I attended the first ever Goldrush Arizona 2017 this past weekend and I am in awe of this festival. I’ve been going to events at Rawhide since 2015 . The festival that Relentless Beats put on blew me away. It seems like every event they’ve had before has led up to creating Goldrush. I was hesitant on going since I wasn’t totally sold on the lineup. After getting a free ticket, I had to make my way home to AZ, Rawhide, and my friends.
Can you dig it?
What makes Goldrush unique right of the bat is utilizing the Western Town of Rawhide. Events at Rawhide are normally held in a big grass area or in a warehouse. During normal business hours the western town is a tourist attraction, but this weekend it transformed into a musical playground. As you enter you’re transported to a Wild West atmosphere like straight out of a movie. Art installations and attractions, shops and vendors lined up along the way as you walk through. There was tons of photo opportunities to fit the theme and give attendees great Instagrams.
The Stages
Attendees listened to up-and-coming and local talent on the Wandering Wagon stage. This stage was the perfect way to set the tone to the festival and cool to walk by. Always great to support up-and-coming talent.
The moment you walk in you walk past The Hideout stage featuring house and techno artists. This stage was so intimate I loved going by and just hanging here even if I was by myself. It was a smaller stage and didn’t have as much production to it. Production wasn’t needed for the acts as they brought their energy to the stage.
The second stage was called Pioneer Peak which featured a wide variety of rap, trap and house artists. I loved the look of this stage because the DJ booth is elevated so you have a great view of the artist from any standing point. Really enjoyed all the acts I saw at this stage.
Finally, you’ll get to The Golden Gorge (aka main stage) that held some of the biggest names in EDM and Hip-Hop. The overall production of the stages was the best I have seen from Relentless Beats. It definitely took the event to the next level. The venue space was huge and while it was a pain to walk so much and dance,. As long as you wore the right shoes bouncing back and forth between stages wasn’t so bad.
The Most Wanted List
I didn’t realize how stacked this lineup was until the set times came out. This lineup was so diverse it really could please any fan of EDM and Hip-Hop. It was definitely something new for Relentless to do and I think it worked. If you didn’t like a certain artist or genre, you could go to another stage and check out a different artist. Some standout sets this weekend were Excision, Dillon Francis, Claude VonStroke, RL Grime, A-Trak b2b Baauer, Drezo, Ghastly, Malaa, Rezz, San Holo, and Shiba San.
I heard some wild things about the rap artists (Lil Uzi in a tree?!) there I just didn’t make my way with set time conflicts. It sounded like everyone had a crazy lit time. Also was pretty special having so many natives to Arizona on this lineup too: Injury Reserve, Ghastly, Drezo, and Mija all got to represent at the first ever Goldrush.
For me, my top fave sets this weekend was definitely Drezo, Shiba San, Ghastly and Malaa. I hadn’t seen Drezo or Shiba San before so they were my must-sees overall. Drezo’s dark house vibe as the sun was setting on Day 1 set the tone. I was so happy I finally got to hear Heaven and Let the Bodies Hit the Floor remix live. Shiba San played on Claude VonStroke’s Birdhouse Stage as the second to closing set on Day 1. There is something special about being at a Dirtybird stage. The vibes there were so groovy and everyone seemed like it was one big family. Shiba’s set had me shuffling til I think my feet were going to fall off.
This was my third time seeing Ghastly and by far the best oh my I will never stop talking about this set. He threw down on day 2 and does what he does best by blending a range of genres from bass house, dubstep, future bass and just filth. I took a mini-break after I saw him because of how much I danced. I think for Drezo and Ghastly playing this festival was special for them since they’re from AZ which made it an amazing experience for us.
Finally, I saw Malaa like three weeks ago at Something Wicked. There was something different about this set maybe it was the overall atmosphere and vibe that made me love his set. Besides the most popular Malaa songs, he put some other newer house songs in the mix that were so fun to hear live. I also found my way into a shuffle circle at this set and got to groove with some pretty talented shufflers.
Honorable mentions from this weekend included the A-Trak b2b Baauer set. It was a lot of fun. Marshmello surprised me with his set and hearing Silence live to close out the whole festival was pretty special. San Holo played his guitar live and just had this presence on stage that made the set filled with so much light and love. Everyone (including me) is in a lot of pain after seeing Excision and are still not recovering from Rezz or RL Grime. I wish I would’ve ventured to see more hip-hop acts at night to get the full picture. I saw some earlier in the day but with conflicting set times just had to make some choices. From what I’ve heard and videos I’ve seen those sets looked just as fun too.
Goldrush 2018?
Honestly grateful I got a free ticket because I don’t know if I would’ve bought a ticket to this year’s festival. I am so glad I went. Relentless planned an awesome festival. Each set was incredible. For being the first of its kind, I think it is a really awesome festival. I didn’t have any issues with the crowd, I met so many amazing people and with it being all ages, I met and traded some kandi with some younger kids that were so excited to be there. The dust was a big issue. Pack a bandana and some allergy medicine and you’ll be fine. You can’t really do much about having a festival in the desert.
I think this festival has lots of potential for the coming years and I’m sure Relentless is gathering feedback on how they can keep on raising the bar to make it a reoccurring staple in Arizona’s music scene. It’s definitely an exciting time to watch the scene grow from since I started going in 2015. Maybe I’ll be able to make my way back to the west for Goldrush Arizona 2018. but next up for me is Decadence Arizona to ring in 2018.
If you were at Goldrush Arizona 2017, what’d you think? Let me know in the comments below and subscribe to vibe.
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