :)

Is it ok to say that I missed this?

Winner? If you add my made up points, SB/NOS wins by 5 points. Yes, it's a biased and joke comparison, but I guess I was trying to show and pros and cons I found and heard. I understand that not everyone will agree depending on what they value.
I personally really preferred NOS because it's much larger, I loved the megastructures, the shorter walk between stages, and it has 2 much better indoor rooms that can be used for afterparties. This seems irrelevant to write though since DS has already been confirmed to be in Long Beach next year, and there may very well be other reasons that made NOS unsuitable that we're not aware of. The new venue can work better for next year and be improved, especially if it's taken down to 3 stages for 3 days as I explain in the conclusion at the bottom of this report.

I also need to be fair and point out that the Insomniac crew knows how to turn any space into something pretty. If it hadn't been for those leftover chargepoint chargers, it was hard to tell that you were in a big parking lot:

Even the bridge to void which kind of sucked and was only one way, they made it pretty and really cool. Actually I really want to make a point here, many of you know me as my IG ledtranceguy, so yes I know about LEDs, I know how those things are programmed since I built in my own from scratch, and I know that some engineer or engineers spent a significant amount of time decking out that bridge and making custom videos and patterns to scroll on it. This is where the insonniac crews really go above and beyond, they really f'ing care and have a bunch of overachievers :)

For comparison, NOS may not be as pretty by default, but after the insomniac crew was done decking it out, it still looked stellar to me:

New Grounds: Long Beach by Queen Mary

Anyway, let's go back to the actual report.

Main Festival Feedback

New location, new backgrounds:

It's pretty:

While the venue was well decorated from an otherwise boring parking lot, and it was nice to have some pieces of burning man art:

Burning Man people will recognize this awesome piece of art, great to have it

let's note that those vendors were on the void side which felt so far that they didn't feel worth walking back to unless you really wanted to go to void

And yeah, the walk back from void to dream really sucked, including this tunnel that was crowded at times, and where people go their phones stolen :(

First Time With Passport At Dreamstate!

This year had passport at Dreamstate for the first time, and it was awesome, with its own DJ sets even. This is a big deal! For those who didn't know, Passport is an invite only club for people who buy a certain amount of tickets to insomniac events.

VIP was nice too, and had some of the sparse seating people said was missing elsewhere:

Security

It was a bit weird due to the venue, you could enter two different ways, towards the main venue, or towards the void. Once you were in, you couldn't take the short away across due to no in and outs. This really felt unfortunate.
Another point to note is that anyone staying on the boat did not have to go through security to enter the event. It was great for them, but that meant it relied on the boat to enforce festival level security, which was a bit weird (people staying there were rightfully upset they were not allowed to have alcohol or some other festival prohibited items in their rooms). I'm not sure what the right answer is on this front.

Queen Mary and After Parties Feedback

Queen Mary is realistically an old retired cruiseship, but it makes for nice pictures:

Insomniac did their best to help people figure the place out, it was not very obvious:

the map was needed, getting from Grand to/from Britannia was a long walk with many stairs

Nice views outside:

There were limited food options on the boat, no alcohol at night due to lack of liquor license after hours, but insomniac made sure that people at least got water, which was nice:

Bathrooms were more of a problem, in the worst case scenario (britanica), you had to go 1 floor up, across the entire boat, and then 2 floors down, and all the way back. That's over 10 minutes and a lot of stairs for tired people and some who had issues with so many stairs but didn't have an ADA wristband that would have allowed them to take an elevator. Something to improve for sure.

But yes, it did look cool at night from Dream:

Rain

Yes it rain, drizzle on day 1, then it poured in the middle of the night during after party, so much the the place was still wet and muddy, especially in sequence on day 2.
Day 2 was ok-ish until the last hour when it rained fairly hard, not really fun for most, but at least my outfit didn't short or catch fire :)

I'll just state here for the people who didn't like NOS and SB, that it did not rain there while it was raining in Long Beach

People

Of course, a big part of what makes Us insomniac events so much fun is the people who are part of the party.

