Reviewed: All Day I Dream Festival

Denver’s first All Day I Dream Festival was originally scheduled to occur the first weekend in October last year. However, mother nature had alternative plans. Plunging the temperatures well below the norm for the beginning of fall, the conditions imagined when the All Day I Dream concept was incepted were not going to be met. Hence, the party was moved to the covered rooftop of Club Vinyl. It’s a hot spot where Lee Burridge has become acquainted with some of Denver’s passionate burner and dreamer collective.

The lineup remained the same with some special sound upgrades made to the built-in system. WIth heaters and all, the party carried on. Newman opened in fine form, ending with his truly uplifting tune ‘A Walk in the Plains’. Lee Burridge took over the controls and led the crowd into the shroud of the night with his distinctive selection of movers and shakers. Former Denverite Oonah Dahl finished off the night with her ambient, deep thinking, four to the floor beats. They promised to make up the date on the next round of the tour when there was a less likely chance of an inclement weather cancellation.

In typical Denver spring fashion, the forecasts came true as the near 100% chance of severe weather occurring in the early afternoon rolled on through with dark and ominous clouds building from a distance. To put the venue into perspective, the park is nestled on the edge of downtown Denver in the performing arts district. Overlooking the grassy knoll so to speak are two massive white stick figure sculptures holding hands.

Upon walking into the venue, it’s very obvious why it was chosen. The way the space was utilized, there is a shaded trail leading up to the main dancing area. A few local vendors aligning each side with steampunk and burner style items. It was still early but there was a freeness in the air. Dropped shoulders, wide smiles, and cheery dispositions were present in the attendees, whether they were taking cover from the rain or embracing the precipitation out on the dance floor.

Unfortunately, Newman wasn’t able to join the cast of artists to perform under the statues, but rising All Day I Dream star Facundo Mohrr stepped in last minute to start things off. Performing as the rain moved east, his opening tracklist consisted of cuts from showcasing his talents as a producer and DJ; moving from track to track with relative ease.

As the rain began to subside, it was Hoj’s turn to guide the crowd out of the mid-afternoon post rain shower blues by creating plenty of tensible moments present in the tracks he selected. The creator of the All Day I Dream single cloud concept and co-founder of Tale & Tone with Lee Burridge put on display what has been dubbed as “Hoj house’: an eclectic array across the landscapes of deep house and other euphonious genres.

Roy Rosenfield, a recent addition to the All Day I Dream family and former electro producer turned melodic maestro, put on a clinic. Utilizing expressions from his past, his set held a different vibration than the rest: dreamy and energized in all of the right places. Yet not too much to overshadow Lord Lee’s upcoming time slot.

The ringleader of the All Day I Dream gang is Lee Burridge. A veteran DJ and producer with music for days in his virtual crate, took control of the decks with some time to spare before the sun slowly crept behind the mountains. Pushing out tune after tune, a few that really stood out to me were Time’ by the Pachanga Boys, a remix of Rufus du Sol’s ‘Innerbloom’ and Newman’s bootleg remix of ‘Missing’ by Everything But the Girl. His consistent ability to craft his time on stage into a journey so effortlessly has been the result of years of hard work but also having an innate ear for dreamy, yet driving melodies and timeless compositions.

I sat down with Seif Bendiff from SeifhauS and asked him if there was anything special he loved about bringing this amazing experience to Denver:

“Yeah, I loved to see that sound and vibe find full culmination and fruition of what we have been trying to curate for the past 5 years and that there was so much positive reception and embrace to it. Denver wasn’t always ready for the full experience but now the seed has been firmly planted and will continue to harvest and grow hopefully each consecutive year moving forward. We have always loved that beautiful All Day I Dream sound and it is amazing to witness it spread to touch so many more hearts and souls in our local community. The next year will be even bigger and better now that ADID is here to stay and people will have a summer highlight to look forward to each year now.

It was an honor to be a part of this event and to work alongside such amazing fellow experience creators who are equally devoted to this scene.

The scene is healthiest and most vibrant when there is this sort of collaboration, cooperation, and community intention. I am looking forward to seeing more of this for future events, especially of this nature and magnitude.

Huge shoutout to Brennen for facilitating all of these moving parts and putting together a stellar team.”

A huge thank you to the sub-promoters who have taken risks and built the underground community to what is at the current moment. TheHundredPresents, SeifhauS, The Fantastic Hosts, Below Rader, as well as Live Nation for hosting: our hats off to you for helping to curate an experience long deserved in the Mile High City. There are still plenty more tour dates for the All Day I Dream 2019 campaign and to hold you over, here is the latest release from the label titled ‘Sweet Transport’, by Padre featuring Oe, out last Friday (6/14) with remixes from Quatri and Gorje Hewek & Izhevski.