all words: Marcus Dowling and Logan Donaldson
all photos: Kevin Hulse
disclaimer: FALL MASSIVE was so, well, massive we sent not one but two reviewers to cover it. Plus, Kevin had 1800 photos to edit from this. Enjoy the fruits of their labor below.
REVIEW BY LOGAN:
DJs unearth good music so you don't have to. Festivals collect beautiful and bizarre peer groups from any given tri-state area to celebrate music (they also gift us corndogs, turkey legs, and $7 Heineken). Fall Massive, an electronic music festival in RFK Stadium's Lot 8, huddled a cadre of DJs and their raver acolytes under four huge tents until the word "epic!" rippled through each mouth in the wall-to-wall crowd.
Usually "epic" is a description that should be reserved for wars started over Helena of Troy, but in this case the hackneyed adjective is a snug fit to describe what transpired Saturday night. For eight straight hours, fifty four DJs nudged tempos to peak intensity. Tension mounted in perfect measurements, and when breaks and releases broke out something like a seismic event rattled the masses into full body freak-outs and ecstatic dancing. Any anxiety over Thanksgiving's caloric glut was soothed by the fact that each sweaty, burned out body limped away ragged but smirking in the afterglow of something like a runner's high, the brain's reward for achieving maximum aerobic effort.
Fall Massive didn't allot a ton of stylistic variety. There were heaps of hard house sets, a smattering of nu-disco tunes, and mashups and edits of classic dance tracks. If you wanted a dose of garage, trance, or IDM ("Intelligent" Dance Music, an ambiguous and pretentious genre title if there ever was one), then you'd have to enjoy the likes of Four Tet, Autechre, and Aphex Twin in the comfort of your own headphones. The largest offering was dubstep. Lord-god there was a lot of dubstep.
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we do have a great war of dubstep. We have a great revolution within music. The great dubstep war is our lives." - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, from his book "Dubstepnoodle Soup for the Teenage Soul."
It's hard to think of a more controversial topic in the world of music than dubstep. It's like the Birther issue of electronic music. Deniers are incredulous that such a genre exists, constantly begging questions of legitimacy and taste. Fans of dubstep either deflect the criticism with serenity, or, as evidenced by arguments plaguing the internet, they can germinate an emotionally heated defense. It's the closest thing to a piece of polemic that electronic music has experienced in quite some time. Me? Well, I'll let 29th President of the United States William Howard Taft speak for me when he said,"I am large, I contain multitudes." I'm love/hate with it. My experience in the "Dub Nation" tent was mixed. Some of it was embarrassingly bad, while Skream & Benga's set was some of the best 2 hours of electronic music I've ever experienced.
So, let's get started on this journey to the end of the night. Be sure to hydrate, and if you like to party, ready your pacifiers, tiger balm, and glow sticks:
Nixsin - 4:00 p.m. - Two dreadlocked men stand atop the the elevated DJ platform. One spins reggae tinged dubstep breaks. The other offers up evil raps, swirling up a paranoid party atmosphere. It's hard to hear what he's rapping, but it sounds dark, like he might be rhyming about embalming techniques or medieval Christianity. Crowds are sparse, though it's inspiring to see small clusters of people dancing hardcore from the get-go.
Malphunktion - 4:30 p.m. - The reggae theme continues as I step into the Euphoric Kingdom tent. Malphunktion is playing a dub remix of Manu Chao's "Bongo Bong," and I wish it would play forever; amazing song, amazing remix. But as 8th President of the United States Martin Van Buren said, "Nothing gold can stay." The density of the crowd drips in slowly increasing increments. Certain sartorial themes of rave culture emerge. Animal heads make ideal hats, the sort that a Native American shaman might don, for example a grizzly bear head with long ropes of fur dangling down like long sideburns. There are also several panda and Pikachu heads bobbing in the crowd.
Elemental - 4:50 p.m. - Ultraworld Pavilion tent. I'm approached by a young couple handing out glow sticks. They smile and don't say anything as they offer handfuls of neon tubes to anyone willing to accept them. They're a sort of neo-hippie, spreading good will and evangelizing their culture in the process. A dirty remix of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" rages over the towering walls of speakers. Young women dressed in lingerie – fishnet stockings, underwear betexted with ass mantras (SEXY; LOVE; RAVE), and bras – are noticeable characters in the crowd.
