After a weekend of scorching hot weather, gyrating hips, and frolicking masses, the memory of the 3-day Spring Awakening Music Festival will live on in people’s mind for a long time.
Due to a scheduling conflict, the widely known music festival was forced to abandon Soldier Field, the location that made Spring Awakening into what it is today, as the weekend was scheduled for the Copa America soccer tournament. As a result, the festival was moved to Addams/Medill park in Chicago.
Friday
A hot weekend was definitely in store for patrons. When the festival opened on Friday, June 10th, temperatures in Chicago reached highs of 93 degrees. While free water bottles were being handed out to any festival goer that needed to hydrate after dancing in the blistering heat, lines for water refill stations were extensive, but properly staffed by volunteers to assist with refilling your container.
Spring Awakenings great planning of the branded stages made sure everybody had a chance to listen to their favorite genres. Friday kicked off with the Body Language & Bass Kitchen branded stages, which presented a unique and tailored experience to the attendees. (more info).
Over 40 artists were scheduled to perform on Friday, including headliners Steve Aoki, Deadmau5, Datsik, and KLINGANDE.
Our favorite act, however, had to be Alison Wonderland, who delivered an amazing set along with an over-the-top energetic performance by crawling, dancing, and jumping all over the stage.
The night ended in neck-breaking, headbanging bliss at the branded Bass Kitchen stage, where headliner Datsik closed out the night with filthy dubstep.
View the photos from Friday, June 10th below.
Saturday
With temperatures even hotter than the day before, Saturday brought plenty of sweaty bodies onto the dance floor. Hoopers and other flow artists showed off their skills in the bright sun.
Music could be heard from all directions as the festivities wound up, as people caught their favorite sets and prepared for Saturday nights headliners – Kaskade, Zeds Dead, Claude Vonstroke, and ATB.
Branded stages Trance Arena and The Birdhouse pumped out specialized tunes all day, drawing attention to the smaller stages within the festival.
Closing out the night was Chicago native Kaskade, bringing all the Electro House that people could handle, performing an always special set to his favorite city.
Other noteworthy acts included Hippie Sabotage, who was a crowd-favorite, trading kandi and interacting with the crowd through the duration of his set.
View the photos from Saturday, June 11th below.
Sunday
Despite the tired attendees, Sunday proved to have higher spirits than the days before, with temperatures in the low 70’s. Those who had not partied hard the days before expelled the last remaining bits of energy from their bodies.
For those especially tired, a massage from “Hands That Rock” was one of the best ways to loosen their bodies for one last day of dancing. Hands That Rock is a non-profit organization that “raises money for programs concerned with music education, performance, related resources and outreach for individuals and groups in need.”
Sunday headliners were Above & Beyond, RL Grime, and Borgeous.
Dada Life, complete with his bananas and inflatable toys thrown into the crowd, was one set not to be missed.
Negatives
Although the festival seemed well-coordinated, there will always be some drawbacks to any music festival you go to.
As stated before, Spring Awakening was forced to move from Soldier Field to Addams/Medill Park. Comparing the sizes of the two venues, it’s not hard to tell that Addams park is significantly smaller than Soldier Field.
Due to this, there was a significant amount of sound bleed. Music overlapped and could be heard from different stages, which proved to be an important downside & major issue that should be evaluated for next year, if organizers plan to have it at the same park.
In my professional opinion, Spring Awakening was made into what it is today due to the sole fact that it was held at Soldier Field. The spacious, large, and built-for-large-events venue simply makes the event so appealing to attendees, that I believe without Solider Field, Spring Awakening will begin to lose its uniqueness value.
What were your favorite parts of Spring Awakening 2016? Let us know in the comments below!
