Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 || Event Review

Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 left little to be desired throughout the two-day festival.

I was a little hesitant buying my Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 ticket when I found out it was going to return back to the NOS Event Center. Last year, the beautiful San Manuel Amphitheater was a fantastic venue for this two-day festival and they even had camping. Further, I had a less than spectacular experience at Escape Halloween 2016, which was at the same venue. Regardless, I bought my ticket and hoped for the best. I’m really glad I did that because Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 did not disappoint at all.

Day One

My group and I were staying at the Best Western Ontario Airport & Convention Center, an Insomniac sponsored hotel. They were extremely accommodating and offered free breakfast every day. We left the hotel around 4:30 PM and headed to the festival. The Media Parking instructions were a little unclear, but we were able to park relatively close to the venue.

Before we knew it, we zipped through the security lines and were inside the festival!

Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 — Photo Credit: aLIVE Coverage for Insomniac

Security was a breeze and there was not a long line at all. I walked around a little bit and found the Media room which was in an extremely convenient location for me and my group. This became our central meet-up point throughout the festival. We went straight to The Outer Realm stage and saw Bleep Bloop first. The Outer Realm was the home bass stage for Beyond and it sounded fantastic! I’m always blown away by Insomniac’s sound quality. The stage was extremely large too and the DJ was raised above everyone which made it easy to see.

Bleep Bloop played a lot of glitchy and unconventional bass-music. I thought his set was very unique and really conveyed his own sound. After Bleep Bloop we explored around a little bit. I really liked the way they organized the stages at Beyond compared to Escape. The Outer Realm was towards the entrance of the festival, which gave it plenty of room for people to come in and out. In the back of the festival was The Aquarium then Queen’s Domain in one corner, Cheshire Cove in the opposite corner and then The Upside Down House in the middle.

We explored the venue and began to become immersed in the wonderful stage design Insomniac provides.

We caught some of Wiwek‘s set at Queen’s Domain. He played an array of his own Jungle Terror tunes. What was impressive about Wiwek is his mixing ability is phenomenal. You really could not tell that a new song was coming in, everything just flowed effortlessly. Queen’s Domain was Beyond’s mainstage. The stage fell in line with the Endless Sea theme and offered a large visual screen behind the DJ, confetti and bubble cannons, and a scrim on the ceiling of the tent that had random visuals/jellyfishes on it.

After Wiwek, we caught a little bit of Rell the Soundbender at the Upside Down House. Rell’s set was fairly good! He’s an up and coming artist that places a wide variety of tunes from Trap to Moombahton. The Upside Down House is a staple Insomniac stage that’s at just about every event. As the name suggests, it’s a house that has everything flipped upside down.

We headed back to The Outer Realm to catch the middle of Gentleman’s Club‘s set. Gentleman’s Club is a bass duo comprised of 50 Carrot, Soloman, and Coffi. They have been making waves and deliver a high energy set every time! I saw them back at Nocturnal Wonderland for the first time, so I was really excited to see them again. Just as before, they provided the crowd with high energy and lots of cool dubstep tunes.

Next up were the two best sets of Friday.

Following Gentleman’s Club was Eptic b2b MUST DIE!. These guys were on my Top 5 Artists to check out during the festival and they really brought the house down! Playing a variety of dubstep and trap songs, both artists went b2b with each other. The mixing was seamless, there was never a break in the energy, and both artists showcased their individual styles as well. One of the best sets of the weekend.

After the madness that occurred during that last set, we took some time and ate some food. We walked over to The Aquarium, a new stage for Beyond, to catch REZZ. Getting into The Aquarium was a bit of a mess. It was extremely crowded and since that stage was the only indoor stage, they were regulating how many people could get in at a time. After about 10 minutes of being smushed together in the crowd, we finally got in. Inside, the stage was wide and ran pretty tall with the DJ being elevated.

REZZ played a mix of songs, both hers and other artists who have influenced her. She mixed in her own original tracks and tracks from Bassnectar, Zeds Dead and more. Other than her immaculate mixing and song selection, what was impressive to me was the growth in her career. I saw REZZ for the first time a few years ago when she opened for Skrillex and Mija at Quartyard in San Diego. When I saw her, I had zero idea about what music she produced. She was also extremely shy and did not really talk too much on the microphone. Watching her at Beyond, she was more expressive in her DJing and very vocal on the microphone. It was amazing!

