Hallowfreaknween @ National Western Complex in Denver, Colorado (Review) [10/31/15]

Review and Photos By: jdrightright



Global Dance Festival just put on their big Halloween Costume concert at the National Western Complex. This year Hallowfreaknween was a multi-stage event with four different stages set up through out the venue. Headliners galore in the main room including Deorro, Borgeous, Vinai, Mayhem, Antiserum, Kayzo, and Tuneboy.


The night got started early because their was so much talent to showcase. First up for the big name talent was Kayzo a Los Angeles producer, and he brought the room into a more monstrous mood. Kayzo just dropped a special Halloween banger called "FREDDY KRUEGER" and what a perfect place to pound it out. Kayzo has a number of different genres he likes to spin so he got into a bunch of kinds music to get the room going right.

The crowd was about ninety percent dressed up with some of the coolest costumes I've seen in a few years. The one that naturally caught most peoples attention was a guy in a Big Hero 6 costume chilling up front in the VIP. Another baller costume I saw was a full Marty McFly from Back to the Future part 2, complete with a hover-board and the futuristic clothes and hat. There is never a shortage of gorgeous babes at Hallowfreaknween, and this year was no exception. There wasn't a costume contest, but if I had to pick I would definitely go with the dude in the Big Hero 6 costume. He never got out of the suit and he was bouncing the whole night with the bass.

Mayhem and Antiserum came up to the stage and the place got all swagged out. This was definitely the illest set of the night having two amazing producers tag teaming with a ton of new banging beats to bump. They have a very unique spin on trap music mixing in some dubstep, and sometimes a little drum and bass. The constant blending of new glitches and old school party favorites made this such a good set. I am a huge fan of both Mayhem and Antiserum, so getting to see them together was a huge rush of positive happy energy. It was cool watching Mayhem and Antiserum work together on stage. They almost treated it like a rap battle, each one coming up with a song to top the last. This set was hard as fuck, and it wins the award for most hype and feels.


The next set was by a duo called Vinai, they are a couple of young dudes who know how to work a room. They release a lot of their music through Spinnin Records, a label known for techno and trance artists. Vinai had the room bouncing up and down to the music, and they did some of the favorites for big shows. One activity they had the crowd do was a sit down and jump up at the drop song. It was a very energetic set and the guys from Vinai showed some skills.



Girls love Borgeous and you could see them all perk up when he got on stage. He kept a similar style going with a big room trance and techno flavor. He as well as Vinai got into some Queen remixes including "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions." Borgeous has been building a name very quickly with outlets like his show on XM Electric Area and other media. In just the last couple years Borgeous has become a name that almost all EDM lovers know. He does a good job getting the crowd hypnotized into his sonic trance.
  

It was time for a legend to show the place how to get down on Hallowfreaknween. Deorro came out and immediately fooled the crowd starting to wind up his first track and it sounded like he was going to drop five hours. Nope, but he would get to it, all in due time. Deorro played a set similar to what I saw him drop at Decadence on new years. He got into some classic trancey bass and he spun some remixes of popular music like Oasis' song "Wonderwall." Deorro had a huge crew on stage with him, not for any technical reason, but just so he could have some friends to dance with. It was getting close to the end of his time so Deorro spun the CDJ and wound it down to just wavelengths, and then slowly sped it up more and more until just the right moment and boosh, "Five Hours." It was cool, even though we all knew it was coming it still was an epic drop and a brilliant finale to a great set.

The show closed out with a producer called Tuneboy and he made the room pulsate with hard-style and techno beats. I found this to be a bit overwhelming, The energy was at peak levels for Deorro and now we are supposed to turn up even more? Some people did and they got to rock out until 3AM. This was daylight savings night so at 2AM it became 1AM again. Lets just say the party went late and who cares what time it actually was. I was fulfilled and I think most of the people were too.

Hallowfreaknween was the very first show I ever attended in Denver back in 2013 and it remains one of the best nights of the year. Global Dance Festival always throws an epic party and everyone knows to be there or you will regret it. See you all next year when we get together again for the biggest Halloween Costume party in the city. Hope everyone had a happy Hallowfreaknween.

