by Lena Thomas
I’m going to start this off by saying Spring Awakening was one of my favorite festivals I’ve ever been to. I had so much fun and felt so close with all of my friends. We listened to some amazing music, danced our butts off, and met some amazing people. Spring Awakening is an experience I will never, ever forget. The festival took place at Addams-Medill Park in Chicago, Illinois the weekend of June 8-10. I wanted to go to Spring Awakening because the lineup really caught my eye, and it was super close to my birthday, which was on June 4. Because I wanted to do a birthday festival and I was so in love with the lineup, Spring Awakening was a perfect choice.
When I first started planning Spring Awakening and getting my group together, I knew it was going to be fun but I didn’t realize exactly how fun. Our group consisted of myself, my boyfriend, and my friends Paige, Arden, and Nick. Shortly after I posted a Snapchat story of us landing in Chicago, my friend Simon, who I’d met at Imagine last year, replied and said he was going to be there too, and that’s how our Spring Awakening rave fam was born. Before the festival, we started worrying about the weather because it was supposed to rain all three days. It actually ended up having perfect weather—sunny with temperatures in the mid 70’s to low 80’s (it did get pretty chilly at night though). Each day of the festival, we ubered, and traffic wasn’t too bad.
Day 1
When we first got into the festival on Day 1, we walked around to get a feel for the venue. The stage design and production seemed better than previous years (based off of what I could see in pictures of previous years), but there was definitely still room for improvement. We ended up starting off our day with Tritonal and meeting up with Simon and his friends, Filip and Charlie. After Tritonal, we went to see some of AC Slater, then left early to catch the end of Matoma and get good spots for Alison Wonderland. After Alison Wonderland, we went to see Oliver Heldens, and we finished off the night with Tiesto. Day 1 definitely had the worst overlap for me. Having to choose between Tiesto, Gareth Emery, and Zeds Dead was hard. We ended up choosing Tiesto because we had tickets to see both Gareth Emery and Zeds Dead in July. Although Tiesto’s set was good, my biggest regret of Spring Awakening was not going to Gareth Emery because something came up and I ended up not being able to go see him in Dallas. The best set of the day (and honestly the whole festival, in my opinion) was Alison Wonderland, but everyone we saw on Day 1 killed their sets (Except when my boyfriend and Charlie left AC Slater to go catch some of Getter, who they weren’t fans of). We finished off the night at a Tchami and Mercer afterparty at Concord Music Hall and danced the night away to some much-needed house music.
Day 2
Music-wise, Day 2 was my least favorite day, but that’s more personal preference than anything. Even though it was my least favorite day, I still ended up having the time of my life. My boyfriend put me on his shoulders at our first show of the day, 3LAU. I’d been wanting to see 3LAU live for a while, so I’m really glad I got to see his set. After 3LAU, we went to NGHTMRE and stayed at the same stage for Flux Pavilion. We tried to leave Flux for a bit and catch some of Cash Cash, but the sound at Cash Cash’s stage was awful, which was super disappointing. The stage was too close to main stage (where Carnage was playing), so my friends and I joked that it sounded like Cash Cash B2B Carnage. We ended up going back to Flux after about 15 minutes and stayed at that stage for Big Gigantic. Because of schedule overlaps, Big Gigantic didn’t have a very big crowd, so we were able to get really close. The best set of the day was probably Big Gigantic. I’d never seen them before and didn’t really know what to expect, but I ended up loving them.
Day 3
Sunday was probably my favorite day of Spring Awakening. We started off our day at JOYRYDE, then left early to go to Slander. At Slander, we ran into some people Nick had met the first day, Jess, Ian, and (another) Nick. We stayed with them the entire day, so our little rave fam ended up growing some more. After Slander, we saw Seven Lions. After Seven Lions was Zedd, who ended up doing a last minute set after Dash Berlin cancelled his set due to sickness. We left Zedd early to get good spots for Porter Robinson (another last minute set). At first I was upset about the Virtual Self set being cancelled, but Porter’s set changed my mind 100%. We ended up finishing off the festival with Kaskade, who was absolutely amazing as usual. The best set of the day was definitely Porter Robinson, with Kaskade being a close second. After the festival was over, we went to the Deadmau5 afterparty at Concord Music Hall. His set was all techno (it reminded me more of a Testpilot set at Electric Forest) and I was LIVING for it. Day 3 was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to finish off the festival.
The Vibe
As for attire, I saw a really solid mix of ravey and casual attire. My friends and I all stuck with rave attire because that was what we were most comfortable in. I saw a lot of people online complaining about the vibes they got at the festival, but I experienced nothing but good vibes there. In my opinion, the vibes you give off are the vibes you receive, so every festival is what you make of it!
Pros/Cons
Pros:
- Quick security lines
- The lineup
- Weather
- The people
Cons
- Only one water fill station with INSANE lines
- Sound bleed at the smaller stages
- Okay stage production
Favorite Sets
- ALISON WONDERLAND– Alison Wonderland is one of my favorite DJ’s, so I might be a little biased. Every time I see one of her sets I’m so happy and dancing the entire time. I also love supporting a badass female DJ. I’ve seen her twice this year so far, and I can definitely see how much she’s grown as an artist.
- PORTER ROBINSON– I’d only seen Porter Robinson one other time, and due to some unforeseen circumstances, I didn’t really get to enjoy it. Initially, Spring Awakening was supposed to have a Virtual Self set, but due to some production issues, his set got changed to a Porter set. At first I was pretty bummed about this because I was really looking forward to seeing Virtual Self, but Porter’s set blew my mind. I’m so happy I got to actually experience a Porter set and I loved literally every second of it.
- KASKADE– I love Kaskade. He had the closing set on the last day and all I can say is that it was amazing. Chicago is his hometown, so when he talked during the set, you could tell that this set meant a lot to him. He played nonstop bangers, and I even got on my boyfriend’s shoulders for my favorite Kaskade song, “Atmosphere.” During the set, it started sprinkling outside just a little bit, and it gave it such a magical feel. It was the perfect way to close out the festival.
Overall, Spring Awakening was so much fun, and I’d definitely go again! There’s definitely a little room for improvement, but the pros weighed out the cons in my opinions. Whether I go again or not though, Spring Awakening 2018 will always hold a special place in my heart, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world!
Thank you Lena for this review! You can find Lena on social media: Twitter and Instagram.
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