#Beyond wonderland california free

While the Wide Awake Art Car was front and center upon entering the gates, it was the Beyond Wench that stole the show for me at the festival this year. Hosted at the megastructure that many have come to love over the years, it featured an impressive array of production elements that simply blew me away.

While the Caterpillar’s Garden pumped out tunes from some of the top names in the trance scene and the Queen’s Domain came to life with a diverse range of artists, the Mad Hatter’s Castle drew my attention. As darkness fell over Wonderland the lights began to turn on and the stages became even more powerful than before. The energy at Beyond Wonderland SoCal was electric, even if it started to get a bit chilly when the sun went down. Photo Credit: Carlos Lopez / Sincerity Photos But I didn’t just sit at one stage the entire time on the first day, I also did plenty of exploring and even stumbled upon quite the surprise. It was quite a statement to see him pack the stage to capacity seeing as it was just a year ago that I first caught him playing on the Wide Awake Art Car in the rain. The most impressive artist for the takeover, to me at least, was i_o. Building through the night, they also brought standouts like No Mana and Feed Me, who have both been riding high off their recent releases, and closed the takeover with a TESTPILOT set as well. Starting with beats from artists like monstergetdown and ATTLAS, the mau5trap crew really put together a night of house and techno that I won’t soon forget. Photo Credit: Carlos Lopez / Sincerity Photos Acting as my unofficial home base for the first night, the Cheshire Woods brought some of the best artists that mau5trap has to offer. My crew and I took in the first looks at the world of Beyond SoCal and then immediately headed to the Cheshire Woods stage to catch some of the action during the mau5trap takeover. Once I passed through the gates, a wave of emotion flooded over me as the feelings of being home returned once again.

In fact, the only thing that slowed me down was the Lunchbox I rocked to the event, and that’s because the zippers on the bag are hidden. On both days of the festival, I was blessed to not have any negative encounters or hiccups on the way in. Much like any event, security can be an entirely hit or miss experience. Photo Credit: Ivan Meneses Regardless of the festival at the NOS Events Center, when I see the stages peaking above the gates on festival grounds I always get some pre-event butterflies.

#Beyond wonderland california free

Arriving as early as possible to the NOS Events Center is always key if you’re looking to score a spot in the closest free parking, and within moments I was on my approach to the festival gates. After having sat in some ridiculous traffic on the way up from San Diego I was more than ready to get to raving. Featuring brands like mau5trap and Dreamstate, along with plenty of artists that I’ve fallen in love with over the years, all that was left to see would be if Insomniac could deliver another memorable experience.įlash forward to the day of the event. In fact, I had a feeling it was going to be a good year before the lineup for the festival dropped, and when it did I was over the moon with excitement. Giving those who found the different cards a taste of the musical madness that was in store, they set the community ablaze by showing that artists like deadmau5, Seven Lions, Lil Texas, and more would be playing this year. The hype surrounding Beyond Wonderland SoCal this year picked up early on as “Beyond Cards” were discovered in the aftermath of the alien invasion at Countdown.

Having battled against torrential downpours that put the term “rain or shine” to the test, moving their home between the NOS Events Center and San Manuel and back, and more, one thing that has become clear is that Beyond Wonderland SoCal is a festival that continues to thrive against all odds. The latest edition of Beyond Wonderland SoCal paired a diverse lineup with high-end production to create another stunner of a trip down the rabbit hole.Īlthough it’s one of Insomniac’s flagship brands, the story of Beyond Wonderland in Southern California is definitely not standard.