The festival opened its gates at 6 p.m. on both Monday, Dec. 30 and Tuesday, Dec. 31, where eager ravers flooded through to ID checks and security, greeted by cheers from enthusiastic vendors and flashing LEDs.

Just moments after entering the gates for day one, the air was already alive with energy. Every space vibrated with its own rhythm as the Grand Palace, Royal Ballroom, Playhouse and Bazaar welcomed their first DJs to the stage.

(Olivia Prickett/Blaze Radio)

The first stop of the night was at the Royal Ballroom, where Slippe attracted festivalgoers with his techno remix on hip-hop and rock songs, including “Low Rider” by War and  “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” by Kanye West. The crowd started out small but eventually grew larger as the beats continued to sound more and more familiar and more voices started to sing along. 

Hopping over to the Grand Palace, where most of our time was spent, 2Soon was gaining traction as the crowd started to flow into VIP and general admission rails. He was the first DJ of the week to play “FEIN!” by Travis Scott, a track remixed multiple times by nearly every DJ. 2Soon’s set got the party started at the Grand Palace, with the crowd swelling to thousands by 7 p.m.

(Pedro Rojo/Blaze Radio)

Following his set, JSTJR and Nostalgix took the stage with an extremely dynamic back-to-back set, bringing electric energy early in the night. Both DJs got on top of the turntable, jumping up and down to get the crowd pumped up while playing remixes of popular ID tracks, including “Sippin’ Yak” by Cloonee and “Everytime We Touch” by Cascada.

(Pedro Rojo/Blaze Radio)

Passing the baton over to TroyBoi, the Grand Palace shook with not only the liveliness of the crowd, but with bass as well. Festivalgoers banged their heads with an impressive light show accompanied by captivating graphics. He even played new Kendrick Lamar, featuring “Not Like Us,” which seemed to be a theme for the week as it was remixed by many other DJs. This set was very electric and was a great segway into deadmau5’s set.

(Pedro Rojo/Blaze Radio)

deadmau5 was a highly anticipated DJ on the lineup and bringing his unique EDM sound to the biggest stage served as one of the most exciting sets of the night. His graphics featured his iconic stage persona that matched the beat drops to each song.

After a few songs, he put on his iconic “mau5head,” resembling Mickey Mouse, and chugged a Corona Extra as he continued with his set. At one point, the bass was so intense that it made everyone’s bodies tremble, reverberating through them like a heartbeat of its own.

(Pedro Rojo/Blaze Radio)

The moment nearly everyone at the festival had been waiting for was Dom Dolla to take the main stage. Starting just after midnight on New Year’s Day, the stage went dark before two spotlights appeared and Dom Dolla made his grand entrance to the beginning of his new unreleased song called “Dreaming.”

“Phoenix how we doing?!” he said in his Australian accent, prompting the crowd to go wild.

Dom Dolla kept the immaculate energy alive from all of the sets before with his high energy and popular songs, such as “Miracle Maker,” “girl$,” “San Frandisco,” and “Saving Up,” which was actually played twice throughout his set. He also incorporated popular ID tracks that he is most known for and helped him gain traction as a DJ.

(Pedro Rojo/Blaze Radio)

The last set of the night was Excision, a dubstep DJ that featured an entirely new sound at the Grand Palace. Right off the bat, ravers were head banging at the rails while others were fist pumping. Following the first song, Jeff Abel, the man behind Excision picked up the microphone and asked the crowd, “Are you ready for some heavy bass?!”

And that’s exactly what he brought.

His sound attracted an entirely different crowd from previous sets, bringing in true bass-heads and other festival goers that enjoyed the sound of his hardcore beats.

As day one came to a close, everyone left the festival buzzing with anticipation for what day two would bring. The first day had been filled with energy, excitement, passion and a vibrant mix of diverse sounds that left the crowd wanting more.