A Weekend at North Coast Music Festival

Photography by Ryan Dufour - Dufour_Ryan@Yahoo.com

Photos in no specific order.

Back for it's second year, North Coast Music Festival had promised the best electronic and jam oriented lineup of any festival in the Midwest. The promoters hyped up the festival to the extreme, and the weekend was to feature sets by some of the biggest names in the scene, including David Guetta, Bassnectar, STS9, and Wiz Khalifa. With extreme heat, rain, and chilly weather, it seemed like mother nature had it in for the festival, but the show went on and the promoters delivered above and beyond on the hype!

Friday Notes -

• Will call was well organized this year, lines moved smoothly, getting into the festival was a breeze.
• The festival was ready to roll on time, and the first shows started as scheduled.
• There were a lot of new things to see and do! Dos Eques had a rolling balance beam challenge, Groupon provided a silent disco, and there were what seems like over 100 local and national food and product vendors to browse through.
• The stage lighting was enhanced to provide an eye candy light show behind the great weekend of performances.

Friday Performance Highlights -

• Wolfgang Gartner was as good as always! Great electronic musician.
• David Guetta exceded my expectations, while Wiz Khalifa let me down.
• Make sure to check out Lotus, guys! Great group!

Saturday Notes -

• Festival kicked off the proper way on Saturday, featuring The Right Now into Rubblebucket! The crowd was light, but Rubblebucket put on a stellar show, and they'll be huge some day!
• Despite the rain, it didn't dampen the mood of festival goers, which were the best crowd of any festival I've ever attended.
• It seems like the Red Bull Stage is the most happening stage on Saturday, stacked lineup of electronic musicians and DJ's, kids flocked there to dance and have a good time.
• I wasn't sure how Common would do his set, old school, or trying to fit in at the festival. It could have gone either way, but he killed it and blew North Coast away!
• We interviewed Six in the Mix and BBU, look forward to reading those.

Saturday Performance Highlights -

• Rubblebucket were my biggest surprise of the weekend! The female vocalist knew how to rock, and the guys were following right behind her.
• Lettuce had the crowd dancing like no other band that weekend, everyone grooving to a band that is going to only get bigger and better.
• I had never heard New Mastersounds prior to seeing them on Saturday, and I can honestly say I'll be looking them up!

Sunday Notes -

• Sunday was obviously the most heavily stacked day of the festival in terms of who's performing. Van Ghost > Little Dragon > of Montreal > Gogol Bordello > Bassnectar in the main field, and Latyrx > ATB > Benny Benassi > Thievery Corporation on the Red Bull Stage.
• Festival goers were just as chipper and ready to party as they were the first day!
• The organizers did a great job of keeping the park clean all weekend!
• Closing out with Bassnectar was a wise decision! He rocked the park like it's never been done before.

Sunday Performance Highlights -

• Little Dragon's set was a big surprise. They fit in easily at the festival, performing an hours worth of disco enhanced electro music.
• of Montreal, what can be said? Crazy costumes, giant balloons, and riding on the crowd
• Bassnectar ripped every face off with the pounding bass and trip-hop influenced electronic music.

Overall, the weekend completely blew me away, and I can honestly say North Coast Music Festival is now my favorite music festival! It would be perfect if they could include camping, but we all know we're in the city so not happening! The festival will only grow bigger and better from here, and we're glad that the great people organizing are also the same great people that you'll see in the middle of the crowd rocking out to Bassnectar just as you are, staying true to the fans of they're events and being amazing to the press and staff. We look forward to next year, and until then, thanks for having us guys!!!!