Beyond Wonderland Bay Area 2012 Preview
Published: September 21, 2012
By: Natty Morrison
On Saturday, September 29th, the San Francisco Bay Area is about to turn into one, giant rabbit hole. That’s because insomniac has chosen the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Complex as its home for its inaugural Bay Area Beyond Wonderland. Following in the tradition of successful EDM day festivals like Identity Fest, Electric Daisy Carnival and Lightning in a Bottle, Beyond Wonderland is a fully immersive event, with tons of art installations, performers, theatrics, wild costumes and, of course, non-stop music. Headliners include such raver household names as Avicii, ATB, Chuckie, Daedelus, K Theory, and plenty of other woofer-rattling acts from across the spectrum of genres.
insomniac has come to center stage as one of the premier festival planners and organizers on the west coast and beyond. Thanks to founder Pasquale Rotella’s inventive and wildly creative vision, the tireless effort of workers and volunteers, and the wealth of talent being brought in to events like EDC, Nocturnal Wonderland, and Beyond Wonderland, crowds and fellow event organizers alike have been taking notice to the new so-called standard of dance music celebrations.
As raves moved out of the basements and warehouses, they still drifted away from usual concert halls and towards the woods, where multi-day camping festivals have created a summer-festival circuit. And while camping festivals are still prevalent and viable options for hosting these sort of day-long concerts/raves, the convenience and hospitableness offered in a turning a ready-made, outdoor structure into a concert venue, as opposed to building one out of thin air in some large field, is significant. It also provides the festival a giant canvas on which to paint its psychedelic, warped and engaging artistic views. On its website, Beyond Wonderland promises the Coliseum Complex to be, “transformed into a magical landscape full of fairy-like performers, fire dancers, enchanted art environments, pyrotechnics, and rides!”
The Bay has always been home to counter-culture freaks who want to let their imaginations out to play, and here at the Untz, we love those folks! So as a celebration of Beyond Wonderland’s arrival to the home of Best Vibes in America, here are a few choice cuts from some of the festival’s top performers!
“Mek Money” - Chuckie
After an explosive set at this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, Chuckie’s fame –and apparent bankroll - continue to grow, as shown by this gold plated, make-it-rain banger.
“Girl/Boy As Performed By Selkirk Retard Orchestra for the Daughters of Asexual Lithium Addicts”-Daedelus
Following a more non-traditional, electronic composer path, Daedelus has forged a sturdy career playing both the oddball studio inhabitant and the party-starting DJ. Here we see more of the former, but perhaps the crowd at Beyond Wonderland will get a taste of this glitched, strange and incredibly entertaining cut.
“The Master”-K Theory
Though the lines of electro and dubstep continue to blur, K Theory has made a nice name for itself straddling that very border. Here we get some of the subtlety in rhythm space that dubstep offers, with many sounds you’d probably hear at a Midwest electro show.
"Two Million" - Avicii
Maybe you were one of those 2 million fans that helped inspire the production of this track, maybe not. But, maybe you'll be just lucky enough to hear Avicii drop this in his mix as you're having tea with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, celebrating your very merry unbirthday.
Check out the video trailer below!
Tickets are still available for the event this month, with a low price of $79 for the day. In order to provide adequate security, as well as sell alcohol on-site, the festival is restricted to 18+ for the entire day’s events. Festival goers are reminded to bring a valid, government issued ID to the event, or they will be denied entry.
On Saturday, September 29th, the San Francisco Bay Area is about to turn into one, giant rabbit hole. That’s because insomniac has chosen the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Complex as its home for its inaugural Bay Area Beyond Wonderland. Following in the tradition of successful EDM day festivals like Identity Fest, Electric Daisy Carnival and Lightning in a Bottle, Beyond Wonderland is a fully immersive event, with tons of art installations, performers, theatrics, wild costumes and, of course, non-stop music. Headliners include such raver household names as Avicii, ATB, Chuckie, Daedelus, K Theory, and plenty of other woofer-rattling acts from across the spectrum of genres.insomniac has come to center stage as one of the premier festival planners and organizers on the west coast and beyond. Thanks to founder Pasquale Rotella’s inventive and wildly creative vision, the tireless effort of workers and volunteers, and the wealth of talent being brought in to events like EDC, Nocturnal Wonderland, and Beyond Wonderland, crowds and fellow event organizers alike have been taking notice to the new so-called standard of dance music celebrations.
As raves moved out of the basements and warehouses, they still drifted away from usual concert halls and towards the woods, where multi-day camping festivals have created a summer-festival circuit. And while camping festivals are still prevalent and viable options for hosting these sort of day-long concerts/raves, the convenience and hospitableness offered in a turning a ready-made, outdoor structure into a concert venue, as opposed to building one out of thin air in some large field, is significant. It also provides the festival a giant canvas on which to paint its psychedelic, warped and engaging artistic views. On its website, Beyond Wonderland promises the Coliseum Complex to be, “transformed into a magical landscape full of fairy-like performers, fire dancers, enchanted art environments, pyrotechnics, and rides!”
The Bay has always been home to counter-culture freaks who want to let their imaginations out to play, and here at the Untz, we love those folks! So as a celebration of Beyond Wonderland’s arrival to the home of Best Vibes in America, here are a few choice cuts from some of the festival’s top performers!
“Mek Money” - Chuckie
After an explosive set at this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, Chuckie’s fame –and apparent bankroll - continue to grow, as shown by this gold plated, make-it-rain banger.
“Girl/Boy As Performed By Selkirk Retard Orchestra for the Daughters of Asexual Lithium Addicts”-Daedelus
Following a more non-traditional, electronic composer path, Daedelus has forged a sturdy career playing both the oddball studio inhabitant and the party-starting DJ. Here we see more of the former, but perhaps the crowd at Beyond Wonderland will get a taste of this glitched, strange and incredibly entertaining cut.
“The Master”-K Theory
Though the lines of electro and dubstep continue to blur, K Theory has made a nice name for itself straddling that very border. Here we get some of the subtlety in rhythm space that dubstep offers, with many sounds you’d probably hear at a Midwest electro show.
"Two Million" - Avicii
Maybe you were one of those 2 million fans that helped inspire the production of this track, maybe not. But, maybe you'll be just lucky enough to hear Avicii drop this in his mix as you're having tea with the Mad Hatter and March Hare, celebrating your very merry unbirthday.
Check out the video trailer below!
Tickets are still available for the event this month, with a low price of $79 for the day. In order to provide adequate security, as well as sell alcohol on-site, the festival is restricted to 18+ for the entire day’s events. Festival goers are reminded to bring a valid, government issued ID to the event, or they will be denied entry.