Certain flourishes aiming to be ostentatious as possible distinguish them from other girls: intense neon fabrics, tutus, arms weighed down with sleeves of rainbow bead necklaces, Ziggy Stardust-esque streaks of face paint, body glitter, and boots that look like the bottom of woolly mammoth feet. If you've ever been to Glow or Fur in DC, then you've seen these slightly surreal looking, unshy ladies dancing on tables and in cages. They arrive in caravan-loads every five minutes.
Bassdread - 5:05 p.m. - I put in my earplugs. The decibel level is so loud that the little tubules of foam seem as essential as a bullet proof vest to a SWAT commandánt. How many memories and potential ideas of the security staff near the sub-woofers are being aborted by waves of unbearable volume? Bassdread, the second act in a row at the Dub Nation tent featuring a dreadlocked duo, have guttural "Yaaahhh-yaaaahhh" dubstep drops and are followed by more typical, squelchy wobbles laced with vocal snippets. They play a blush-inducing dubstep remix of Coldplay's "The Scientist." I want to be transported to a fantasy land where such mistakes aren't made. However the crowd mostly laps it up, evinced by all the fists hammering away in the air when the WUBWUBWUBWUB's drop and Chris Martin's voice is frazzled in static.
2Rip - 5:30 p.m. - Magical Kingdom tent. The stage has a wooden castle for a DJ booth. Buttresses, banners, facsimile stone masonry, strobes! lasers! – magical! The crowd has swelled to levels where entries and exits turn into obstacle courses made of bodies. The stage end of the room is people-packed. Toward the back, rave performers swing blue neon orbs attached to strings in intricate curlicues and arabesques that make the open mouth observers encircling them drool and stare with glassy-eyed wonder. 2Rip's set is house with progressive tempo shifts. None of the songs are identifiable. I realize I'd need to inhabit Beatport, Hype Machine, and Soundcloud 24/7 if I were to successfully translate setlists. These days I listen to power ballad playlists on Spotify so I've got some catching up to do.
Fort Knox Five - 6:00 p.m. - The DJs transition from one set to the next are unannounced save for the projector screens lit up with monikers and DJ names. Fort Knox Five, a DC based collective, doesn't waste time building intensity. They begin on a balls-to-the-wall plateau and don't let up. FN5 kick off their set with a remix of Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At" and later break with a playful clip of AC/DC's Thunderstruck riff before hammering back into dance music. They sprinkle their set with funk and reggae to round things out with a little variety. Five people in the corner of the room bounce a balloon up and down with more passion and intensity than anything I've ever attempted in my entire life. Were they illicitly dosed or do they just burn with a lust for life? Rooms thin and refill every ten minutes as groups treat Fall Massive as a giant, interconnected carousel of big top dance halls.
Mighty Fools - 6:30 p.m. - Female dancers begin to populate each stage. In a hub of trailers backstage the dancers emerge dressed thematically in duos or trios. Some look like Princess Leia-esque belly dancers, others like demented-but-sexy incarnations from Alice in Wonderland, while others are just uncreatively alluring in skin tight clothes. I first notice them from a distance. All I can see 80 yards away is cleavage, the outlines of fit, oiled-up bodies, asses jiggling like Jello bowls, contortionist stretching, and shiny straight manes of hair.
I can't tell if they're actually attractive outside of their ample secondary sex traits, but the intended advertisement that the party on stage is a Crazy Sexy Good Time is in full effect. I snap back to reality and listen to the Mighty Fools set which hops between tribal house to springy sounds (samples onomatopoetic with boi-yoy-yoing effects) and then to unidentifiable party anthems.
Bare - 7:00 p.m. Back in the Dub Nation tent. The dubstep wobbles are dirty, industrial, and almost non-stop. Bare begins his set with 8-bit renditions of classical pieces that are suddenly fucked up into jackhammering, piledriving dubstep breaks. It's doesn't conform to my tastes because it abuses the effect rather than employed in tasteful moderation. But once again my own reaction is betrayed by popular opinion: a sea of people joyously lose their shit. It's interesting to watch people dance to dubstep. Some seem to have seizure-like reactions, hopping, skipping, crossing legs, jittering their arms, and headbanging in the confines of a 3 foot radius. Bare's dubstep style is like heavy metal– aggressive, angry, and invitational to slam dancing.
Mord Fustang - 7:20 p.m. - I hear Duck Sauce's "Big Bad Wolf" for the first of many times. Major Lazer gets multiple plays, but no band gets references more...
