Heaven & Hell Halloween Music Festival

On Saturday night I attended the Heaven & Hell Halloween Music Festival & Costume Party featuring three of my favorite DJs: Wolfgang Gartner, Dada Life, & Fedde Le Grand. Although there were numerous other impressive Halloween events going on in the LA area, such as HARD, I opted to drive down to San Diego solely because I fell in love with Dada Life when I saw them at Nocturnal back in September. Even though I heard that there were some amazing sets at HARD (props to Diplo & Crookers), I'm very happy with the choice I made!

Del Mar Fairgrounds turned out to be a really great venue for the event. There were two large indoor stages: one Heaven themed & one Hell. Then there was a smaller outdoor stage surrounded by food vendors and seating. The first stage we entered was Heaven where Dada Life was about to begin. There were two go-go dancers fully adorned in angel "clothing" and blue lights flashing onto the pool of 20 to 30 year-olds ready to get their dance on. I must also add that I was really impressed with the crowd's costumes! From start to end, Dada Life never failed to bring top energy. They peeled back banana after banana, chomping down on the fruit while spinning hits such as Hello (remix of Martin Solveig & Dragonette), Cookies with a Smile and even their brand new jam Unleash the F*cking Dada. I was hoping they wouldn't spin the exact same set as they did at Nocturnal and they did not let me down!

Unfortunately, Wolfgang Gartner and Fedde Le Grand had the exact same set times, so we decided to start off with Fedde (Heaven Stage) and move to Wolfgang (Hell Stage). I was only able to hear about 20 minutes of Fedde's set, but those 20 minutes left a lasting impression. I had never seen him before but knew that he was a house legend. He brought the energy and stage presence that was expected of him & the bass bumped hard. I would love to have the chance to see his full set sometime in the future. I was eager to check out the Hell Stage where Wolfgang was already getting down to business. His stage seemed a little more crowded than Fedde's which truly surprised me. When I first saw Wolfgang in August at the Avalon, I had never heard of him before. Since then, I have downloaded and overplayed many of his songs. My favorites of the night were Animal Rights and Wolfgang's 5th Symphony. I was a little disappointed that he didn't play Undertaker, but I am going to see him again on New Years so I'll let that one slide.

Overall fantastic night & I look forward to filling you all in on the upcoming Sebastian Ingrosso, Max Vangeli, & An21 show I'll be attending this Saturday at the Avalon.


*P.S. Just saw Swedish House Mafia's new documentary Take One last night and was not impressed. The videography was boring and all three members (Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello) all came out looking like pompous a-holes. Here's a link to the trailer: Take One