The Electro Beach Diaries Part I: Manufactured Superstars, Steve Aoki, Dada Life, & Lazy Rich
There’s “spring break” and then there’s Electro Beach PV. For months we’ve been telling you about Electro Beach, the spring break music festival that’s bringing huge DJs like Avicii, Chuckie, Steve Aoki, and Dada Life to Puerto Vallarta for six weeks of college partying madness. We were lucky enough to take a week off from reality to party south of the border, and were given unfettered access at the clubs and events. We went to crazy venues, saw amazing lighting and sound productions, got to hang out with some awesome DJs — and of course we kept a record of the whole thing. Hopefully you were following us on Twitter or Facebook and got some sneak peeks of some of our Mexican antics, but if not, we are proud to present to you: The Electro Beach diaries.
Night 1: Manufactured Superstars at Strana, March 4th
Having never been to Puerto Vallarta, I had no real expectations of what to expect, but Strana is a venue that can rival the likes of Lavo in New York. Its high ceilings and beautiful chandeliers provided the perfect backdrop for the first real night of my spring break experience. I was impressed by both the club and the production. The Manufactured Superstars delivered an excellent set, opening with a new, as-of-yet-unnamed single. They continued to play a set full of club hits and new tracks alike, and I was surprised and delighted by lesser-played tracks like Tristan Garner’s “Bounce,” and “Pump Up The Jam.”
Brad and Shawn were decked-out in their usual spacesuits, but everyone in attendance could tell that they were into it. Inflatable astronauts were dispersed into the crowd, and similarly-suited dancers flocked the front of the stage. Their set lasted well over two hours, and it was a nonstop roller-coaster with countless bangers and – of course — the Bingo Players’ remix of “Take Me Over.” They also played the Tommy Trash remix of “Ladi Dadi,” as well as “Turbulence,” just to give you an idea of how nuts it really was.
Night 2: Steve Aoki at Xtine, March 5th
There’s just something undeniably wild about a Steve Aoki show. Whether it’s his cake-throwing, crowd surfing, or champagne spraying, he brings a wild, untamed energy to every show and it’s truly something everyone should experience for themselves at some point. Xtine is a circular club with a round dancefloor and LED-ceiling, but all the attention was on Steve — who spent almost as much of the night standing on the DJ booth as he did behind it. A giant inflatable mattress served as his crowd-surfing raft, and everyone in the venue went wild for his unique blend of electro / grungy house. He played “Turbulence,” and his collaboration with Tiesto “Tornado” earlier in the night, while mixing new and old tracks alike as the set progressed.
Tiesto & Steve Aoki – Tornado (Original Mix)
At one point Steve actually took an entire cake and smashed it in the crowd, sending frosting all over the place and providing a few spring breakers a late-night snack. If that’s not a sign of this guy’s insane energy, we don’t know what is. Of course he played classics like “Warp 1.9” and “I’m In The House,” but he also played lesser known tracks like his appropriately-titled “Wake Up.” We eagerly awaited the Tommy Trash remix of his latest track with Wynter Gordon, “Ladi Dadi,” but unfortunately got a different remix instead. It’s okay though, the Manufactured Superstars gave it the airtime it deserved the night before at Strana. Also, shoutout to DJ Spek for delivering a solid opening set to keep everyone dancing.
Night 3: Lazy Rich and Dada Life at Strana, March 6th
We’re all too familiar with Dada Life and their crazy antics, and when you combine lots of bananas, lots of champagne, and lots of college kids on spring break, you’re practically asking for madness. We arrived on the later side, just in time to enjoy a surprisingly solid set from someone we don’t get to see often enough: Lazy Rich. Highlights included the enjoyable “Close To Me” from Benny Benassi and Gary Go and the Bingo Players’ “Mush Mush.” He played a cool bootleg of “Save The World” and Steve Aoki’s “Warp 1.9,” before dropping Tommy Trash’s “Cascade” and “Sending My Love.”
Tommy Trash – Cascade (Original Mix)
As if Rich’s set wasn’t high energy enough, Olle and Stefan took to Strana’s backlit DJ booth around 2AM and kicked things off with a bang — their latest and greatest, “Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker.” The vocal version of “Calling” was a surprising departure from the usual hard electro synths that categorize the Dada experience, but they got right back to bangers with “Tung” and a repeat play of “Sending My Love.” The Bingo Players got more love with “Rattle,” but it was an awesome bootleg of “One” with the “Cookies With a Smile” acapella that had us really into the moment.
Dada Life – Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker (Vocal Mix)
They also played the Swedish House Mafia bootleg of “Bullet” with “Promises” and “I Love You So,” which was a highlight… But then they followed it up with “Cotton Eyed Turbulence.” (You may remember that they dropped this one back at Lavo a few months back — and we’re still not into it.) The set ended with an encore play of “Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker,” which was a fitting way to end a night of madness and loud, hard synths. Dada Life and Lazy Rich made a great team the entire night, and it was one we were still hurting from the next morning.
Check out all the photos on Facebook and stay tuned for Part II with Avicii, Laidback Luke, and Matt Goldman tomorrow!
Categories: Music