Dreamstate New York 2016 || Cliff’s Experience

Insomniac’s Dreamstate brand has developed as the forefront of trance’s triumphant comeback, and the events have been incredibly successful, Dreamstate New York 2016 was no exception to that.

After the initial “boom” of trance’s resurgence was realized, an increased number of trance-only events at nightclubs, open to close sets, large-scale trance-only events like Dreamstate, and more began to pop up left and right. This rise is ever more evident with the increase of trance artists showing up on lineups for more mainstream festivals as well. Insomniac’s Dreamstate brand has really been a massive push forward for the genre. Wherever Dreamstate goes, whether it’s Southern California or San Francisco, or just simply a stage at smaller events like Beyond Wonderland or the Electric Daisy Carnival, the crowd follows. Taking trance to the next level means that both coasts need to be involved, and Dreamstate New York 2016 was an important step in the right direction.

New York has a very deep rooted dance culture with worldwide influences. Seeing what Insomniac Events had prepared for us and how a weekend of trance would be received on the east coast with Dreamstate New York was exciting. The American people want trance, that message is clear, and the performances and overall experience of Dreamstate often receive critical acclaim from the fans.

The location of the venue for Dreamstate New York was pretty much perfect.

Dreamstate New York was held in the Brooklyn Hangar, a medium-sized, otherwise nondescript warehouse style building in the industrial Sunset Park neighborhood. The police had actually blocked off the road leading up to the venue, so it was only possible to drive or take an Uber so far before you had to walk through a police line to get there. Entering the venue was quick and easy, and security seemed concerned about only checking attendees for dangerous items and weapons, and did not seem to be on a witch hunt for narcotics.

The venue only featured one stage, but it was beautifully decorated and designed. Two bars lined either side of the wall, and the large warehouse space provided plenty of room to dance and move about. The event was not overcrowded or over sold. CamelBaks were allowed inside, and one water refill station sat just outside the entrance to the stage. One lonely ATM sat by itself right inside the entrance, with a $9.50 withdrawal fee! I was stunned – and I’m still a little upset about it. That is the highest ATM fee I’ve ever been charged literally anywhere, even ATMs in Las Vegas nightclubs or hotels don’t charge this much.

Editors Note: Yes, there apparently was a Basement stage that was churning out beats, clearly it wasn’t well established that it even existed. Locals from New York took the stage, hopefully at the next edition of this event there can be more disclosed about this side-stage prior to the event itself.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

Outside, there was one merch booth which sold t-shirts, hats, lanyards, water bottles, and other Dreamstate merchandise. A local vendor was selling clothes and other items as well. The outdoor area was enclosed by a fence, but large pieces of the fence were missing. A security guard stood near the holes in the fence, but was often distracted, and it was certainly possible for one to slip in unnoticed.

On day one, the bass was rattley and distracted from the flow of the music. This problem was noticed and fixed by day two; there were no problems with the sound on day two. There were plenty of portable restrooms outside which stayed clean and fully stocked throughout the weekend.

The first day of the event had its interesting moments for sure.

Nifra took the stage right on schedule and warmed up the crowd. Nifra has gotten more attention lately as artists like Markus Schulz have pushed her work out hard on his Global DJ Broadcast this summer. Unfortunately, the night went awry early on when Nifra accidentally played into Standerwick‘s time slot. Her set started off slow but had really taken off; she was in the middle of an epic build up when 10 o’clock struck and Standerwick abruptly took over and kicked her off the decks, and began playing his cinematic intro. The audio cut out, there was a noticeable interruption and the audience reacted. It seemed like an awkward situation and there was no graceful transition or passing of the decks.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

However, John Askew took over smoothly with an absolutely killer tech trance set that set the room on fire. The crowd needed a boost of energy; Askew was able to read that and deliver just what the dance floor required.

Unfortunately, the rest of the night did not go off without a hitch either. Markus Schulz took the stage for his “Watch the World” performance, which I was quite excited for. Several artists joined Markus on stage; Adina Butar performed “Muse”, “You and I” and “New York City Take Me Away”, Brooke Tomlinson sang “Into the Night” and Nikki Flores performed “Leaving LA”. Early into his set, the jumbotron began to malfunction and half the screen would turn on and off intermittently. I believe I heard Markus say “Fix it!” into the mic in desperation.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

Not only did this distract from the flow of the music, but this set in particular had heavy incorporation of visuals to go along with tracks from “Watch the World”. It took nearly halfway through the set for the screen to stop malfunctioning. Despite the technical hiccup, Markus maintained the utmost professionalism and played a great set, but the distraction was difficult to ignore. His overall set was superbly constructed and had some unexpected surprises too, which made the technical issues that much more unfortunate.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

The rest of the night, thankfully, continued without any negative incidents or audio/visual malfunctions. Astrix and John O’Callaghan (who is becoming one of my favorite trance artists of all time) played fantastic sets. It was a treat to see both of them with dedicated set times that carried into 4 AM after Markus Schulz.

The second day brought improvements and corrected the issues from the first day.

There was some confusion when searching for the venue on day one, but with this eliminated the beginning of the night went much more smoothly. To preface the evening, there were no technical malfunctions and it seems that the sound had been adjusted to address the rattling of the bass that was present on day one. The second day opened with Mike Saint-Jules. There were positive vibes present right away as the crowd continued to arrive, because he was in such a good mood and you could tell that he was excited to be there. Freedom Fighters played a good set too, but Vini Vici had a powerfully uplifting set and was the first artist to unify the energy of the fans the room that evening.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

He was the perfect segue into John 00 Fleming, who has an impeccable understanding of how to bring the power of trance to a dance floor and avoid it getting boring. The momentum continued with sets from Coming Soon!!! and PureNRG – an act everyone was waiting to see. Giuseppe Ottaviani played at the inaugural Dreamstate and PureNRG, his collaboration with Solarstone, was the perfect selection for the east coast edition of Dreamstate.

Photo Credit: Insomniac Events

The evening culminated with Infected Mushroom. At a trance event I was hoping for a psytrance set from them but I remained cautiously optimistic. While it may not have been a set you’d hear in the early 90’s, they blew the roof off the Brooklyn Hangar with a with a perfect blend of electro and psy. The way the lineup was crafted, the evening almost felt like one really long b2b set with a bunch of amazing artists, and Infected Mushroom was the perfect artist to close the evening.

For a reasonably priced ticket to an event hosted at an intimately sized venue, Dreamstate New York had an impressive lineup for trance fans.

The performers were all fantastic, but the venue itself, along with the technical malfunctions, left a lot to be desired. There were plenty of portable restrooms, but not a single place to sit. Security at the Brooklyn Hangar provided a seriously negative experience. I tried to sit on the ground against a fence, and was told that sitting wasn’t allowed; that I was “at a dance party” and if I wanted to sit down I could go home… so there was that.

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