ON THE FL
ON THE FLOOR
Down The Rabbit Hole
The world of Alice and Wonderland takes over an unsuspecting town in rural California for a night of adventure with Beyond Wonderland.
D
J Mag USA are about an hour and a half out of Los Angeles, practically in the middle of nowhere with rolling hills and open spaces all around us, and just like that a firework goes
off in the distance and we know we must be heading in the right direction. Driving up to the parking lot we pass a lone house with a family outside taking in all the commotion. For them it must be a trip seeing thousands of scantily clad people take over their small farming town. This is the first time that Beyond Wonderland (or any rave for that matter) has taken over the San Manuel Amphitheater and Grounds. In the past, Beyond Wonderland has been held at the National Orange Show Events center in San Bernardino but it’s not welcome anymore because of noise complaints and a deteriorating relationship with city officials.
Insomniac Events, the production company behind Beyond Wonderland, has had a lukewarm relationship at best with Southern California. The unfortunate death of 15 year-old Sasha Rodriguez at Electric Daisy Carnival in 2010 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, accusations of corruption, noise complaints, and the recent exposé by the Los Angeles Times have all contributed to this broken relationship between Los Angeles County and raves. Pushing raves farther and farther out of the city, Los
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Angeles has effectively let production companies know that these events are not welcome.
But the remoteness of Beyond Wonderland actually adds to the events ambiance. Walking into the event is like walking into another world. Stilt walkers and other crazy characters from Wonderland fill the crowd as DJs pump music to the masses; it’s a sight to see. If British author Lewis Carroll was alive today, he would be proud of this interpretation of the characters in his classic novel. Insomniac once again spare no expense as the productions are out of this world. Four stages named after areas of Wonderland (Queen’s Domain, Madhatter’s Castle, Chess village and Cheshire Woods) inhabit this unique world, each offering a different take on electronic music. With four stages of varying types of electronic music, there’s something for everyone to dance the night away.
Dutch trance duo W&W kick it off as we walk into Wonderland. Playing on the second stage - Madhatter’s Castle - the duo are pumping up the crowd for the rest of the night. As we enter they are in the middle of playing their amazing remix of Dash Berlin’s ‘Waiting’, featuring Emma Hewitt. Hewitt’s beautiful vocals cover the crowd as fireworks blast off in the background. W&W have been
taking the world by storm recently. In the past year they have had some amazing releases, and have seen their crowds at festivals grow exponentially. You can feel the vibe in the crowd as they wait for the duo to drop their most recent banger ‘The Code’ (featuring Ummet Ozcan). And when they do, it goes off. W&W effortlessly mix classic tunes with their own productions leaving the crowd in awe.
Later on we are behind the main stage as Markus Schulz cue up Hardwell’s classic ‘Spaceman’. Schulz’s energy is pulsating throughout the crowd. Playing on the predominately big room house main stage - Queen’s Domain - the trance legend plays a more progressive- house set, catering towards the stage’s overall house vibe. That is not to say he does not occasionally bring the trance. Playing behind his 2012 album ‘Scream’, Schulz teases the crowd with some of his favorites from the record. Dropping an extended version of ‘Tempted’ (featuring Sarah Howells), the crowd goes nuts. The German DJ has the ability to play all types of music and transform his set according to the crowd and this atmosphere is why he is always so far up on DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 DJs list. Meanwhile, over at Cheshire Woods deep house is the theme of the night. The Canadian duo Art Department
Pics: INSOMNIAC - LIFE AFTER DUSK
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