Lazy Rich - 7:45 p.m. - ...than rave gods The Prodigy. Lazy Rich dashes through some hip-hip (Diamond K's "Bmore Bitches") and eventually settles into a vocal edit from "Funky Shit," by The Prodigy.
Zed's Dead - 8:05 p.m. - More abrasive dubstep. The breaks come hard and intense, stuffed with millisecond glitches stuck on repeat. People are head banging and crowd surfing. Zed's Dead is the first, to my knowledge, to blare out some Watch The Throne. "Niggaz In Paris" sounds off and it stimulates a massive reaction from the crowd.
Bad Boy Bill - 8:30 p.m. - I sit down to rest and begin people watching, the second best thing about music festivals. I either see the most beautiful girl I've ever seen (until the next one tops her 5 minutes later) or the weirdest choice of costume this side of Halloween; I'm either lost in reverie, imagining my marriage with each girl 15 years in the future where she's in the kitchen slicing onions and I'm bouncing our twins on my knee, or I'm dumbstruck by a guy that's dressed like a homeless person with a sense of humor, all colorful rags and nonsensical shouting. Bad Boy Bill plays "We Are Your Friends" by Justice Vs. Simian and Benny Benassi's "Close To Me." The chilly night air serves as a pacifying coolant to the bodies working up a sweat.
Calverton - 8:45 p.m. - Finally, some nu-disco: rubbery synth lines, funky bass, and percussion happy with hi-hat ratatats and big, swollen beats. The only problem is the ADHD impulse to keep moving and see what's going on in the other tents. Calverton has a sparse crowd, likely because ravers are spilling into the tent where Skream and Benga are about to play. Or maybe they've gone to queue up for the Martin Solveig-Diplo-Armand van Helden triple bill. Either way I feel remorseful for retreating from a set I really dig in favor of Skream and Benga.
Skream and Benga - 9:00 p.m. - Goodbye guilt. Skream and Benga are the first act given 2 hours playing time, and thank goodness for that. They have a dreadlocked (now a bonafide theme in the Dub Nation tent) hype man to rap and toast between songs, making sure that the crowd throws their hands up and participates in call and response. I'm privy to Skream and Benga's form of dubstep because it's driven by staccato, two-step beats and often sweetened by uninterrupted pop structures. It wasn't until deep into their set that they resorted to frequent dirty dub wobbles.
Skream and Benga put on a immensely fun set, full of variety (is that Drum 'n' Bass I hear?) and unexpected transitions. The mood always has a spooky edge to it, but there's never any doubt that it's made for partying. Between a host of Skream's singles and Benga switches, the most crowd pleasing moment is probably a rendition of Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up." Rather than immediately swinging for the fences with any dubstep breaks, they teased out the intensity of the wobbles and tremors. To me, they had a perfect grasp on the tension/release aspect of not only each song, but an entire 120 minute set – certainly not an easy feat, even for a professional.
Jesse Tittsworth - 9:45 p.m. - I'm flummoxed over the decision to leave Skream and Benga's set. But I'm glad I do, and still manage to make it back in time for the duo's final 20 minutes. In the meantime I want to show some love to DC DJ hero Tittsworth. He garners the attention of seemingly every other writer and photographer. The DJ platform seems more like a parade float with all the dancers, friends and documentarians crowding out the stage's limited real estate.
Tittsworth puts on one of the more playful sets of the night. His beats have a significant B'more club influence and are spiked with gleeful synth abstractions. One song has a verse loop composed entirely of maniacal laughing while a minimalist bass drum thuds heavy. Cuts like Crookers' "Dr. Gonzo" only contribute to the absurdity, and a brief sampling of Watch The Throne's "Who Gon Stop Me" whips up the crowd's enthusiasm.
Martin Solveig - 10:45 p.m. - It's a joy to watch Solveig's set. For a guy whose meteoric rise is almost entirely on the back of his single "Hello" ft. Dragonette, he seems to relish each positive crowd reaction, and makes sure to speak with any fan that approaches him backstage. He concludes his set with the saccharine "Hello," but other highlights include his single "Big In Japan," Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic" and Skream's "Anticipate," which I have no problem hearing again so soon.
