It had been a beautiful Saturday afternoon leading up to my night time festival excursion to Silverado Canyon and the nice weather lasted into the night. Did I say excursion? Maybe I was thinking of the last few festivals and big shows I went to in LA...or maybe I was thinking that because it was in the mountains..? However, one of the things that was special about Love Fest So Cal 2011, was the close proximity of it to my hood. Ten quick minutes of girl talk in the car into the canyon from my childhood home and we were there ( we really don't get a lot of visits from Felix Da Housecat in OC ;) ). That aside from the obvious that the whole thing took place in a gorgeous canyon surrounded by trees and mountains. Yet another beautiful facet of this Saturday night was that it was the night we were celebrating my best friend Tricia's birthday.
We walked into the show and almost instinctively skipped around over a few little hills. How could we not? There was a lot of wide open space, due to the show not being too packed yet, and we felt like kids again...kids turned loose in the park with slamming trance beating our faces in...it was time to make our way over to the 'Party For The People Stage'...to strip it of formality, the House stage. Time to get down to the business of getting our groove on.
Once we got settled in at our destination for most of the night Alex Kenji was just going up for his set. Hanging in the VIP area was pretty cool. We got to chill out on colorful fun shaped lounges and watch the hijinks of the crowd and photographers while also getting a pretty excellent view of the Djs. However cool it was to be close to them, it was also uncool to be only looking at their backs during the show so we did what we always do...we went to the front.
Alex Kenji's set was full of a really fun energy. He seemed so happy and he danced a lot while spinning. Djs who rock out have always held a special place in my heart and I have to say that I was extremely impressed. I had heard AK tracks before and thought they were upbeat and fun, but live I felt his playful dancey vibe even more ….and I liked it.
Next up was Funka-frickin-genda. I was stoked and the crowd roared as he took the stage so I could tell everyone else was too. I listened super hard, but I didn't hear 'What the Fuck...Oh well, its kinda played, but really I consider it having been long enough to throw back to that shit, can you blame me? No, you can't...that track is awesome. Regardless of the lack of WTF, Funkagenda rocked it. He went from super euro at the beginning to a point in the middle of the set where it was sounding real gritty underground LA Techno-esque. Since I am a regular at underground parties that made me feel right at home. Hard hitting house was next up on the funk-agenda..building up for you know who...Thee Real FDHC himself who was arriving back stage ….right next to Tricia and I, and proceeding right past us to take his place on the stage within moments of his arrival.
The crackling of what sounded like a sample from an old answering machine cassette poured out of the speakers as Felix started to do his thing. The whole beginning of the set seemed like an amalgam of esoteric vocal samples and housey beats. It was very new and different from many of his sets I have seen, especially at festival concerts, and then the beats got hard as fuck. Soon we were shaking our booties to Felix's mix of Depeche Mode's 'Personal Jesus' which led into 'Silver Screen Shower Scene' , a mix I'll never forget... the hoots and hollers ensued. We were screaming our little throats out and loving every moment of Felix's set. He always rocks it, and we always love it. Felix ended his set with yet another of my favorite tracks...Mr. Fingers 'Can you Feel It'. Needless to say, we were 100% jacked/rocked/whatever you want to call it. Floored by the awesomeness of Felix's set and this whole amazing party in the mountains down the street from my house. MY HOUSE...down the street from my house...it was pretty darn sick.
After that we were hanging around at the VIP bars and going back and forth between the stages and VIP areas checking out Nic Fanciulli, Paul Oakenfold, Junior Sanchez, Matt Darey, and LA Riots. We caught some awesome moments at each one of the sets and made friends with some of the other concert goers which was fun and funny. I didn't know until that night that Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Hello Kitty are all House fans...I'm serious, people attended the show in giant character costumes.
Tricia's Bday celebration was a success. We seriously jacked our bodies all night long to hard beats from some of the phattest Djs on the planet. Including Chicago's own Felix Da Housecat, my unrivaled favorite artist (did I mention that yet? ;P ). Right on Trish, without your birthday we wouldn't have rocked out under the stars in a canyon all night in the company of a bunch of sweaty heads with smiles from ear to ear wearing either huge costumes or nothing but pasties, a thong and furry raver boots. The outdoor vibe kept things low key though and the negative aspect of the rave scene definitely chose to stay home that night, cause we didn't see any of it! Yay for good Bday karma and festival concerts close to home with amazing acts coming through. I'm definitely looking forward to more awesome shows (including Love Fest 2012) being held at this new venue.
DJ Reza & Junior Sanchez
Nic Fanciulli
Paul Oakenfold
Alex Kunji
Funkagenda
FELIX DA HOUSECAT!!!
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