V2 Presents’ annual St.Patrick’s Day-themed festival, Get Lucky, kicked off the beginning of the festival season on a high note.
The annual March festival, Get Lucky, by V2 Presents, once again curated a memorable weekend of fun. Located at The Great Saltair outside Salt Lake City, Utah, this year started with a hefty bout of weather that eventually dissipated into a two-night two-stage party. With lots of heavy hitters on the lineup, including GRiZ and Gryffin, along with the last-minute addition of Knife Party due to travel conflicts for Adventure Club, it was the perfect way to kick off festival season.
The Great Saltair is Utah’s most prominent dance music festival and concert venue. Just a short 30-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City, this event space is nestled right along a highway exit on the salt flats. Though it seems close, prepare to order an Uber or have a designated driver ready by the night’s end because there are no lodging or restaurants nearby this slightly isolated place.
This year’s Get Lucky featured its usual two stages, Celtic Palace and Tent of Gold. Celtic Palace is the two-story indoor main stage with bar areas, bathrooms, a place to purchase food, and a small VIP section in the top floor corner. Unfortunately, the only 21+ area to grab drinks was upstairs, and you couldn’t bring them downstairs. Tent of Gold, a stage setup outdoors in a big, white tent with a tethered-off VIP section in the back, featured artists such as Dion Timmer and Ilan Bluestone.
There was minimal room to see the show from the top floor at the Celtic Palace unless you were lucky enough to snag a standing-room spot at the rail.
The VIP at Celtic Palace came in handy, having a separate bar area with shorter lines and more availability to see, albeit at an awkward angle to the stage. VIP at Tent of Gold, the newest addition this year, was a blocked-off space at the far back of the stage. Though it lacked any VIP amenities, the available free space did come in handy when the Tent of Gold became packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people.
As we prepared to leave for the beginning of Get Lucky, our phones buzzed with news that the Tent of Gold would be shut down with the ongoing hail, rain, and lightning until further notice and the performances inside the building would continue. Bummed out but not having given up hope, we braved the intense weather on the freeway and showed up to the electric, happy sounds of Nurko playing inside. The weather subsided as the night went on, and the Tent of Gold reopened to an incredible performance from HALIENE, whose impressive singing set the tone for the night.
Luci gave an astounding performance dropping unreleased songs and curating the bass house vibes.
During her electric set, Luci played some of her bass bangers, such as “Me and You” and “Invade,” and sprinkled in some new unreleased songs, showing a more pop-centered side of her music. Over at the outdoor stage, Gabriel & Dresden brought the heat with some intense classic trance that had the crowd dancing and singing throughout the entire set.
Following Gabriel & Dresden’s Classic Trance set, Ilan Bluestone took the stage and presented his Stoneblue performance. Standing in that crowd, listening to his happy, hopeful, and joyous set, I looked around, and there was not a single person standing still. When he played heartfelt songs such as “Sun & Moon” by Above & Beyond, the energy and love of the crowd really shone through. As someone who had never been to a Stoneblue performance before, I cannot recommend it enough.
Closing out the night, GRIZ performed a set full of funk, pop, bass, and house.
One of the standout moments of this performance was when GRiZ welcomed Probcause and Chrishira Perrier onto the stage to accompany the vocals on their song “Skydive.” Midway through his set, he whipped out his usual saxophone to play live on stage and was accompanied by his band to kick the energy into a different gear. It was quite a fun turn of events seeing live singers, artists, and band members at the close of the first day’s festivities.
While the first day had its share of weather mishaps, the second day was trouble-free.
Entry and security went by with a breeze, though the crowd seemed twice the size this day. Large, inflatable mushrooms now seasoned the outdoor lawn area, and more themed props were put up.
The second day was filled with immense talents such as Kompany, Madeon, and Gryffin playing at both stages. Throughout the second day, the Tent of Gold was packed to the brim with people trying to fit into the dubstep heaven. In the Celtic Palace, Madeon’s DJ set stood tall and was teeming with remixes of popular hits, ranging from “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd, “One More Time” by Daft Punk to the recent “RATATA” by Skrillex.
Compared to years past, V2 Presents has slowly shown more effort into the theme each year, and this year was no different.
While I did enjoy the newly added large, inflatable mushroom decor, I had hoped there would be something new and exciting in store for this year. The production quality was about the same as last year, and the stage elements of dancers and flow artists were the same. While it did feel like a carbon copy of prior editions, the music and visuals graciously pulled through this year to give the crowd a memorable weekend.
Overall, this event was the perfect way to break up those winter/spring blues and bring energy to the upcoming festival season. As usual, V2 Presents concocted a fantastic weekend festival that catered to lovers of all genres. With excellent sound quality, outstanding production equipment, and incredible lineups, next year will be even better.