Moby - 11:00 p.m. - I dash several times between Diplo and Moby, but eventually am anchored to Diplo. Moby has the crowd baited like you would expect of an expert. He plays choice cuts like "Go," "Porcelain," and "We Are All Made of Stars," all inbetween non-Moby club tracks of his choice, igniting the crowd simply by raising his fist into the air.
Diplo - 11:15 p.m. - I'm not going to lie: I want Diplo to be my favorite act. And he delivers. If there is any one strength Diplo possesses it's playing to his audience. His mixtapes explore Portuguese-inspired baile funk, Balearic disco, 80s electro-techno, indie mixes chocked with Spoon, The White Stripes, and MIA, and more recently, hip-hop/reggae collabs with Santigold (née Santogold) and with Switch as the duo Major Lazer, proving that he's (a) not afraid to experiment and (b) capable of organizing multiple styles into a common thread.
His set is very hip-hop oriented, slinging out cuts from Rihanna, Waka Flocka Flame, Nicki Minaj, Busta Rhymes, Watch The Throne, Beastie Boys, and new and unreleased tracks from Major Lazer. Characteristic of his sets, there is plenty of room for playfulness. Green Velvet's "Flash," Blur's "Song 2," and The Police's "Roxanne" emerge like big smiles. Cliches like Far East Movement's "Like A G6" are revitalized with his energetic and novel sequencing. And, acclimatizing to the crowd on hand, he concludes his set with with a dubstep favorite, Rusko's "Hold On (Subfocus Remix)."
Armand van Helden - 12:30 a.m. - One half of the duo Duck Sauce, AvH makes quick work to hook the crowd with the single "Big Bad Wolf" (a favorite among DJs this evening). Due to my conceit that I am "aware" of the quality of the headliners, I have low expectations for AvH. I have no trouble eating crow: he blows me away with an amazing set. Though I can't identify many of his selections, they are all impeccably paced and blended. He builds up a hard hitting house track and then slow things down with atmospheric snyth washes, and then, bar by bar, assembles the track back into a club banger. And of course how could AvH escape the evening without playing "Barbara Streisand"? He can't, and the crowd loves him for obliging.
Infected Mushroom - 1:15 a.m. - Infected Mushroom is one of two bands to incorporate live instrumentation (the other being Dirtyphonics, whom I miss). With a guitarist, drummer, keyboard players, and a singer, they straddle the line as a rock band and a trance outfit. The Israeli quartet burn through a set brimming with energy. They even manage to squeeze in a cover, "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters. At first it seems like an odd choice, but the more they play up to rock band heroics the more it makes sense. Many of their songs have a middle eastern melody to them, perhaps charming the ears of those worn down by coked out club tracks. Songs like "Becoming Insane," and "Heavy Weight" are killer.
2:00 a.m. - Exuent. A tuckered out crowd teems from the exit gate. Sweaty teenagers with "BASS BASS BASS" t-shirts and slews of raver pixies muster their remaining energy to walk to their cars. Almost everyone is beaming with positivity. Incredibly, large scores of people still seem charged with an energy that might last them until sunrise. The event is well organized, which helps keep any complaints at bay. Hopefully electro festival events like Fall Mssive become a staple. On top of U St. Music hall becoming iconic for DC dance, the DMV area is quickly fizzing up as a destination for electronic music fans.
OP ED BY MARCUS:
In theory, Fall Massive involved six tents and 54 (in many cases name-brand, internationally renowned) DJs playing the best in dance sounds for thousands of revelers. In practice, Fall Massive was a frighteningly sexual experience. Aural prostitutes doled out brash, amazing music to willing partiers causing orgasmic glee. Hard electro kicks and dubstep's bass drops? Turgid pleasure pistons drilling into the sweat-drenched flesh of overwhelmed attendees. More attuned dance fanatics? Overwhelmed by the grandeur of DC's return to big festival prominence, but likely somewhere deep inside calling this instead a symphony of sodomy, experienced practitioners taking the largely younger, dance-virginal crowd by force. Few, if any pronounced journeys into extended melodies, a quick, dirty and ultimately mind-blowing experience.
Switching metaphors, you couldn't tell the players here without a scorecard. Armand van Helden, a disco boogie/house maestro and half of "Barbra Streisand" and "Big Bad Wolf" famed Duck Sauce played largely the same hard electro and dance pop trending cuts as legendary emotive break-beat king Moby. The only difference being Armand kicking off his set with his brand new, lupine acid house masterpiece with A-Trak, then descending into a glitchy, wobbly and pitch shifting set of hard-edged styles. Moby, much of the same, his classic tracks sounding like clarion calls in the night to a long forgotten era of EDM amidst current heavy hitters like Avicii's 2010 electro swinger "My Feelings for You."
