By: Harry Coomer

It's about time to give credit where credit is due.

It was no accident that Colorado turned into the epicenter of electronic music over the past five years. Sure, you'll always have LA, Miami, NYC, and Chicago, but if there's one city that's absolutely crushing it with new artists, cool events, and blowout festivals, you gotta give it up to Denver.

But who started this whole thing? Obviously no single variable let to the explosion that the Centennial State is now experiencing, but we can point to the organizers of Global Dance Festival and say "Yeah, those dudes have been throwing dance music parties in D-town for nearly two decades." Because it's true.

Some of the first people to think that dance music belonged up at the beloved Red Rocks Amphitheatre all those years ago, the first few GDF's at Red Rocks sported lineups of acts who could handle headlining shows up on the mountain all by themselves. Which is why the annual event has grown into a three-day extravaganza and sported so many spin-offs and copycats.

Nothing beats the original, though, which returns to RRX in Morrison, CO over July 17-19 with a jaw-dropping lineup. Not to worry, not to worry, we'll walk you through the 10 essential acts to catch.

If you're not trying to get left out of one of the biggest parties of the summer, mosey on over to globaldancefestival.com/CO/ to grab your 3-day passes or single day tickets. Grab them before they're gone. With a bill like that, you better get a move on...

10. Lane 8