Paper Diamond was the first DJ I saw, and I didn’t see much of him. What I did see of him I didn’t think was that great to be honest. His short set was just OK to me. He didn’t play long because what was once a very sunny day turned into rain and hail. He started packing his equipment up and in response, the crowd chanted “Rain or Shine!” He didn’t come back on though and we had to wait a while for the rain to stop for Dillon Francis to start his set early.

I’ve seen Dillon Francis twice before this set at Red Rocks. I had a good time both times, but never found his shows to be very exceptional or anything. I wasn’t expecting much from his set this time around, but he proved me wrong.

First off, Dillon Francis is just known to be arrogant. Ask anyone who’s into electronic music and you’ll get mixed opinions of Dillon Francis. Some will say they dig his music; others will say, “Oh, that asshole?” I couldn’t help but laugh through his set when he incorporated his own face into his visuals. He played a small clip of himself at his own pretend birthday party. I thought it was hilarious and I loved his use of popular emojis in the visuals as well.

As for the music, I thought he performed really well compared to the previous few times I saw him. He had a lot of his Dubstep sound in the beginning of his set, but as he eased his way through, he started incorporating his other side “DJ Hanzel”, his deep house alter ego.

Overall, his set was unexpected in a good way and I thought he was a great opener for Zeds Dead.

Zeds Dead’s set was amazing. I’d even say that it was the best Dubstep set I’ve seen. And it wasn’t just Dubstep that they touched into Thursday night. The two DJs masterfully explored other subgenres that night as well. They truly have their own unique style and they successfully showed that at Dead Rocks.

One of the things I like about a DJ duo is that as an audience member, you get to see two friends just go back and forth with creating a sound for the listeners to enjoy. I could feel that fun energy from Zeds Dead and it made the show even that more enjoyable.

The two also seem just very genuine in their love of making their music. They got emotional at the end of their set stating how grateful they were for playing at Red Rocks and that they hoped to come back to perform again. I hope they do!

Before I get into that, let’s briefly go over the openers:

jackLNDN opened first and the crowd wasn’t excited in the least. I could only see a few people around me dancing, while everyone else remained seated. I heard someone next to me saying that he was killing her vibe.

Next up was Son of Kick. I felt bad for jackLNDN because once he got off stage and Son of Kick started playing, everyone got up to start dancing. I thought he was pretty good and was a great choice to open for Bassnectar.

Benga came on right before Bassnectar and I had mixed opinions about him. His music was very bassy and fun to dance to. I would have enjoyed it more if he didn’t talk into the mic for basically every song performed. At the end of his set, he even stated that he was going to play one more song, but then ended up talking too much that he ran out of time! Annoying to say the least. But he definitely is a great Dubstep artist.

And finally, Bassnectar was up. I immediately became excited when I saw that on his laptops he brought out, there was his notorious Bassnectar symbol instead of the Apple symbol. Super cool.

Bottom line, Bassnectar has an amazing production. I’ve always heard people say that nothing else beats it, and they were certainly right. I was told that Friday night the show was more trippy whereas the Saturday night show was very bassy. Saturday night was in fact extremely bassy. The sound was so intense and I could feel the bass vibrate through my body. I also wish I went Friday night to see just how trippy it was because I felt that Saturday night had trippy visuals on its own. They were very geometric and contained different images with bright colors. All of it went so well with the music and changed as the music changed.

On Friday night, Bassnectar had announced to the crowd that he didn’t care about the new rule in regards to noise pollution for Red Rocks. He said he was going to be as loud as he wanted all weekend and he would just pay the fines. I thought that was awesome and goes to show how much love he has for his fans.

I also loved that he had a singer come up on stage at one point and accompany him in one of his songs. It created a unique feel to the overall production and I think it sets him a part from other artists in general.

The best part though, and I’m sure everyone who attended would agree, was when Bassnectar delivered a powerful message, originally given by Bill Hayes, in which Bassnectar compared life to an amusement park in which we think is real because that’s how powerful our minds are.

Bassnectar’s production is unlike anything you will ever see I think. You can really feel his passion radiate through his music and I definitely want to see him again. My only disappointment was that I wish I went for all three nights. Everyone around me was so happy to see their favorite artist and it made me happy to be surrounded by people with such great energy.

I wasn’t a fan of Ookay’s performance at Global Dub Fest, and I was disappointed in Yellow Claw’s set as well. For both of these DJs, I felt as if they played very basic songs and at times, didn’t really have good drops either. It seemed that the high school aged kids around me enjoyed it though, so I felt like their set was intended for this age group. The best part about Yellow Claw’s set though was that he had one of the security guards come onstage and participate in a twerking contest with the gogo dancers.

After they performed, someone came onstage and dramatically announced Zomboy to take the stage. The announcer hyped it up very well, because Zomboy was amazing. I don’t even know how else to describe his set, except that.

Zomboy had played some Snails and some well known songs, mixed in with songs from his album ‘The Outbreak’, which came out a few months ago. It was a very well put together set, and he didn’t just “hit play”, as some people criticize DJs for doing. He knew how to mix different sounds in to make each tune sound just right. One thing I found myself thinking was that when Zomboy had his build ups before the drops, I felt 100% confident that his drops would not disappoint. And they didn’t. This is exactly how I felt about Excision as well, who was up next.

Excision performed with Executioner, which is a video and lighting feature that creates 3D images and effects. It reminded me a lot of Datsik’s vortex, if you’ve ever been to a Datsik show. Excision performed within this structure, creating one of the best Dubstep sets I’ve ever experienced.

When he first came on, I noticed people looking at each other, giving a smile, and it seemed like they were silently saying that they made the right choice coming to this show. I couldn’t imagine anyone in that crowd being disappointed because Excision’s performance was so intense and proved himself to be the best pick for the headliner of this show.

My favorite parts of his performance was when he added in Bear Grillz & Datsik’s “Drop That Low” as well as “Fuck That” by Skrillex. And who could forget when he played his own song “Robo Kitty” with a robotic cat played out by the Executioner.

Zomboy and Excision are absolutely amazing in the Dubstep genre, and if you can catch them at a show or music festival, I highly recommend it. You won’t be disappointed.

The weather forecast was less than hopeful. It was supposed to be cold and rainy all night. I was bummed out at the thought of that at first, but the rain turned out to be an awesome addition to the production, specifically the lighting.

I have seen Keys N Krates perform a few months ago, and their performance at Red Rocks reminded me of just how good they are. The group comprises of 3 different artists. One being a drummer, another a keyboardist, and the third being the DJ. Their sound includes electronic music with a hip-hop influence to it.

That’s something I really like about Keys N Krates. They stand out well and their style of music sets them apart for other electronic artists. One of their most popular songs they played at the show, and my favorite, showcases how versatile they are in the Dubstep genre:

All in all, Keys N Krates was super talented and I highly recommend checking them out.

Adventure Club was on next and their set was one of the best ones I’ve seen. They jumped right in with some heavy Dubstep and told a story through the visuals with their music. The visuals, by the way, were so creative and super intense. I felt as if I was watching different short films or music videos.

They also remixed a few notable songs towards the end of their set. I felt that by combining both their original songs plus remixed popular songs, it made everyone in the audience happy.

Overall, the best way I could accurately describe Adventure Club’s performance was that it was super fun and entertaining. I felt carefree and forgot I was even dancing in the pouring rain.