Dubsteppers Datsik and the most experienced and legendary two-thirds of international pop sensations Magnetic Man, Skream and Benga were superstars here. The American kids love dubstep's noise and frantic collisions. The air-raid horns of white noise, massive synths and cannon-like bass booms delicious sprinkles on a vanilla sundae already dripping with chocolate sauce. Like the dessert it's excessive, but an undeniably pleasant sensory explosion.
Datsik's latest anthem "King Kong" was appropriately accompanied by a gorilla chasing a banana on stage, while Flux Pavillion's "I Can't Stop" never seems to, arcing higher and higher, the dropping bassline akin to having the carpet pulled out from you at the gates of heaven, immediately plunging through purgatory and landing in the mouth of hell. Dubstep's extravagance, though reduced by pop music's experimentations into a one-trick pony standing on its last leg, is still a phenomenal powerhouse.
Diplo's set proved every stereotype of the awesome, bullying spirit of corporate America entirely true. The 800-pound elephant in the corner that occasionally dances in gross and bloated steps through internationally-dominated dance is represented in the Mad Decent Records honcho. Not elephants, but gorillas were the highlight moment of his 90-minute pop journey. The simians that remind Kanye West of what he and his black friends look like in Paris showed that 2011's most dominant musical phrase is "that shit cray," and an entire room went insane.
The Florida native is a musical q-tip swabbing his way between strange, disparate genres. Much like the iconic rapper who shares his name with the aforementioned bathroom item, he "breathes and stops" giving his audience time to prepare for such a bizarre, ham-handed handling of the iconic jewels of various musical cultures. Somehow in metaphorically dousing a burrito in Big Mac's special sauce, it works and though idiotic at the surface, is delicious in execution.
Much like hair metal and nu metal did in the last thirty years, 2011's pop edge of American dance music is similar in celebrating all things loud, boorish and dumb. It's oftentimes melodically brilliant and featuring classic musical tropes from days of yore, but its stupid. Internationally, dance music celebrates the blending of the ignorant and smart, the light and the dark in harmonious synchronization. In America? In six tents outside of a stadium where people once saw cowboys destroy red-skinned Indians in a heartbreaking fashion and senators often losing their way? The lowest common denominators of the classic American ideal met with laser light shows and sounds from the future. They stared at each other....and clumsily embraced.
now tell us--how was it for you?
Previously in Live DC:
awesome review / pictures but i think you might be confusing datsik with bare
are you being paid by steez? why no comment on the zero bass and minimal volume? that was the worst party i've ever been to, you're lying to yourself and your readers with this.
fyi - we (malphunktion) played funky house. proxxy and lantern played that bongo remix i think out of our last tune.
Picture No. 8
Orange Tanktop
MASSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the second review, you realize that Datsik wasn't there at all????
Worst party you've ever been to. Get the fuck outta here. Zero bass and minimal volume. Thank Steez for doing what they had to do to not have the fucking show shut down. If that's the worst party you've ever been to you're way too cool for school jackass.
STDC Mike
StreetTeamDC@gmail.com
fyi - that bongo remix was proxxy & lantern's first tune. we (malphunktion) played funky house before them.
179862 @what?: Yes, in Cash 4 Gold corporate shares. What of it? As for the bass issue, that fluxed in and out during Skream and Benga's set but only lasted for a little over 90 seconds, at least while I was there. If any problems persisted I simply missed them. I wasn't in the Dub Nation tent a lot in the 2nd half of the night. Seeing only ~25% of the acts meant that I missed a lot of the good and the bad going on elsewhere.
