ABSTRACT FESTIVAL 2010: TONS of Videos & Recaps

What a night! I think I may have just finally recovered from the nightlong and into the wee hours within the EDM haven that was Abstract Festival.

It’s hard to summarize into some cliff-hanger introduction. You’ll just have to check it out for yourself. It was really just an incredible night, simply put.

VIDEOS RECAPS PHOTOS MORE! After the jump

Kicking off into the night were Justin Baulé and one of our local favs Jon Dadon who enveloped the crowds in their deep, mesmerizing tech house beats while David Kim took to the main stage lighting the arena up with your always welcomed club bangers.

Next on the main decks, Skrillex took control and immediately started drillin’ the crowds with bass-laden drops and zero restraints.

Following such an epic performance, I have no doubts about Skrillex’s eminent ascent to the top of the DJsphere in little to no time from now in the near future. Definitely keep Skrillex on your sonic radar as he is one of those party-time masterminds that knows how to crank up the rambunctious energy and stir up the massive crowds!

Just look at this guy! Instigating the formation of a dance circle! I grew up listening to punk music and going to live shows, so this moment kinda touched my heart. A little piece of home right there, being stomped on by a fury of battlers – I fucking love it.

Claude VonStroke, fresh out of the Big Apple from Electric Zoo Festival this past weekend, was also dropping twisted aural benders, reverberating deep electronic waves off into the crowd, leaving them in a state of pure entrancement.

OK so brace yourselves: I may have gone a weeeeeeeeeeeee bit overboard in the Rusko video coverage. HOWEVER, once you see for yourselves how unbelievably insane his set at Abstract Fest was (and how close I actually got to be to him during his set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) you’ll see why I simply couldn’t help myself.

OMG watch at least to the one minute mark of this clip for some seriously epic moves from the master himself. YES.

What a machine.

OK and I’m sorry but I’m really proud of this video in particular so please watch it. It is so unbelievably rad I’m choked up a bit.

And of course, had to capture the all out of reign of dubstep mayhem in the form of “Woo Boost“ that never fails to ensue just all out kinetic insanity onto the dancefloor. And this is a pretty on point depiction of that utter chaos if I do say so myself!

Onto another Mad Decent obsession of mine, MAJOR LAZER took the stage with no less than a robustly vibrant and highly dynamic presence that we have all come to love and expect from Major Lazer’s eye-popping, jaw-dropping and sexually overt live performances!

This video makes me laugh every time I watch it. Notice how concentrated Diplo is on DJing despite the fact that there is a 180 degree inverted booty shakin’ half-naked girl literally inches away from his computer! LOL

You can’t discuss Major Lazer without giving a little love to their wildly adored and obsessively remixed track “Pon De Floor“. I also cannot justify writing this piece and not including this video. For all of you out there still scratching your heads when I make a reference to “daggering”, this clip should help to answer all of your questions. If anything it will make an inappropriately graphic tool in case you want to side step having that “birds and the bees” conversation with your children. Or if you want to get fired from your desk job on the spot* (*this counts as a fair warning: NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK).

Never say never. At least that’s these guys said to themselves when they were brainstorming ways to make onstage dry humping just that more magical. And good for them for having the courage to make the ascent up a 15-foot ladder, drop pant, and make the plunge into one of the most admirable displays of truly enthusiastic lust and taking the term “aerial assault” to new explicit heights. Or at least re-interpreting the phrase “make love, not war” with thoughtful articulated innuendos — in true to porn form. No one can deny that “daggering” is certainly a gratuitously evolving art form.

Meanwhile, on the opposite stage located in the more darkened entrenches of the San Diego sports Arena, Excision was unleashing his fully-loaded arsenal of razor-sharp daggers of his own, in the form of cranking dubstep drops, fully engorged with unrelenting whomp and brain-bubbling wobble.

Check out this unbelievable clip as Excision is joined on stage by not only fellow dubstep machine 12th Planet, who was just simply hanging out and supporting his crew following his show at The House of Blues with Le Castle Vania the night before, but Skrillex joined the stomping forces behind the decks as well.

As a veteran to the San Diego Sports Arena, having thrown down an absolutely massive closing performance at RESET festival just this past June, Steve Duda tore through with sonic bursts of aural grinders holding nothing back.

Closing out the night on the main stage was none other than Designer Drugs, who shut down the party in nothing less than absolute aural thrashing fashion.

With an absolutely bright enthusiasm for EDM from the beginning to end, coupled with a surprisingly controlled vibe throughout the crowd, this event was an undeniable success in my mind. The production and lighting was on point, it was organized in a sense where it wasn’t an absolute mission to go back and forth stage to stage, and it had a sense of a familiarity that I haven’t ever felt before at a massive. Typically at other events, DJs and performers are usually in n’out: spending as little time as necessary at the events and disappearing as soon as their set is over. But unlike the usual routine, Abstract was quite opposite of that: as a unabashed electronic dance music enthusiast, it was really just so exciting to see the DJs sticking around and supporting one another.

I personally saw both Diplo and Rusko, physically present and watching each others’ and other DJs’ sets. while Skrillex joined other DJs on stage during their sets to help them rally up the crowds. Even 12th Planet, who wasn’t even scheduled to perform that night decided to stick around in San Diego from his show the night before, and just came out to check out the event just for the fun of it and to support his fellow deckmasters. I believe only in San Diego could such a laid back atmosphere exist. Even dialogue between fans and DJs backstage didn’t feel so “groupie”- or “fandom”-ish. As a matter of fact, you could point to instances where both Claude VonStroke and Steve Duda were comfortably engaged in long conversations with fans, lacking that forced-formality or brusque superficiality you might witness in similar interactions elsewhere.

Abstract Festival was an awesome event, that was not only a highly enjoyable experience to attend but it’s an event that’s even more important in the grander scheme of things. In our local development of the dance community and nurturing the upward growth of enthusiasm for the electronic dance music genre, a massive undertaking like Abstract Festival is necessary for demonstrating San Diego’s growing presence on a national scale — as a city ready for the forward-thinking sounds that have already caught on worldwide. As a city, San Diego is evolving, and to facilitate it’s growth, San Diego has certainly proved it is ready and positively eager for the heavy infiltration of electronic music.

I don’t think I’m only speaking for myself when I say this but: I can’t wait for the next round, already set to go down on March 5th, 2011 — in the form of Radius Festival.

By: TD
Photos By Heist & Co.; Accent Creative