Porter Robinson's Second Sky 2019 Review

*cue the tears*

I feel so incredibly honored I got to attend the first ever Second Sky music festival put on by legend Porter Robinson. He is my absolute favorite DJ and I never thought I’d see the day where he’d curate a whole event to his world and imagination. My friends and I bought our tickets, booked our flights and made our way to Oakland for a magical weekend.

Our Airbnb was a walk to the venue so we were able to get there just as gates opened. Security was a breeze and we were instantly transported to Porter’s world. Greeted by a floral entry you knew you were leaving the normal world behind to forget any worries for that day. We were greeted by big Second Sky letters and walked across a wall that stretched pretty far where you could leave your mark on the first Second Sky ever.

You then got to the actual festival component and could see the stage, food, drinks, and the insane merch line. We made it just in time to see Porter Robinson come on stage for a 30 minute Virtual Self set to kick off the day.

Overall Experience

With a brand new festival, you just never know how it’s going to turn out, but I really don’t have any complaints about Second Sky. Logistically, it was really planned out well. I think my only recommendation is to have two separate merch booths and two separate food areas to have crowd control more spread out.

Getting there and through security was a breeze. Getting home was a little challenging, but that’ll come with any festival. There were only two options getting to and from the festival, either take a Rideshare or take a shuttle to the BART stop in West Oakland. I think it was a learning curve that people had to adapt to since you couldn’t drive to the festival, but that can be avoided next year now that people know.

Overall, I love the atmosphere that was created for us. Every detail seemed to plan to fit the vibe of the festival. The stage had plenty of room and turf for us to chill and hangout throughout the day. Food options and drinks were great and while they were festival priced that’s expected. The Matcha Mule was to die for and I had this bomb vegan burrito because that was the shortest line haha.

Porter fam is amazing. Everyone was so sweet and had the best vibes. I also ran into so many friends I had been following on social media for so long so that was great to get to finally meet them. The best vibes at a festival in a long time for sure.

The Music

I’m going to be real that all I cared about was seeing Virtual Self, GJones, Cashmere Cat, Madeon, and Porter Robinson. I was blown away by the other acts though that I didn’t really know well. Porter chose them for a reason and that definitely showed. I appreciated being exposed to all different kinds of artists at Second Sky.

Set That Surprised Me the Most

NINA LAS VEGAS. This woman can get down. I was not expecting such a high energy house set so early in the day, but there were my friends and I shuffling the whole time.

Favorite Set Besides Porter

This is tough, but a tie between GJones and Madeon. This was my first time seeing GJones solo so seeing his album The Ineffable Truth live was insane. He is so talented and his visuals were wild. I’ll always love a good Madeon set, but this is his first set debuting the Good Faith DJ set. It was everything I wanted and more.

The Only Worlds Set of 2019

I’m still recovering. New edits, hints of new Porter, like WOW. The best Porter set I have ever seen and will ever see. I think he went all out because I think he will be releasing new music (hopefully) which means a new set coming soon. I think it was a great end to an era and to prepare us for what’s to come from him.