After REZZ, we stayed for a bit of Shiba San, but then quickly went home! Day one was a wrap and we were anxious for day two already.

Day Two

Day Two began very smoothly. We opted to take the Beyond shuttles from our hotel, which was very convenient. We took the 4:30 PM shuttle and it got to the festival around 5:15 PM. Check-in took a little longer today and we immediately noticed much more people here on day two.

Sikdope provided some awesome tunes to start our day off.

We first headed to Queen’s Domain to watch Sikdope for a little while. I’ve been a pretty big fan of Sikdope’s songs and his set was extremely fun and a great way to start our second day off. His mixing was fast and he played an array of songs in his set.

After Sikdope we headed to The Outer Realm to watch Phiso b2b Aweminus b2b Definitive. They were good, but their mixing and song choices weren’t quite up to par with everyone else. We only ended up staying at the set for 20 minutes. Party Favor at Queen’s Domain was on our list next, so we stopped by his set. It was really packed, but we were able to get a good spot and stay for the duration of his set. He played a fun set full of trap, twerk and some harder dubstep tunes as well.

Despite the massive crowds on Day Two, we were still enjoying ourselves!

We took a break to get water and go to the bathroom and the bathroom/water stations next to Queen’s Domain were absolutely packed, so we ended up walking back to the front of the festival and using the bathrooms out there. We then watched Trollphace b2b P0gman at The Outer Realm and they did a fantastic job! The mixing was unbelievable and both artists kept the crowd’s energy lifted the entire time we watched them. Herobust was the next one up. I was VERY excited to see this guy for the longest time. Watching him at Beyond, however, was a bit disappointing. His set was good, but I expected a lot more from an artist who has such a unique production style. He did play his original songs, but his set just did not flow together entirely. Overall he was good but could have been much better, in my opinion.

After Herobust we caught a little bit of AC Slater, but getting into The Aquarium was a nightmare. It took us about 15-20 minutes to get inside due to the security guards regulating when people can come in. Once we were finally able to get in, it was really nice to take a break from all the bass music we had heard. AC Slater brought his Night Bass sound in full force and did a great job! I would definitely see him again.

We saw a bunch of artists to end our day, but SNAILS’ performance was one of the best.

We bounced around a bit and caught ten minutes of NGHTMRE’s set at Queen’s Domain and then caught the last half of 12th Planet’s set at The Outer Realm. NGHTMRE‘s set was fairly predictable, he played a variety of trap and dubstep tunes. The biggest surprise came from when SLANDER joined NGHTMRE on stage. They played a few songs together. We headed over to 12th Planet who was providing some of the nastiest dubstep the entire weekend. I can definitely see why the guy holds such a name in the dance music world. His set was really good!

We and headed over to the Brandon Eliot at the Beyond Wench, which was a big ship. We sat down close to the stage and took a breather before arguably the best set of the weekend, SNAILS.

I’ve been SNAILS a total of five times before Beyond Wonderland. Every single time I have been slightly disappointed and expecting more. He’s an artist I have been following for a few years and I think he’s a tastemaker for bass music with his unique style of production. This time, however, SNAILS delivered immensely. His mixing was superb and his song choices were absolutely disgusting. It was a awesome way to end an awesome weekend.

Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 was such an amazing festival. From the production, the sound quality to the artists they bring in, Insomniac really hit the nail on the head with this one. Yes, there were some minor drawbacks, but overall it was a festival done right..

Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 Pros:

Attention to detail was spectacular. All the little lights, actors, and other props they set up really set the mood.
Diversity in lineups. They had just about every genre playing throughout the two days.
Sound quality. I’ve been to a bunch of festivals and shows where you can barely hear the artist, that was never an issue here.
Ease of access. We never had to wait in traffic or long security lines both in and out of the venue.
Insomniac shuttles. It’s really awesome that Insomniac has been offering shuttles for their smaller festivals, it really makes things easy.

Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2017 Cons:

Queen’s Domain had an issue with the bass of the stage being turned off for the earlier Friday sets.
The Aquarium was a very tough stage to get into and is generally unsafe being in that crowd. One of my friends got pickpocketed due to the cluster of people.
The bathrooms/water stations being right in the middle of Queen’s Domain, Cheshire Cove, and Upside Down House were a complete mess on Saturday night due to the massive crowd.