The first annual Goldrush Festival AZ blew all expectations out of the water. In the desert of Phoenix, Arizona, was the place where the magic blossomed when the bass rumbled! Rawhide Western Town was taken over by epic festival production, which was put together by the Arizona based company, Relentless Beats and Global Dance, who is based in Colorado. This collaboration of powerful production companies resulted in an experience in the desert that absolutely blew my mind! Calling to all different types of electronic music lovers with artists such as, Claude VonStroke and his Bird House stage, Excision, Marshmello, RL Grime, Drezo, San Holo and many more. Goldrush Festival mashed the electronic music with some revered rap and hip-hop artists like Migos, Snow Tha Product, Flatbush Zombies, $uicideboy$, Rich Chigga and many more! This blend of different music combined perfectly to radiate the ultimate party atmosphere in the desert where sand was kicked up by people raging and that only made the production look that much more epic!
First off, the crowd and audience at Goldrush Festival was absolutely top notch! Nothing but the best of vibes and people just wanting to party hardy, or as some say, get scwhifty! From some of the gnarliest selection of totems that I have seen, to ravers who shuffled for hours on end, to straight headbangers. The crowd at Goldrush Festival was a melting pot of people that curated one of the dankest moments of the weekend. Goldrush had the vibes on points, along with top of the line production with JBL Sound that shook the ground and crisp LED Screens and lighting rigs! On top of that, they had booked some of the biggest names in the scene, along with popular up and coming artists to throw down at a Western Themed event, which came out to be an absolutely EPIC experience! Each artist had their own unique style that created special moments for oh so many that will last a lifetime, but for us at The Chronic Electronic, these are our 7 Dankest Moments from Goldrush Festival.
1: Excision
What would you expect when you bring Excision for a special performance at a festival full of Excision’s Headbangers? Absolute CHAOS! That is exactly what happened on Saturday when the main stage was absolutely packed full of dedicated headbangers. Excision had thrown down one of the gnarliest sets that I have seen in my multiple times seeing him. This was a special performance indeed with classic tracks mixed in, incredible visuals, and he dabbled with his track “Africa” two separate times in his set, the first was a complete mix-up and the second was Original. (Video of Excision tossing down Africa can be seen at this link.) Excision blew all expectations out of the water and because of that, he was one of the dankest moments at Goldrush Festival. Check out a clip from him ending out his set below!
2: Ghastly
Arizona born and one of the prodigies for the electronic scene in the west, Ghastly made Goldrush Fest go on a crazy musical adventure! Dabbling with his bass house, dubstep, trap, and bass music, Ghastly made sure that his return to the desert was well deserved. Tossing down groovy bass tracks with an absolute filthy ending to his legendary his set. Ghastly put up a performance that literally made goosebumps crawl up my skin and with his one of a kind sound and style, Ghastly was another moment that was completely mesmerizing!
3: Habstrakt
Filthy French bass house and dubstep artist Habstrakt threw down a relentless set on opening day at 2:35. Not holding back at all, he took us through his unique sound production with several upcoming releases and classics that made his name known. Such as “Chicken Soup”, “Clowns”, and many more. On top of that, he opened up his set with his fantastic remix of DJ Snake‘s “4 life” (another French producer.) As soon as I heard that, I knew it was just going to be a crazy set and that it was. Check out some of the mayhem below.
4: Rezz
Space Mom abducted some souls that night. Playing her dark and heavy electro, Rezz took over the main stage right at dusk leading into nightfall. Playing a plethora of her classic tracks, a couple upcoming tracks, and an unreleased monster of a track, Rezz blew the Goldrush apart with her creative sound production and gnarly visuals! The Cult of Rezz was hella present at the festival with dedicated fans scattered throughout the crowd there was nothing but the best of vibes! Being at the heart of the crowd for this performance almost made it feel as if we were all one just getting our souls ripped out to her ominous music. She will always have a performance that leaves you just standing around like, what just happened? And that is one hell of a dank moment!
5: Malaa
Confession: Malaa was one of the coolest moments at Goldrush Festival. Not only does the anonymous look add a unique factor, but the absolutely gnarly music production behind the mask is what does it. “It’s all about the house music… It’s a spiritual thing…What house music means to me, house music is a healer, when you don’t feel good inside. House music is something that keeps you up when you are feeling down, and can’t no party feel steal your joy on the dance floor, once the music takes over you.” Truth. End of Confession. (Click the link here to view a mix up of his song, Bylina, which is the song the quotes are from, or watch the performance below of the original song below.
6: Flatbush Zombies
Bringing this OG group of talented rappers to Goldrush Festival was an absolute blessing and honor. These guys are legends and deserve such recognition! Coming from the streets of a region of Brooklyn, NY called Flatbush, these group came together to share thoughts creatively and fluently! With only an hour to their set (and having that cut down on time because of some difficulties from the audio technicians), they had to really hustle through their music. They tossed down classics and upcoming tracks that have yet to be released on their upcoming album. All three of the MC’s are all so talented but with their own style which comes together for wonderful word structure and flow. Ending out the festival on Sunday Night, Flatbush Zombies was the perfect way to put an “end” to the event. With prime time music and blunt after blunt and some dab pen rips, this performance was one hell of a dank moment. Preaching marijuana in their set with so much support in the crowd, it was an absolutely beautiful sight to see. We support the stance for nation-wide legalization (should be worldwide but we won’t go into that) and with the movement growing stronger and artists like Flatbush Zombies, making their voice heard in front of big crowds, we couldn’t be happier to see the all-natural getting good recognition.
7: Goldrush Festival After hours w/ Oona Dahl, Mija, GG. Margee, Ghastly, Justin Jay, and San Holo
Last but not least, and unfortunately only for the people who are 18+ and attended the after party Sunday Night at the Rawhide Event Center; the epic b2b2b2b2b of, Mija, GG. Margee, Ghastly, Justin Jay, and San Holo. What was originally planned for a performance of Oona Dahl and Mija turned into the ultimate get down of gnarly underground music. Kicked it off with deep house and into a filthy dubstep and trap end, this b2b grew from Mija by her self, to GG. Margee joining, then Ghastly, and so on and so forth. This epic blend of music took everyone by surprise and with a solid 1 and a half hours to play, they dabbled through tons of music, including Justin Jay tossing down Space Jam at the very very end. Nothing but solid and positive party vibes from after party and because it was on the same grounds and easy access after the festival, the Superstitions after-party was one of the most memorable moments of the event.
Check out our photo gallery of the event here