It's also a good excuse to take Trancefamily pictures:

Dreamstate Balloon

Great to see my usual 4 dreamstate GFs :)

So many DJs, thanks for taking pictures with me

very cool chat with Boris from Electric Universe about his laser harp show

The truth is that Dreamstate is about the people, all of you! We would probably still have lots of fun in a safeway parking lot :)

Day 1

Anyway, this brings us to the Festival. Day 1 started bright and early with Miyuki at 16:00 and many of her fans made it to represent. It was impressive.

Miyuki had lots of fans

Day 1 Summary Video:

Day 1: Queen Mary Afterparty

it was awesome to see Blastoyz again, but sad that he had to play as 'secret guest'

Day 1 Afterparty Summary Video:

Day 2

After getting to bed after sunrise and having hotel breakfast as late dinner, plus repairs on my LED outfit that broke on day 1, arriving on time for day2 was more challengings and I totally missed the day parties. So, I started Day #2 with Somna, lovely set:

Richard Durand at Vision was loads of fun even it meant I missed Craig vs FactorB:

More psytrance at Sequence with Reality Test:

Then the laser harp show from Electric Universe was very cool, especially for those who knew the origins from Jean-Michel Jarre:

For comparison, that was Jean-Michel Jarre in 2017 at Berkeley with is laser harp dating from the 1980's:

Fun fact about the Laser Harp, Jean-Michel Jarre's version is different and older technology he has used since the 1980's, and the internet says "t was patented in 1982 by the French composer Bernard Szajner, but the Australian Geoffrey Rose claims it was his invention and that he had taken out a provisional patent in 1975-1976".

After that, it was time to see the end of Armin's set at Dream:

By 01:00 and change, the actual dreamstate was over, and for the lucky ones who were able to secure after party tickets, it continued on the boat until 08:00:

Day 2 Summary Video:

Day 2: Queen Mary Afterparty

it was starting to get late in the night, but great to see more from FactorB

Day 2 Afterparty Summary Video:

After almost 40 hours, it was nice to see the sun come up a 2nd time, and walk back to the room for some much needed sleep:

Sunrise!

Aftermath and Conclusion: Should this not be 3 days and with a bit more sleep?

For all the diverging opinions on the new venue, I think everyone will agree this event was unique:

Points to Insomniac for trying something new, whether it was required or not, and honestly a lot more things went right than what went wrong given how different it was for them, so thumbs up on the end result!

The lineup for what was supposed to be a 2 day festival, was absolutely insane

The after parties lineup alone was bigger than many main festivals

If you want to be technical, this Dreamstate was not a 2 day festival, but literally 40 hours long, non stop. It started Saturday at 16:00, ran until 01:00, after parties until 08:00, saturday day party until 16:00, main festival day 2 until 01:00, and more after parties until 08:00. 40 hours total with 3 to 4 stages during 32 hours out of those 40 hours, woot!

So yeah, people got tired, multiple complained about the lack of seating at the main festival, although it was easier to rest on the boat:

poor technicians got close to 0 sleep

I smiled shen I saw some FB posts and comment of people complaining they were already 30, so they were not that young anymore, and needed more places to sit/rest :) Let's not talk about the OG Trance Ravers who are closer to 50, including many of our favorite DJs :)

My personal opinion is that it was too much in too little time. I realize that extreme FOMO due to all the great sets you are missing every hour while being there and trying to see it all, is probably meant to be part of the event, but I'll also say that in my opinion it's too much and not necessary to that level. 3 days would make it better.

Sure, the after parties allowed me to see some of the DJs I missed main sets on, at the expense of even less sleep, and that only worked for those who were able to get the limited after party tickets, and let's be honest again that the after party rooms were not great (hot and stuffy, inconvenient to get to, and with limited facilities)

So I'm going to ask questions that are at the same time suggestions:

If Dreamstate is going to stay at Queen Mary where the 4th stage (Void) really didn't fit with the bridges and long way around, and just added more conflicts, why not have it 3 days and 3 stages only?