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Doctor P with Mayhem and Fury @ Beta Nightclub (1-2-15) [Review]

Review By: Justin D'Amico


Friday night was a big one at Beta Nightclub with a killer line-up showcasing three popular electronic producers. Each of them perform a different genre making for a superb variety. Fury representing the Denver area strong with his fast paced drum and bass beats, Mayhem with the illest trap bangers, and Doctor P the dubstep mastermind and co-founder of Circus Records. Beta Nightclub is known for bringing huge names together and Friday was no exception, the place was bouncing all night.

Beta Nightclub is a world renowned venue having been mentioned as one of the best clubs in the country by multiple outlets. It has a capacity of about 950 people and almost every weekend it's sold out. The club is set up with a main floor surrounded by private bottle service areas and a special VIP booth located right beside the DJ booth. Upstairs the balcony surrounds the dance floor with one side for standing room and the other with more private VIP booths. Also a separate room with a second stage is always bumping house music upstairs. The rear of the balcony also has an elevated VIP lounge spot right above the bar. One thing that I love about Beta Nightclub is how they can cool the whole place down with a huge co2 cloud that completely whites out the room. When it gets too hot they shoot out a massive spray of carbon dioxide, it's an exciting and refreshing way to quickly chill out the room.

Fury got things going with a two hour set kicking out the drum and bass jams. He started off with more chill and simple beats, but by the end of his set he had the place fired up. Fury is a Denver junglist with a keen ear for the best drum and bass music. Having Fury set the tone was a perfect way to get the night going.

Next up was Atlanta's own Mayhem, one of the best in the business at producing trap music. Mayhem turned up early in his set with hard hitting beats, and he went hard for the whole hour and a half. Later in the mix Mayhem brought out a friend to rap over the beat for a couple songs adding a little bonus flavor. I am usually very skeptical when it comes to trap producers, but Mayhem continues to amaze me. He is always mixing in new tracks I have never heard before, constantly morphing his set to include the latest and best new music.

Doctor P would close out the night with a naughty dubstep set including all the finest music in the genre. He dropped songs from Datsik, MUST DIE!, Flux Pavilion, and a number of his own bad ass tracks. Doctor P has a clever way of mixing live, he builds up one song while setting up another in his headphones, then right at the drop he switches it up. He rarely plays a song out to the second drop, where the second drop would usually go is exactly when he surprises you with a new one.

Doctor P created a live VIP version of his remix of the Scroobis Pip song "The Struggle" adding extra bass yawns and giving it a new feel using different sounds in the melody. At the end of his set Doctor P made a point to stop about 5 minutes early, this was perfectly planned to get the crowd screaming "One more song!" He knew exactly what he was doing, and he came back out with a perfect encore, "Flying Spaghetti Monster." Just an incredible set from one of the best producers in the industry.





Beta Nightclub is always a destination for big name producers to come and get it poppin off. If you are in the Denver area and haven't been to a show there then you are slacking. They have a massive sound system including four huge Function One speaker towers that pound out the bass proper. Tickets are never too pricey, typically 15-30$, and with some of the big names they bring in it's definitely worth it. Big ups to Fury, Mayhem, and Doctor P for all putting together sicko sets for the people to groove out to.

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[GIVEAWAY] Enter To Win A Pair Of Tickets To Doctor P & Mayhem 1/2 @ Beta Nightclub

What's a better way to celebrate the new year with than a concert? Broke from the holidays you say? Well we've got news for you! This Friday Doctor P takes on Beta Nightclub with direct support from Mayhem and you don't want to miss out. With help from Mayhem we've manage to secure a pair of tickets and we're giving them to you!

Interested in winning? Just follow the simple steps below.

• Like Mayhem & Doctor P on Facebook
• Publicly share the giveaway post on your timeline
• Tag some friends in the comments! 

