After last year’s weather prevented the debut of All Day I Dream in Denver, the Mile High City got a second chance on June 1 – and it was everything we’d ever dreamed it would be.
Nestled in the lush greenery of Denver’s Sculpture Park, the city’s inaugural edition of All Day I Dream, a day-long event filled with the dreamy house stylings of Lee Burridge, Roy Rosenfeld, HOJ, and Facundo Mohrr, proved to be exactly the event we had all been waiting for. With a perfect lineup of house confections and an enchanting backdrop, the event was one for the books, and we hope to see it make many returns to the Mile High City in the future.
After waiting out the early afternoon rainstorm, we got into the park around 3:30pm and were treated to one of those perfect late spring days that only happen in Denver: glorious sunshine, a flawless temperature, and just the slightest hint of a cool breeze. Though we were bummed to miss out on Facundo Mohrr and the yoga set, we were probably happier to be dry, and we still had many hours of fantastic music ahead of us – so we didn’t fret too much.
When I first walked through the gates of the event, I was immediately struck by how stunning everything was.
From the Chinese lanterns, fabric, and flowers delicately framing the stage to the verdant greenery of the park, the setting was absolutely perfect, and it was clear that the event organizers had gone well out of their way to pay their respects to not only the caliber of artists that would be on rotation throughout the day but to the natural beauty of the park, as well. It was one of those events that feels just the littlest bit surreal – we’re attending an event here? We were. It took a little getting used to.
Scattered throughout the venue were a variety of bars serving Sapporo (one of the event’s sponsors) and various signature cocktails, along with a variety of other drinks depending on what you were after. For our part, we grabbed a bourbon mule and found a spot in the middle of the dance floor to bliss out to some HOJ in the midday sun.
HOJ was keeping things beautifully low key with a variety of All Day I Dream tracks and a little bit of Anjunadeep thrown in for good measure.
To my surprise, he even threw in a remix of Alice in Chain’s “Man in the Box,” which was weirdly both totally unexpected and completely in place. Throughout his set, the crowd gradually increased in size, but at no point did I ever feel like there wasn’t enough space, and the people in the audience were all generally lovely and clearly very into the music, which was a welcome change from a lot of club events.
After HOJ, we took a brief shopping break and checked out the wide variety of vendors, including some clothing shops, a stand vending CBD oil, and a vendor selling some incredibly unique laser-cut wooden art and lanterns. We left with some very interesting pieces that we probably would have struggled to find at any other event – a credit to the burgeoning Burner community in Denver and their vast artistic talents.
From there, we drifted into euphoria with Roy Rosenfeld, who probably played my favorite set of the day.
Cycling between a number of his own originals and a couple of the tracks I love most from All Day I Dream, Roy Rosenfeld‘s late afternoon set was exactly what the crowd was looking for. When he transitioned out and handed the baton to Lee Burridge, the entire day had been so impeccable already that I would have been satisfied to end it there, but he as usual took us on a dazzling musical journey from start to finish. I couldn’t have asked for more.
Aside from the music, for the most part, the logistics were run quite well, with my first encounter being a painless box office experience and an equally quick search that set the tone for what was generally a well-thought-out event overall. That said, there were definitely a few things that could have been planned better, not the least of which was that there were not enough bartenders or enough bathrooms for the crowd assembled.
At some point, one of the bartenders remarked to me that they sold twice as much alcohol as they’d expected to, given the Burner crowd.
A couple of hours before the end of the event the bars were out of the vast majority of what they were initially offering. The bathroom lines were also rather excessive, but event staff did a good job of keeping things clean, at least, so it could have been far worse. Fortunately, that’s easily fixed for future editions, but hopefully, the organizers take note of that one.
Regardless – those things are, really, my only complaints, because the rest of the event was positively unparalleled in terms of musical quality, location, setup, and crowd vibes.
With this kind of a debut, I don’t know how they’ll manage to top it for the next edition, but it is my sincerest hope that they get the opportunity to do so because this is exactly the event we needed in the Mile High City. If you happen to have one of the All Day I Dream events coming to a city near you, snag a ticket and head that direction – I guarantee you won’t regret it.
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