For anyone thinking I'm crazy for asking for only 3 stages if we're stuck at QM and its smaller footprint, I'd like to point out that Dreamstate Harbor only had 2 stages, they were 3mn walk apart and I loved it. I had so much less FOMO, felt I was able to see a lot more, and the main issue was the midnight curfew and lack of afterparties. Having only 2 stages that were both so good that I still had a hard time picking between them, was more than plenty. Tell me if I'm crazy, but hopefully in that context, my 3 stages 3 day proposal is not that crazy.

I know you guys are all overachievers and always trying to do better, we love you for that, but I don't think we need to many artists conflicts and so many hours with so little sleep. My friend Niko started the day party on saturday at 08:00. I'm told he had 5 people attend his set. It's both sad and understandable.

Can we bring back at least 2 megastructures (sequence and dream), and it's ok if we leave vision as is, or if it becomes the new void and vision gets dropped?

Bonus points with megastructures, you can put some mesh that will let some wind through but block at least part of the rain

More lasers please. Everything is always more better with more lasers :)

Find a way to nail the pickpockets, please.

Can the cruiseship terminal structure be used as an indoor stage for afterparties?

If we have to use the Queer Mary for afterparties again:

bathrooms on all floors

more ventilation/temperature controls in the rooms. We were dressed for cold weather outdoors and got into stuffy and sweaty rooms

more food options, they were very limited

all elevators for all, please.

I'm not an alcohol person, but people who were were disappointed to have none due to liquor license on the boat. There may not be a fix to that.

The lighting and general production quality inside the Queen Mary felt poor on multiple levels. I'm not sure how much it's fixable but also a point that this boat is not really a great party boat, it's really an old and tired cruiseship, sorry if I have to state that. I also remember lighting in those rooms that was basically flashing spotlights into the crowd and blinding people dancing. Not sure if that's the best way to do it :)

Should you go? Would I go Back?

Despite the challenges with the new venue, the event still went really well overall and was a lot of fun. There are so many great things about DS and all of you coming and making it what it is, that it's hard not to have a great time. So it's another "hell yes"

I'll repeat again and again that all the staff truly cares and goes all out. It wasn't perfect but it went quite well considering, and again stuff like the LED bridge was far out. The getting around to void was a mess, and they made the back path 2 way half way through the festival, which was still a real time improvement.

Security was definitely nice overall, hopefully the event is still secure enough.

It was an insane event like I wrote already, it may not need to be that insane, I think 3 stages over 3 days would be better if we have to keep using that venue, but either way it was awesome again.

I'll give the same answer to "Is it worth flying across the world for?" If you like trance and you want a better production value than many european shows (not counting Tomorrowland and arguably untold), yes, it is worth going to. Only 2 days, but it's really good and the night decors and costumes are much better than what you'll find in Europe.

Yes, night and lights and costumes make festivals way more fun, if you disagree, I'm sorry :)

So much fun, 'till next time:

See more images for A New Dreamstate Socal in Long Beach by Queen Mary

2023/05/18 Dreamstate EDC Pre-Party at Area 15

π 2023-05-18 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Edc

Given that EDC 2023 only had 2 days of trance this year at Quantum Valley, it was nice to have a little Dreamstate Pre-Party at Area15. Area15 itself however had good enough sound and visuals, but their staff was not stellar at the timed (they got better later for future events).

It was of course great to see our favorite friends and DJs:

Despite the challenges, nice evening and warmup for [EDC 2023|/perso/clubbing/post_2023-05-19_Another-Big-EDC.html

Video summary:

See more images for Dreamstate EDC Pre-Party at Area 15

2022/11/18 Dreamstate Socal 2022: The Best One Ever And Bonus Afterparty

π 2022-11-18 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

I don't want to sound like a fanboy, but hot damn, Dreamstate is genuinely getting better every year, and last years didn't suck!