*Contest Ends 4:20pm Thursday the 1st*

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Enter To Win A Pair Of Tickets To Mayhem & Friends This Friday @ The Works in Detroit, MI

DETROIT, the holidays are quickly approach and WE have tickets for YOU. Ikonic Sound recently teamed up Mayhem and Circle Talent Agency and have a pair of tickets with your name on them!

How do you win you ask? Easy, just follow the steps.

• Like Mayhem & Ikonic Sound on Facebook
• Share the contest post publicly on your timeline
• Tag some friends in the comments!

We are very excited to crown one winner and even more excited for the night. With a stacked lineup, and a headliner to match, I'm sure we're in for a show. Check out Mayhem's recently released original track "Takeoff" below and make sure to grab your copy on Beatport now!

*Contest Ends at 4:20pm Thursday the 18th*

Post by Ikonic Sound.

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Parade of Lasers @ City Hall in Denver (12-21-13) [Review]

A Review By: Justin D'Amico 


Last Saturday was a very bright night for City Hall in Denver. Crowdsurf Concerts put on a huge laser light show for the first ever Parade of Lasers. After a rush of ticket sales at the door the show would eventually sell out. Crowdsurf Concerts does a great job of branding the events with catchy names, like Foam Wonderland, Trapfest, and Apocalectro. Parade of Lasers is sure to be the next branded event from Crowdsurf Concerts.

City Hall is a very unique venue in downtown Denver. The building has two seperate rooms, perfect for events with a second stage. The main room is very tall with 2 tiers of balconies wrapping around the outside of the room. the middle floor balcony transitions between the two concert rooms and the secondary stage is setup on this middle floor, above and beside the main room. In the secondary room you can actually look into the main room, and sliding garage type doors can be opened to combine the two rooms. What really makes the venue one of a kind is the retractable roof in the main room. When the weather is appropriate the ceiling can be opened for ventilation, but this has to be carefully coordinated with noise ordinances. City Hall holds about 2000 people at capacity with all areas opened.

The show would open doors at 7 and local talent would get things going. The second stage featured, EKG, Xenology, Dirty Little Thieves, Tangle, Mr Audity v Deoxy, and Hardphonix v Tonegenerator. The second room was a nice change of pace and genre for the wandering concert goer. The main room opened up with K-Mac and then Decodon on the decks. For the third set Vinnie Maniscalco and Treyy G would battle it out, and pop off a bunch of confetti tubes. The openers did a good job firing up the crowd for the three headliners to feed off of.

First up for the big name producers was Mayhem. He's a killer producer and live DJ with an ear for whats next in music. More and more songs are being made in collaboration with Mayhem. He and Antiserum have a wildly popular song called "Pakistan", and the crowd went crazy when Mayhem dropped it at Parade of Lasers. Mayhem is a really good at crowd control on the microphone too, he always has the people hyped up.

Next in the booth was Bare, another popular producer. Bare was a bit of a switch up from Mayhem, as Bare is more known for a hard dubstep style and Mayhem has made a name for himself as a trap producer. Although both and very well versed in many genres, and for live sets they both showcase a wide variety of styles. Bare is also very good at pumping up the crowd, he likes to go right out by the front row and really get the people to scream.

Borgeous was the closer for Parade of Lasers, and he was accompanied by a completely face melting laser show. Laser Hands, the alias of the former Flux Pavilion Freeway Tour laser operator, was at the controls for an epic laser experience. Just like in the past the best cues were all saved up for a dazzling display during Borgeous' set. Laser hands is a excellent showman, he gradually goes from simple green beams to start off, then into a full color rainbow eyegasm by the end of the show. Borgeous was solid, he played his hits and some other big songs from the EDM scene. All in all the lasers stole the show, and I think that's just fine.

Parade of Lasers was an incredible event with a great crowd and insane laser visuals. Crowdsurf Concerts went all out and in return the place was full. Parade of Lasers was an amazing night and hopefully it will return next year. Check out this recap video of the night from the awesome videographers at Crowdsurf Concerts.

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