Spring Awakening Music Festival (SAMF) marked it’s birth year last weekend as some of the world’s top DJs and producers took to Chicago’s legendary Soldier Field to tear the house down with thousands of EDM fans. So it’s no question that we had to round up the biggest crew we could, dress as loud as possible, and go rage face to an EDM lineup that rivals some of the biggest festivals this summer.

Day 1

Krewella

Day 1 started out absolutely gorgeous, if not a bit hot. Pre-festival drinks were had at Quay for Chicago’s House Brunch before setting off in school buses for a big kids field trip. Krewella was the first set we caught at SAMF and it was a banger! I knew Krewella would rock the house, especially with some of the recent love they’ve had on the blogosphere. And they really brought it, guns blazing.

3LAU, Downlink, A-Trak, and Dillon Francis

The great thing about listening to multiple DJs in a row versus a live band is that one DJ can literally set up while the other closes. And this means 0 down time between sets. As far as scheduling goes, SAMF was pretty spot on. The next 4-5 hours were a blur of fantastic sets ranging from a bit of house and electro to dubstep with 3LAU, Downlink, A-Trak, and Dillon Francis. A-Trak tore up the main stage before heading over and listening to Dillon Francis from the side of the stage, rocking out to his opening act for the Spring Awakening after party at Congress Theater (A-Trak, Dillon Francis, Kill The Noise).

Porn and Chicken

For a lot of people, the 9:00 set was an easy choice for Benny Bennassi. But the Porn and Chicken dance crew is one of Chicago’s best known party crowds, and it wouldn’t have been in our spirit not to support Chicago homegrown EDM. And while they had some top names to compete with at the late hour, the crowd that did show up had an amazing show put on for them.

Skrillex

This was the 4th time I’ve seen Skrillex, and the 3rd time in a festival. His sets are always a little different depending on where you hear him, and while he absolutely slayed Soldier Field, it was a similar set to what he played at Bonnaroo a week earlier. Not to mention the rain began to fall Saturday night, drenching thousands of EDM dancers. And while we were lucky enough to have a car at the parking garage across the street, people were waiting up to 45 minutes in the rain for a cab home or to one of the after shows.

And while Skrillex’s set at SAMF might have been a little rehearsed, his performance at The Mid for the after show was absolutely great. Spinning until 3 am, Sonny dropped some different jams for all the lucky patrons who managed to get out of the rain and into the wobble.

Check out this video one concert goer took of a new track he played at the festival. From what I can tell, it’s a Birdy Nam Nam remix of “Goin In.”

Day 2

Shermanology

If there was one group that really caught my attention and totally surprised the hell out of me, it was Shermanology. This trio of family members had a prime set catching all the pre-NERVO buildup and they absolutely tore the house down opening for the twins.

NERVO

Beside Flux Pavilion, these gorgeous twin producers were perhaps my second favorite set of the weekend. If you’ve never seen or heard of NERVO, it’s time you get your head in the game and grab some of their amazing music! Not only can these chicks produce some bangarang music, but they can sing, look good, and tear the house down all at the same time. They played all their great hits, including a new track entitled something like “Back Home” (can’t really remember the name) plus “You’re Gonna Love Again” and “We’re All No One.”

Milk N’ Cookies

Another Chicago staple in the EDM scene, it’s only fitting that these two young twin producers should play after NERVO. We’ll call it #Twinning. These brothers are on the rise, already having played Summer Camp this year, and rumors abound that they may be at Lollapalooza, too. Keep an ear out for Milk N’ Cookies in the future, they’re on their way and making some big moves.

Green Velvet and Carl Cox

I hadn’t listened to much of Green Velvet before SAMF but had the chance to catch them on the way into Carl Cox. While he played a good set, I’m not into the heavy trance scene as much and was content sitting in the stands while my batteries recharged for a hot minute. It didn’t take long to get moving afterward, however, as Carl Cox went on next.

After watching Carl Cox’s set from Ultra this year, it’s a bit hard to compare the rest of his shows at smaller venues. But nonetheless, the 80’s rave DJ got the crowd grooving with his trance-infused house music that set the perfect tone for the rest of the evening.

Flux Pavilion

Flux Pavilion was probably the set I was looking forward to most this weekend. There’s just nothing like dancing to “I Can’t Stop” to football stadium-sized speakers in the same place where hundreds of professional athletes have given touchdown performances themselves.

Wolfgang Gartner

Wolfgang‘s set was a blur of lights and sound from the front row pit. While some people I talked to complained his set was to ‘commercial,’ others found his set to be nothing short of amazing. I was especially pleased to hear him spin his remix of Miike Snow’s “Paddling Out” while I attempted to bump and grind my way out of the enormous crowd that built up around Da Equinox stage.

Moby and Afrojack

I didn’t catch much of Moby except for the very end of his set. But from what I listened to, it sounded as though he tore the roof of Soldier Field (pretend it had a roof in the first place). With a smash ending standing on top of his decks, Moby had the crowd on the tip of their toes going into Afrojack.

There’s really not much to say about Afrojack at this point. You know he’s going to put on a good show and his closing set was a perfect ending to a great weekend at Spring Awakening. Of course he played all his biggest hits, including the massive “Take Over Control” and “Kickstart” before heading over to The Mid and throwing down for a more intimate set that ran well into Sunday night.

Overall, Spring Awakening was a huge success for it’s first run in Chicago. They’re were obvious first year hiccups with security, stage confusions, and problems with VIP areas suddenly shutting down (which I’m still salty about SAMF!) But otherwise React Presents, and everyone else who helped put on this festival, deserves a big round of applause. As Chicago’s first all EDM music festival, there’s only room to grow bigger and better and we all look forward to raging at Soldier Field again next year.

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