It was so much more fun to go with friends and I also made a few extra displays for my outfit:

and I found my Dreamstate girlfriends again, so happy :)

What was new this year was the after party from 02:00 to 06:00 which was a great last minute addition for anyone who didn't have a long drive home. Also, it was good not to have 3 conflicts every hour, because damn, that was the rest of dreamstate for me, I really wanted to be at 3 stages almost every hour. I wouldn't be mad if DS switched to 3 days with 3 stages instead of 2 days with 4 :)

The lineup was solid like I said:

Pictures libraries:

All Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UqTHYPAwUFgv4Ts5

BestOf Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Haa7Q9ohdeXQm2TE7

Venue and DJs: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Poo72RwxuTKYoaKC9

People Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eTCFfsFFDgC72wme9

The Grounds

I got a good shot from the plane, nice to see from high up, Vision on the left, Void in the middle, Sequence on the right by the entrance, and Vision adjacent to the oval racetrack:

The lights and decors were awesome as always:

The stages were as follows:

The dream

The sequence

The void got bigger and nicer this year

And Vision was indoors as usual, nice but the stage was badly lit

The People

Dreamstate is the biggest Trancefamily Reunion, so many friends, and I didn't even get to see them all, but it was great to see the ones I did:

so great to run into my DS Harbor friend Emily

she was so sweet and made an custom tranceledguy kandi

and it's not a party without Afik and his crew :)

Danielle from TFLA

Trancefamily SF, represent!

Ran into copycats, haha

I thought that was funny :)

I'm easily amused ;)

Day #1

So, let's start with Day #1, we almost managed to get there when it opened, not bad given the travel and hotel issues:

arrived in time to see my friend Khromata for more great psytrance

Hana and her angelic singing was great to see again

Then we had the Trancefamily Meetup Pictures:

And back for Elysian to see Emma Hewitt and ilan Bluestone:

It was great to be able to meet them both:

Ben Nicky also had a very enjoyable set

But it was time for some psytrance triplets, stopping by Ms Monique on the way:

Up to Liquid Soul for some lovely psytrance:

so much fun to meet Liquid Soul again

Then Astrix was next, for more technical psytrance, focussed as always:

Back to Dream for PvD:

And then ending with a Aly & Fila b2b John O Callaghan:

stage lighting was minimal unfortunately

Short Video Summary:

Day #2

After minimal sleep from day #1, we didn't quite make opening time for #2, but just in time to see Rinaly just before her set at Vision:

Then was time to see Ruben de Ronde:

pretty full by then already

But yes, I wanted some more psytrance, so we went to see Whiteno1se:

And while there, it was great to hang out with some of my favorite psytrance DJs:

3rd time is a charm, Blastoyz finally looks like his picture :)

and Reality Test

Then back to Dream for ATB and then Audien:

And then Armin. I was hoping he'd finally play a classic trance set, given that it was, you know, dreamstate, but he played some mainstage set again, that was disappointing. The set wasn't bad per se, but a poor choice for dreamstate in my opinion:

Abraxis was last, hard to get pictures with no proper lighting on stage:

and just like this, it was 02:00, the main show was over

But not the afterparty in Vision, 4 more hours to go:

Craig Connelly and FactorB finished the set with some pure trance joy

It's not a good party if the sun hasn't risen when it's over :)

And just like that, the 2 days, 26H of trance, were over. I cannot give enough thanks to insomniac, all the artists and everyone who brought in outfits, smiles, and good vibes.

Video summary of Day #2:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

OMG, Yes! This is literally the best dreamstate event in the world, end of story!

Is it EDC Vegas level crazy? No. Is it Beyond Wonderland level pretty decors and performers? No quite, but it has so much more trance Is it Luninosity level 11hx4 days of trance? Not exactly, but it is much better production value. You also avoid being sunburned and rained on, like you will at Lumi :)

I'll repeat that other insomniac festivals, like EDC and Dreamstate, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. Many small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless

I'll also repeat that security is more than reasonable as usual, thank you

San Bernardino is not the best city ever, but there are only so many places such festivals can be held, especially with a 02:00 curfew. The one downside of Dreamstate is that it doesn't have shuttles yet. Maybe in the future?

With the afterparty until 06:00, it's now more than 12H of trance, only 2 days, but plenty of music!

