TBD Festival Review for:
- the artists,
- production value
- crowd energy
- festival layout
- the overall energy of TBD Festival in Sacramento
Overall TBD Festival Review:
TBD festival was an awesome experience. My TBD Festival Review for 2015 is vastly positive, though I will admit that as far as festivals go, TBD Festival definitely lacked a lot of the conscious mindfulness efforts that go into most of the camping and extended stay EDM festivals. There was quite a bit of mindless consumption. However, being in the city it made sense as more of a concert venue, so I understand the shift and was very appreciative to go spend the afternoon in the grounds and to be able to go back to my apartment at night and the convenience of it all. I could have eaten dinner there. It was a lot more of a mini-vacation, especially since I only went for one night. I would definitely go again for the crowd, which was full of great fans, for the production value, but mostly for the artists and the vibe that they brought to the festival grounds.
The Artists:
Here is the official Line-up for TBD in 2015
Purity Ring Review from TBD Festival 2015
I ended up going to see Purity Ring and got there about one-quarter of the way through the performance. You can see the video here on my Instagram. Definitely one of the better performances I have seen in the past couple of years, their lights show was absolutely incredible. The drummer had a great set-up, but the singer stole the show were her soulful dancing and heartbreaking and uplifting singing. This is one band that I will look forward to in the future. Production value was extremely high, as evidenced by the lights show on the Instagram video.
Death Grips Review from TBD Festival 2015
Death Grips is a band that you DO NOT WANT TO MISS. The experimental Hip-Hop group is reminiscent of Cypress Hill’s originality and creativity, but boosted forward to 2015 technology and production techniques with a rapper that absolutely throws his shit down and goes hard. I honestly cannot wait to see these guys again, Stefan Burnett (aka MC Ride) had such incredible energy and anger in his voice that you couldn’t help but feel a calming wave of relaxation afterwards. The drummer, Zach Hill stole the show at times with his ridiculously powerful and well-organized drum solos that perfectly complimented Stefan’s lyrics and style of rapping. Andy Morin was also a great performer, but next to Stefan and Zach was simply more in the background, though not to ill effect. His presence uplifted the other twos. Definitely a show that will have you shouting, jumping up and down at times, and going nuts with a calming after-effect.
RL Grime Review from TBD Festival 2015
RL Grime was a surprisingly innovative and very powerfully unique act. It was easy to see how he has led the trap music genre for the past 3 years, even helping to create and shape the sound. His blaring 808’s, harsh and filthy sub bass, live remixing, and his visuals were absolutely on point. He tore the stage to shreds and blasted the audience with pounding drum beats, voice synths, and lead synths that cut through the air and right into your heart and spine. A very powerful performance, recreating my image of the artist’s repertoire of skills and abilities. Definitely a show I would and hope to see again.
Tyler the Creator Review from TBD Festival 2015
This was one of the most unusual and well put together productions I have seen. Tyler is nothing short of a genius with his interactions with the crowd and his two back-up rappers pull their own weight and more on stage. Discussing everything from the ego to love to hatred to death, Tyler seems to touch aspects of life that you don’t normally examine, giving a surprisingly introspective look into the minds of us all as humans. He also had some songs that absolutely shown through and I was so incredibly happy to have been introduced to him as a live performance. Slow it down was my favorite song of the night, but I also think that he had some great improvisation performances because he also seemed to be very off the cusp. His energy was fantastic, the lights show was something to be remembered and the complexity of his message was intoxicating. Definitely someone to watch as they grow, though I wouldn’t mind seeing another performance in a year or so.
Glitch Mob Review from TBD Festival 2015
Here is the icing on the cake, definitely the highest production value performance of the night. At the end of their summer tour, the Glitch Mob threw down a show to be remembered, their live sets and electronic industrial instruments were perfect to get the crowd up, moving, and rowdy. The lights show was incredible and intricate and the band itself had enormous amounts of energy. Edit lead the charge, it was hard to take your eyes off of his performance, but OOOO-Ahhhhh also kicked some major ass up there. Boreta was definitely more in the background, though he was simply not as visible from my vantage point. This was one of the BEST shows I have ever seen, hands down. Don’t miss the Glitch Mob is they perform near you, the crowds go nuts!
Production Value Review of TBD Festival 2015
Extremely high. The is the most powerful part of TBD Festival’s 2015 review because it was so good! Lights shows were unforgettable, screens were plenty large and the crowd was awesome. There was plenty of food to go around and for a little but of money you could get pretty much anything you needed. The Artists were on time, security was plentiful and the cops were seemingly nice enough that night. Definitely not a festival to miss, especially as the Line-up has plenty of more awesome artists for the next 2 nights.
Crowd Energy at TBD Fest 2015
Great. Wonderful. Weird, silly, but also a wide diversity of people. Everyone was having a good time. The normal festival crowd was interlaced with working professionals, housewives, city kids, and pretty much everyone in the city below the age of 30. Plenty of older hippies could easily be found nearer to the outskirts of the dance area and the stages were completely filled from the moment I got there. Everyone was nice, I didn’t see a single fight, any violence, and people were a bit more self-conscious than that I am used to, but not in a bad way. More of an unexposed kind of way, like there was a mixing of people from all over the place. Diversity is definitely a word I would use to describe everyone, beautiful another, but many were a little bit under-dressed for my personal tastes.
Layout Review of TBD Festival 2015
It was set-up well to walk between stages from one main stage to the other while a band set-up on the stage you just left. It was perfect to walk through concessions, though I don’t usually spent money on food that these types of events. Security was set-up poorly, though they were plentiful enough to make it not matter. The entrance was a nightmare, which is why we got there a little, but I would expect it to be improved next year. I’ve also learned to have the QR code and the PDF, not just the email and the confirmation number. It was kind of lame. Also, we got pretty tired from dancing at a couple of points and could have used a bench or two to sit on. There was only the dirty ground with stickers in it. But besides that, everything went really well!
Overall Energy of TBD Festival 2015
The artists loved it, the fans loved it, and a very positive exchange of energy between the two. Extremely high production value, such powerful performance that I really can’t wait for next year and am a sad to miss Porter Robinson and Pretty Lights tonight. I am sure that it will be amazing. The people who came were awesome and the artists put their heart and soul into the performances. What more can you ask for?