179869 @Logan: The subs were cut out from 9:15 pm onwards; any "bass" you heard were coming from vocal pa's and was low midrange frequency. skream and benga's set was ruined, as was dirtyphonics and excision. moby had no bass right next to the subs, and you could have an "indoor voice" conversation in the middle of the dancefloor. infected mushroom was the only set that wasn't completely ruined, and i don't even like psytrance. fuck that party, fuck steez promo. what a joke, i want a fucking refund
Datsik definitely wasn't there and it isn't proper preview without mentioning that the bass in the dubstep tent completely died after skream and benga
i loved this i had a hella good time cant wait till the next one LOVE U STEEZ AND ULTRAWORLD
a few of the security ppl said the reason why the bass dropped was because two speakers blew in the dub tent. I didnt really mind, massive was self explanatory. It was fucking massive
The girl with the pink tights, isnt even a gogo dancer. Seen her dance before all she does is waddle her body back and forth like an akward duck. I really hope the other2 LEGIT dance teams dystrucxion and electrocute shwoed her up and shunned her off stage. Shes just an attention hoe. She purely is the definition of "if she dances on stage one time and changed her profession to gogo dancing, shes too young for you bro!".
I was really impressed with Martin Solveig's set but honestly Diplo's was all over the place. It seemed like he was trying too hard to please the crowd...but some other crowd. Perhaps the crowd that pays $10 cover at a club to see some no name DJ play top 40s and hip hop. If you've ever listened to his innovative MDWWR or Blow Your Head sets you probably understand what I'm saying.
I agree, was WAY too quiet, but what do you expect being the middle of DC. Come on and find a better location. Steez, thank god you're moving out to LA. Time for someone new to come in. Oops, is that not supposed to be public yet? Oh well.
No one bothered to check out/ review Scott Henry? That's the only review I'd have been interested in. Has he still got it after all these years?
It was awful. I didn't go to the dubstep tent so I don't know/don't care about the bass issues. I was between Euphoric/Majestic all night. The one bright spot in the entire lineup (despite my being excited for lots) was Christopher Lawrence, which I wasn't even planning on going to. Filo & Peri didn't have lights (even though it was ad'd as "Lights and Loaded"), Diplo played more top 40/hip hop than the local radio stations, Martin Solveig played nothing but top 40 remixes and dubstep downmixes, and Moby was "meh" at best. I'd never listened to Infected Mushroom before, but the moment I heard it, I got the fuck out. When did almost-death-metal become EDM? Never again, Massive. Never again.
AAA: Scott Henry was a highlight. Definitely cool to see him play at this.
179879 @anonymous: Steez is moving??? Oh man sounds like a crazy good opportunity for a DC entrepreneur to get things going.
179891 @Franz: SHHHHHH LOL.
Ridiculous photos, Kevin!
I agree with "What?" - this review is giving those who did not attend a false idea of the event. Here's an honest and truthful review of the event....
The line-up was SICK! They brought in huge names both, old/legendary DJs and chart-topping newcomers. And getting Armand Van Helden to come to DC is something few have been able to do.
When the bass was on, it was unbelievable. It shook your hair, clothes and all of your organs inside - it was heaven.
The light show and stages were great. It was no EDC, but it was one of the best DC has ever seen.
They had plenty of bathrooms and smoking/quieter areas so you didn't have to wait in line long and could quickly sneak out for a smoke or to get away from the crowds for a minute.
They had plenty of bar areas so getting a drink was easy (though I wish they had a better choice of alcohols). And they had plenty of water for sale - something very important at these types of events
Security/staff was everywhere, but not in your face. But I'm not sure why the DC cops dressed up like SWAT were necessary.
But here's what killed Massive for me as well as many others...
Shortly after 11pm, the bass in almost every tent had been cut. Yes, I mean that...literally. I've heard two reasons for why (some coming from the sound engineers themselves),
1) The neighbors complained about the noise and the local authorities told the venue to turn the music down (aka turn the bass off). All you could here was treble and a TINY bit of midrange.
2) The local authorities came by and told the venue they were in violation of the Washington, DC noise ordinance. Here's the link to the law - http://www.dcregs.dc.gov/Gateway/ChapterHome.aspx?ChapterNumber=20-27 And here's the latest revision to the law (which would have put the venue owners in jail up to 90 days) - http://dcist.com/2011/02/noise_law.php
If you don't believe me, just ask any of the several DJs who had the "pleasure" of spinning with only treble and some midrange coming from the speakers or the thousands of people who were wondering if there was something wrong with their hearing or if the bass had really been turned off. We walked around the entire venue and found only one room with bass, but the bass in that room had been turned way down.
I blame the venue owners because they should have done their homework, research and due diligence. And here's what show me - and you - why they didn't...