4 stages is more than enough. It's already too many conflicts as is :)

Is it worth flying across the world for? If you like trance and you want a better production value than many european shows (not counting Tomorrowland and arguably untold), yes, it is worth going to. Only 2 days, but it's really good and the night decors and costumes are much better than what you'll find in Europe.

Conclusion

So much fun, 'till next time:

See more images for Dreamstate Socal 2022: The Best One Ever And Bonus Afterparty

2022/06/11 Our First Dreamstate Harbor in Socal

π 2022-06-11 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

Dreamstate of of course the happy place for Trance Lovers, Dreamstate Socal in San Bernandino is just totally awesome, but it's only once a year. Insomniac fixed that for us by adding a new Dreamstate also in Socal, but a different location. While I'd love to have had it in the bay area somewhere, Socal wasn't too far and it was another great event.

And so great to meet all my friends and DJs again (thanks Anna for the pictures):

Since I re-made all of Giuseppe's T-shirts, it was fun to take another picture :)

and it was so great to finally be able to enjoy Astrix's set and meet him

Thank you to Killed with Kindness for covering the event and all the pictures again, including this Trancefamily meetup:

Dreamstate Harbor, New Venue, Impressions

The event was at the end of a pier, away from people so we could enjoy plenty of noise. The venue wasn't huge, but just big enough, and looked great at sunset/night:

One downside of the venue is that it still had a midnight curfew apparently, which is surprising given that there wasn't much nearby. As a result the event started early (15:00) which meant plenty of punishing sun that got a fair amount of us sunburned despite sunscreen (one contributing factor was the breeze which made things cooler and caused people not to feel that they were being burned, it also made things kind of cold at night for those who didn't have layers). Hopefully the event can start and finish a bit later in the future to limit the harmful sun.

The good thing is the 2 stages were so close and it was easy to move from psytrance to trance, and speaking about psytrance, what a treat. It's rare to get good psytrance, and we got lots of it. Thank you!

Random notes on the event:

single GA bathroom location, but the venue was small enough that it was fine

food options were fairly limited, but enough not to starve :)

decors were nice, especially at night

free parking (thanks), although it was a somewhat long walk to the venue for some, but no worse than EDC

no sound interference between the stages and yet they were close enough for easy stage hopping

VIP facilities were maybe a bit limited compared to the much higher price, but at least you got the nice bathrooms (which didn't have lines) and it was easier to be closer to the front of the stages (albeit with a side view that wasn't great for pictures)

The lineup was solid with a mix of DJs from around the world, including some locals from california

Less can be more, I do love dreamstate san bernandino with its 4 stages, but that also means I'm missing out on 3 different DJs every hour. Here it was much easier to be able to enjoy most of the music.

Like many I put on sunscreen, but didn't put enough and got sunburned anyway. Ideally the event can be at least 2H later next time (17:00 to 02:00).

Day #1

Got there bright and early, 15:00, and did my best to hide from the sun :)

Craig did such a killer set, loads of fun

GO delivered as always, thank you

psytrance loving me was excited to see Liquid Soul again, and he always looks so happy, can't blame him

After Astrix was unable to attend EDC, great to have him, another killer set

By then, it was time for a great sunset:

And back to the Djs:

JoC did another fire set

Markus Schulz

Nice to finish with Whitenoise for some psytrance

Day #1 video summary:

Day #2

Day #2 video summary:

People

One of the things that makes trance special, is the people, all the smiles and great positive energy. Trance family is truly a family, and for many it is well needed therapy that gives us energy to cope with daily life :)

Many of the DJs were super nice and came to take pictures with their fans, thank you

and a huge thanks to Craig Connelly for this lovely gift

And just lke that, it was over, after 18 hours of trance and psytrance, thank you!

See more images for Our First Dreamstate Harbor in Socal

2021/11/19 Dreamstate Socal 2021: Back to Trance Heaven After 2 Years

π 2021-11-19 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals

2020 was obviously the year from hell for lots of things, including festivals. EDC had a 2.5 year gap, and Dreamstate ended up with a 2 year gap, but despite probably losing a bunch of money during the pandemic, Insomniac did a great job putting a quality show as always, dealing with all the extra difficulties (artists cancelling due to covid, other artists unable to get visas to enter the US), and yet they went back to 4 stages instead of 3 in 2019.

