With a mammoth crowd on hand, Friday’s opening-day volley of electronic music at Belknap Park delivered hill-rattling bass and awe-inspiring sets. The recap, photos and a video at Local Spins.
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It was an opening night electronic music fans will long remember.
Beach balls and bubbles fired from bubble guns danced into the sky as a slight breeze kept sweeping over Grand Rapids’ Belknap Park on Friday.
The crowd in front of the main stage for Breakaway Music Festival grew throughout the day, with bodies bobbing, hands swaying in the air. By the end of the night, a sea of thousands of tightly packed festivalgoers sang and danced to the entrancing magic of headliner Tiësto.
He didn’t disappoint.
Tiësto’s transition from his seminal hit, “The Business” into a reboot of DaHool’s “Meet Her at the Love Parade” ranked as one of the best mid-set energy lifts that Local Spins columnist Todd Ernst said he’d ever experienced.
“With almost surgical precision, he took throngs of attendees on a synth-drenched journey of hits old and new alike,” Ernst asserted. “Definitely a set West Michigan will be talking about for years to come.”
Other highlights from Day 1 via writer Robert Novak:
• Evan Giia – Considering it was just 5 p.m., Evan Giia attracted quite the crowd to the main stage for her electro house pop performance. Teasing songs from her upcoming album, she caught the attention of almost everyone at Breakaway and held onto it until the end of the set. Evan Giia’s performance was raw, encouraging and real, with an upbeat EDM flair.
• RL Grime – You could feel the bass in your chest from the back of the hill at Belknap Park the second RL Grime entered the stage. With a kaleidoscopic light show behind him, the 32-year-old California DJ performed a big room trap set that got the crowd bouncing. Sampling songs from Bastille, Kanye West and others, RL Grime added his techno spin and left the Breakaway audience in awe.
One of those audience members, Mark Johnson of Grand Rapids, said Breakaway simply was an event not to miss.
“It’s in my backyard now, so I have to see what the city has to offer,” Johnson said.
Added fan Sean Hunter: “When I saw Porter Robinson was on the lineup I knew I had to buy my tickets. It’s a great time and a perfect view from the top of the hill.”
Porter Robinson, Deadmau5, Knock2, Jessie Murph, Lowke, Christian French and more are on the bill for today (Saturday), with Choff kicking things off at 3 p.m. One-day passes are $104, available online here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Breakaway Music Festival, Day 1
Photos by Anthony Norkus
VIDEO: Breakaway Music Festival, Day 1
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