Beyond Wonderland held in San Bernardino, California at the NOS Event Center was one of my favorite festivals in 2017. It was my first festival outside of Arizona and blew my expectations out of the water. I wanted to venture my way back to Wonderland this year since I have such fond memories from the year before. I bought my ticket before the lineup dropped cause I knew I wanted to go regardless. Beyond Wonderland 2018 proved that this festival still has such a special place in my heart. From the moment we walked in the gates, my friend Devon and I felt right back at home even though it had been a year since we were last there.
Fell Down a Rabbit Hole
From the moment I walked in, I felt like I was Alice seeing Wonderland for the first time. I was greeted by the Queen of Hearts and her playing card henchman. It was even more fun seeing most attendees dressed to the theme. I tried going for a queen of hearts theme for my outfit with a red bralette from Freedom Rave Wear and checkered shorts from Rave With Mi Gente. What I love about Insomniac events is the overall vibe they bring to the experience with the decorations and performers dressed up. It really adds to the overall experience that completely detaches you from what is going on in the outside world.
The stages were some of my favorite productions. The Queen’s Domain (mainstage) was a huge tent that once inside you really felt like you were inside a castle. I was at the back of the stage for KSHMR and felt like I was in some grand hall of a castle. Mad Hatter’s Castle had these huge rings ranging from front to back that gave really cool visuals for the artists there. Caterpillar’s Garden was my home for most of the weekend because of the house artists there. The lighting production gave this stage such an underground warehouse vibe I could’ve shuffled all night long there.
The Music
Just going to put it out there my favorites from the entire weekend were: FISHER, Chris Lake, Yultron and KSHMR. I really tried to see artists I hadn’t seen before. While it was hard missing k?d, SAYMYNAME and others, I had to catch these artists while I could. FISHER I discovered last year with his first hit Ya Kidding. This set had INCREDIBLE energy from the crowd and FISHER himself was dancing along with us. Hearing his hits and some unreleased music made for a very awesome set. Chris Lake has been a favorite of mine and this set was so groovy. He played Operator and I Want You fairly early but I felt the rest of the set let him truly express himself as an artist. Towards the start of day 2, I wanted to check out Yultron mainly for his Shelter remix but this set blew any expectations I had. He started out with some heavy bass house tunes, dropped into dubstep, mixed in some hardstyle and played some favorites like All American Rejects, Rihanna and Porter Robinson. I had plans to leave this set, but I stayed the whole time as I was having so much fun! Finally, I had been wanting to see KSHMR for quite some time and finally getting to was incredible. His set takes attendees through a storyline which tied in with the music gives his whole set this cinematic feel. I couldn’t stop jumping around and power shuffling through the set. Definitely recommend everyone should see this legend. Here is the entire list of the artists I saw: Day 1 – Elephante, Mercer, Midnight T, FISHER, Oliver Heldens, BTSM, Chris Lake, Claptone, Kayzo Day 2 – Born Dirty, Bloodthinnerz, Kuuro, Yultron, Valentino Khan, Nitti Gritti, R3hab, KSHMR, Gammer, Alesso.
I had a blast with every artist I saw, there wasn’t one artist I didn’t like. My ears were assaulted by Midnight T, Valentino Khan had me twerking, Alesso put me in my feels and so much more! The art cars at Beyond also had some gems of artists to check like Bloodthinnerz and Nitti Gritti.
Beyond will always hold a special place in my heart and if the timing works out, I’d love to return every year! From the music, to the rainbow grilled cheese and all the amazing people I met, it was such a great weekend. So many people came up to me to say hi, I am so grateful for this blog being able to connect me to so many of you! I’ll be at EDC and Forest Weekend 2 so don’t be afraid to say hi 🙂 There will be a video recap of Beyond coming soon so subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Stay Vibey,
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