Of course, many of us had fun at EDC Vegas a month ago, read more here: http://marc.merlins.org/perso/clubbing/post_2021-11-22_After-a-2_5Y-wait_-Our-next-EDC-Vegas.html , but while EDC has trance, it's not about trance, Dreamstate of course is about trance!

so glad to be back!

Unlike creamfields where some of the extra stages were honestly shit visually and audio quality-wise (and their security was dicks ), insomniac made sure all stages were as good as could be, even the smallest one (void).

The lineup was solid like I said:

Pictures libraries:

All Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/J9xqDaD65USuWZV49

BestOf Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ddho1tk1fvacqGes9

The Grounds

As always, it's not EDC Vegas level eye candy, but it's still quite good, nothing to complain about :)

The decors were great and the VIP areas were shiny:

If you didn't bring your own lighting, they had you covered:

The stages were as follows:

The dream stage was quite pretty, well done

The sequence, psytrance was ok-ish but the DJ booth wasn't lit well, so you could barely see who was playing

vision was good enough, but still had the annoying line to get in

even the smaller void, was good too

The People

Of course, what makes Dreamstate and EDC magical, is not just the eye candy that Insomniac brings, but what the attendees bring too, from good vibes, costumes, and totems:

TFSF's Katie-Ann did a great job with her psy outfit :)

That's not counting Afik's LED totem entourage, an ever growing list :)

Of course, we had our local trancefamily groups:

For the LED/tech nerd that I am, it was great to see more people with LED panels, some were able to use some of the code that I published online and make their own improvements on top:

really cool totem with 12 RGB panels (more than me, but less resolution than me), run by an FPGA card, well done!

of course Afik's trusty totem was here

and I had fun with my outfit :)

Day #1

So, let's start with Day #1, I got there bright and early, 17:00 when it opened:

so great to see Haliene again

also great to see Thrillseekers again

life is always better with lasers ;)

it was special to see Emma Hewitt, it's not every day

I've seen Fadi 6 times in the last months, but still love him each time :)

for those who don't know him, he is literally the nicest guy on earth

And to save the best for last, after Paul Van Dyk, was Ferry Corsten's Gouryella which was truly a religious experience for many, myself included. I still remember hearing it in what turned out to be 2016 at EDC at Circuit Grounds after consulting my archives :) Thank you so much Ferry for playing this again, albeit an updated version:

just seeing the lyrics brings the tunes back in my head :)

what a finish

Thank you Ferry.

Wait, you're saying you missed this? Well, don't worry, I recorded a bit over 2/3rd of it in my video summary of Day #1 (starting at 59:43):

Day #2

After just enough sleep, I had a bit of time to write some extra code for my LED outfit, including adding some DJ faces (see bottom for Craig, Liquid Soul, and Blastoyz), and an extra trancejesus has it on vynil screen (see above). I then went a bit early to check out the grounds before everything started for Day #2:

the calm before the storm :)

Jorza

Excited to see Xijaro & Pitch

Anthony pointed out the irony that as a blind man he got to play at the 'vision' stage :)

the costumed dancers were very good as always

Got some triplets from Whitenoise

absolutely delighted to see Alpha9 again, I enjoyed his set each time

FactorB again

Definitely enjoyed seeing Zero Gravity Arts again:

truly dope ass outfits

Super nice to see liquid soul, always smiling and happy with the joys of psytrance :)

Gareth back on mainstage

But I went to see Craig Connelly, because well, that was not even a question :)

Definitely enjoyed Blastoyz's set

Yoji Biomehanika

went to check out Aly & Fila's UV set

and finished the night and festival with Reality Test

And just like that, the 2 days, 18H of trance, were over. Thank you to insomniac, all the artists and everyone who brought in outfits, smiles, and good vibes.

Video summary of Day #2: