Top 10 American Electronic Music Festivals of 2015

Moonrise Festival – Baltimore, Maryland – August 8th to August 9th, 2015

Words by: Jamie Pelletier

Photos by: Moonrise Festival & Ashley Zucker

D.C. area bassheads flocked to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland this past August 8^th and 9^th for Moonrise Festival. Off to a late start on the first day due to intense traffic during the five hour trip from Brooklyn – we put our bags into the lockers and had just enough time to see the end of What So Not’s set as well as Bakermat at Celestial Garden and Bassnectar at the Lunar Stage. What So Not played the beautiful song, ‘Jaguar’ before we headed over to see Bakermat. Bakermat had a saxophonist playing conjointly with him which complimented his electro beats in a unique soulful and housey way giving the music a smooth and jazzy feel. With little time left in the night, we closed the end of the first day with a memorable performance by Bassnectar before connecting with old friends and making our way back to the hotel.

On Saturday, we arrived fairly early to witness the blaring sun and quickly realize that we needed some shades. We headed over to The Bad Kids Collective vendor booth who offered a killer selection of sunglasses and clothing before visiting the Solar Tent to see Getter provide a brilliant mix of trap and dubstep ahead of Torro Torro who grabbed our attention at the Stellar Stage. Torro Toro played a remix of The Weekend’s ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’ followed by ‘Deep Down Low’ by Valentino Khan. We then went back over to the Solar Stage to catch Ookay mixing ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis into ‘Tremor’ by Martin Garrix and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike seamlessly. It was now time to grab some food and we grab some delicious steak tacos and over to The Lunar Stage to witness Porter Robinson provide a set that was nothing less than amazing. Above & Beyond, Glitch Mob, Zeds Dead, and Party Favor all brought the festival to a close but we opted to catch Above & Beyond close out the night at The Stellar Stage by playing their familiar hits with a few not so familiar tracks.

The EDM culture is alive and well in America and live producers and artists are still the highlight in the world of dance music and pop culture. Replacement for talented artists who incorporate live instruments and live performance still prevail and community values and developing new friendships still takes precedence. The predominately younger crowd that attend Moonrise and other festivals throughout America and the rest of the world eventually seek out new and more mature sounds. Regardless of the type of music and regardless of the demographic or age, this festival also directly showcased how the local community is so intricately involved in each and every festival. The hustle is inevitable, surrounding the Baltimore race track you could see people selling everything from jeans to water to VIP tickets in the VIP parking lot to parking spaces on their front lawns. This is just commerce and capitalism in it’s rawest form.

Dates and tickets for Moonrise Fesival 2016 have yet to be announced.