Spring Awakening Festival Review: The Night I Fell in Love with Skrillex

It’s Saturday night and the end of the first day of Spring Awakening Music Festival is approaching. Naturally, I am faced with the usual wrenching decision of which stage should I head to next in order to satisfactorily close out my night. Due to overlapping set times, I spent the entire day strategically divvying up my time between stages so I could catch glimpses of all my favorite sets. Thankfully Spring Awakening event planners made the last act easy to decide since there was only one closing headliner – the one and only Sonny Moore.

I have never been able to fully commit to one of Skrillex’s sets before. Maybe it’s because his shows are inclined to attract an age group that has a tendency to make me skeptical of how young I still think I am. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it was the impressive backdrop of Soldier Field, a place where I grew up going to football games with my family. Or perhaps it’s because the festival was intimate enough where I kept running into old friends in the crowd. It could also be due to the fact that the thick, lingering humidity finally broke when it started to rain, creating an illusion of shimmer as the raindrops cut through the dancing lasers that were merely an accessory to Skrillex’s breathtaking set. But real talk, the main reason why his set left an impression was why we all come to these festivals in the first place—it was the music.

When the beat drops, things stop being sensible. I still cannot wrap my head around how his tracks manage to explode into gorgeous, synth-laden mayhem. At the start he transitioned from Benny Benassi’s preceding set by playing his well known “Cinema” remix. He unexpectedly dropped a brand new remix of Birdy Nam Nam’s “Goin In.” You can check it out on Sweaty320 . But my favorite track of the night was “Summit,” his collaboration with current girlfriend, Ellie Goulding, which brought tears to my eyes.

All in all, it was a great time filled with fun dance off circles, exploding glow sticks, and intense head banging that may or may have not been the source of my whiplash the next day. After seeing him live, I finally understand the hype behind this DJ and producer. It is clear why he has reached a point in his career where he doesn’t have to remind people that his name is Skrillex.

Watch the video below of Skrillex debuting his new track at Spring Awakening 2012

Skrillex Reviewed by Little Kids

Article by: Amanda Stamelos

About the Author

Amanda Stamelos Law student, EDM connoisseur, music festival fanatic – these are some of the many hats this girl wears on a daily basis. It was only after she started to write for EDMinsider.com where she discovered her passion for music journalism and appreciates the new perspective she has gained on electronic music. Other favorite pastimes include, starting a mean dance circle and attempting to mix songs on her brother’s vinyl DJ decks. She is very grateful for this opportunity and wishes her readers lives filled with great beats, good vibes, and epic times.