Several years ago, DC signed a 10 year contract with ALMS to hold one of it's races in the RFK parking lot area. DC spent millions building a race track, pit area, paddocks, etc. But, after the very first event (which took place during the day), the event was cancelled for good. Why? Because the neighbors complained about the noise levels. Rather than bringing money and something fun to the city, DC officials were more worried about getting those types of voters on their side come election time and promised the neighbors that such a race and "disturbance" would not be allowed back to RFK.
If you know DC at all, you would know the story I just shared with you. And if you knew this, you would know that putting on an event such as Massive...at night which has even stricter noise ordinance laws...with this much bass and high db levels...would clearly pose huge problems. And you would have addressed these issues ahead of time so that you wouldn't have the issue Massive had on Saturday night. Obviously...the owners did NOT address the issue ahead of time or they did so incorrectly.
To put in layman's terms, what happened on Saturday night is like buying a beautiful Ferrari for top dollar, having it drive beautifully for the first 100 miles and then having it fall apart and having it in the shop 90 percent of the time from then on. Massive was the Ferrari of EDM music events in DC before and during the first half of the night. And then, just when the night really got going and when the headliners were about to take the stage, it fell apart completely.
I say fell apart completely because having and EDM event without bass is completely unacceptable - to not only the crowd/fans, but to the DJs. Everyone I was with was pissed. And you could see that the DJs were pissed too. And hell...EDM isn't EDM without bass in the first place.
I would be shocked if a Massive (or any other EDM event) was ever held at RFK again (even if DC allowed them to come back). And even if it was, I would not spend money to go without a written guarantee from the venue saying that the bass will stay on at the same levels for the entire event or they would give me my money back.
And that my fellow bass heads and EDM lovers...is the real truth.
Sincerely,
A bass head/EDM lover, but not a sucker.
Bassdread has so much soul and swag it is unbelievable. The reviewer needs some soul. How about to comment on the patrons sitting and meditating to Bassdread's set? Dubstep is meant to be felt, in the fiber of your being(Check out sound resonance) Sounds like the "critic" is a plain old biased square.
179863 @ian / malphunktion: That is correct...
lol the guy clearly hates dubstep, it's like being a food/restaurant reviewer and you're vegan, so you hate on everything not vegan there.
179876 @realtalk: lolool this comment is so true. that girl is most definitely a ho. she thinks she has such a sweet ass but she's so dirty and greasy looking. Electrocute and Dystrucxion rules over ANYONE.
179879 @anonymous: "moving to LA"?????
they aren't moving you dope. they're adding markets. just like they've added connections in tons of cities this year. the entire baltimore scene isn't going to pack up and truck it to LA. they gave it a shot at RFK, and the sound had to be turned down. fucking deal with it. would you rather everything shut down at 7pm and we all had to go home? I made the best of it and enjoyed myself, because that's what the community is about. not what city you're in and how loud you can crank the volume.
The girl dancing with all that silver makeup looks like a wanna-be version of Gaga, fail.
179901 @criticofcritics: soul? swag?? since when does brostep and overplayed fidget have "soul" ????? LOLOLOLOL @ anyone who was "meditating" during that fucking unbearable NOISE... i guess pretentious wanna be hippies will do silly shit to keep being "cool" and "spiritual" .... duuude we meditated so hard to brostep... LOLWOW
179862 @what?: Dude, I couldn't agree more. The artists needed to collaborate with each other and make sure they weren't spinning the same shit at the same time too. The same 10 songs over and over and over and over and we all love dubstep... WELL PRODUCED dubstep....come on. Also,what the FUCK happened to the heated tents? $70 wasted. I'm just glad I didn't spring for the bottom shelved VIP tickets. Lame as fuck, Summer massive was DEFINITELY worth it, this, was not.
to be honest, i was soo fucked up i didnt realize that the bass was turned off at all at any point through the night. and when excision dropped crowd control to close it in the dub nation tent, i was right next to the subs (line arrays) on the right hand side, and i was experiencing chest crushing bass. it was soo fucking epic and i dont know why everyone on heres complaining about no bass and saying you could have a conversation mid show. my ears are still ringing and its monday night. and in my opinion just the fact that you werent sweating your dick off and fighting the urge to puke (like in bourbon street at most sold out shows) made it such a nicer experience.
Wow, Benga and Skream SUCKED ASSSSS!!!!!!!!!! That cannot even be considered dubstep. FUCKING AWFUL, cant believe they played for TWO whole hours@!!! It was torture listening to that, they are supposed to be the fucking OG's of the genre...... hands down EMBARRASSING!
Whoever wrote this review is a Nn00b
179879 @anonymous: LOL I am moving yes but the business is not... And its public
way to not put your name
Embalming recipes and christianity, check for some of the shit thats said, www.soundcloud.com/mc-twisty-1 , yeah i performed with Nixsin, we did an Original Style of Dubstep, sorry im not a HYPE MAN im a MC
@criticofcritics Well to be fair, most dubstep is the musical equivalent of keying a luxury car repeatedly and calling it "art".
/ducks, runs for cover
Massive got the most noise complaints than any other event in D.C. History. Just a tidbit.
179907 @suck it up: Yes, I would have rather had it shut down. That way they would at least have to refund us our money or offer a replacement rave. It WAS shut down. Just not enough to require a refund. "Oops, not our fault, noise ordinance! At least we gave it a shot!" Fuck that, take some responsibility, and treat your loyal customers with some respect. Music festivals need music, certainly a lot more than light shows, lasers, and big foam castles. Honestly, if I was given the opportunity to go back in time and go to Massive for FREE I would stay in, stay sober, and go to sleep early. Such a waste of time for both the partiers and DJs.
Just discovered this, apparently Mr. Wells got blasted harder than the bass from his constituents. Lol haters gonna hate.
http://www.tommywells.org/2011/11/letter-to-event.php
Had a great night. Yes it wasn't EDC but best thing we've got in DC. Great job by the promoters. Fave set of the night was Christopher Lawrence who played an amazing tech trance set the likes of which I'd never heard before. He was a total stand out. Also loved Martin Solveig's and Moby's set. Infected were fun. Count me in next year guys.
What the fuck was with the chicks that had the sticks with a bunch of fabric scraps hanging from them? What the fuck was that? And then the annorexic light skinned chick with her spine sticking ffrom her back? Please put some meat on her bones, shed be a much more attractive dancer then too, also if she got a facelift and grew her nappy hair out so it no longer looks like pubes. One of the girls in the "bohemian" wear, i swear when she smiles she looks like the wicked witch of the west. Pointy ass nose, chin and cheeks aint she spose to be the leader? She needs a facelift. And the girls with the corny embellished bras and the stupid looking spiked shoulderpads? The fuck where they spose to be? The fact that their tight pattern stopped at the top of the thigh looked even more ridiculous, shoulda put shorts on overtop to hide that. I felt for the girl who bashed her head, hope shes ok. She looked like she was gunna be knocked out forreal. Another of the bohemian girls looks like a man cuz shes so big, another one is so tiny with the blondish hair, she looks like a 12 year old who hasnt hit puberty. The mirror leotard costumes were knock offs of teamez. Be original for christs sake. Alot of them looked like models on stage, not even any flow to the rythm. I know the bass was cut off but good lord, wtf. And im not even gunna get started on teh chick with the pink tights.. shes the worst. Who the fuck lets her up there?
179905 @sotrue: thank you to everyone for showing mad love to the dystrucxion dancers all the hard work payed off
179992 @uglyhoes: Get an education on performance than talk shit. Sound like a little jealousy to me.
DystRucXion!!!!!!!!!!!!
179992 @uglyhoes: I love how this person has so much shit to talk about how "ugly" these girls are... then says they look like models. Contradictory much? #justsayin
Hey what are some good websites to find professional photos taken at massive? thanks!
179870 @what: AMEN to that. I've been hitting up parties for 15 years and this was the single worst case of dropping the sound ball I've experienced.
Thank you all for reminding me what a bunch of pissing and moaning, bitching, complaining fucking crybabies this crowd produces. You guys should stay home, permanantly, stop doing people favors and coming out to their parties you gang of horse's asses.
STDC Mike
StreetTeamDC@gmail.com
So in case people hadnt read any of the articles, posted around there was nothing they could do about the sound. The party almost got shut down before it even happened the day off, and The DC City got so many noise complaints the cops came and told them they had to turn the sound down. Dont blame Steeze Promo blame all the bitchy people who found out there was gonna be a rave near by and decided they didnt want it. Or cant handle a little base. I think a lot people just like bitch for the sake of bitching. I had an awesome time danced so much, and hung out with a lot of great people.
wtf. I dont get why people are hating on the dancers I thought they looked okay. thought the dubstep sucked but agree that moby, christopher lawrence rocked.