The Best of Beyond Bay 2015: Day 1

With the Bay area’s deep electronic roots and a local predilection for all things hyphy, you can always count on the good folks of NorCal’s Bay Area to bring it, and first day of Beyond Bay 2015 was no exception. 20,000 Headliners arrived early to enjoy the glorious weather, the community vibes, the art and the music. Saturday’s lineup included Flux Pavilion and Brillz, Laidback Luke, Tommy Trash, Knife Party, Carnage, Yellow Claw and golden god Calvin Harris, who closed the night before a massive, gleeful crowd on the Queen’s Domain stage.

This the best of what we experienced on the first day of Beyond Bay 2015.

Taylor + Chase

We spotted this duo at the stage on Saturday afternoon, because they were holding a totem with their own faces on it. The duo met at Beyond Bay two years ago when Taylor looked at Chase and asked, “Where did you get those eyes?” He instantly knew she was for him, and vice versa. They hung out all weekend, and the rest is rave romance history. (“The cool thing,” Taylor says, “is that he had a go pro, so he has the moment we met on film.”) While the couple lives in separate cities, Taylor in San Jose and Chase in Fresno, these two trance fans regularly meet up for festivals and parties including Escape and EDC. “She’s the hottest girl I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Chase says. “Let’s be real. I didn’t think I’d ever get to hang out with a hot girl like her, but she came after me.” Happy anniversary to these raves baes in the Bay. –Katie Bain

One Heart Ravers

We spotted this crew in the midst of a serious dance circle as the sun was setting on Saturday evening. We’re talking legit choreographed shuffling and off the charts fancy footwork that had the crowd around them cheering. Turns out, the group was One Heart Ravers, Bay Area based meet up group whose aim is to maintain and promote the old school rave values of peace, love, unity and respect and making sure everyone is being looked out for and taken care of. Based out of NorCal, the group was started six months ago and already has more than 2,000 members. “This is our home rave,” says group organizer Davin. “We travel to shows in SoCal and go to EDC, but this for us is our backyard, so we represent hard.” And so they did. –Katie Bain

G. Jones

Trap and dubstep reigned supreme on Saturday with the Bassrush takeover of the Cheshire Woods stage, and the stacked lineup came strong out the gates at warp speed with an early afternoon appearance by low-end maestro G. Jones, who we first saw last weekend when he went b2b with Minnesota and Symbiosis. Appearing solo at Beyond, the Santa Cruz-based producer sampled from his recently released That Odd EP In the Pit of My Hard Drive and set the tone—the wobbly, insanely loud tone—for the rest of the day –Katie Bain

The Sunset

The sun went b2b with some clouds on Saturday evening and bestowed the crowd with a gorgeous blazing orange sky that gave some of the dudes on the lineup a run for their money. –Katie Bain

Reaching (Back) for “Higher Ground”

While it seems inconceivable given the current popularity of trap music, there was a time not so long ago when the sound was still underground and not so widely available on the festival circuit. This time is commonly referred as 2012. Yesterday during their set on the Queen’s Domain stage, Amsterdam act Yellow Claw took it back to the relative old school by dropping TNGHT’s “Higher Ground,” the bass/808/rapidfire hi-hat anthem that arguably broke the genre on the festival circuit. Yesterday demonstrated not just that the genre has made strides, but that the genre classic still moves bodies in the same way as it did back in the day when I first heard it in a dark, sweaty club on the eastside of Los Angeles and was like “Whaaaat is THIS?” –Katie Bain

Lionel Richie In Raveland

All we need to say here is that whomever conceived of this totem totally nailed it. The scarf is an especially nice touch. –Katie Bain

The Bay Hella Loves Bass

As the afternoon got started The Bassrush Stage jumped out in front with a huge amount of energy. Deafmind got things started proper and by the end of the of the first hour the lawn tucked away behind the two main stage was packed with dedicated bass heads rocking out to everything from trap to dubstep to booty bass. As the day wore on, the stage didn’t stop. Every time I walked through, the energy was thick as the lineup got more and more intense by the hour leading up to massive finish by Kill The Noise, Brilla and Flux Pavilion. –Alexander Dias

Breakbeat Is On The Come up

I’m a well-seasoned breakbeat fan. So it goes without saying that I can pick out when someone drops one, especially for more than 8 bars. In nearly every set I heard DJs returning to one of the foundations of electronic music for at least one track to give the kids a taste of some old school ghetto bass. No, it wasn’t a dominant feature but there was a time when you could go an entire night without hearing anything but four to the floor beats. Wuki’s “Front 2 Back,” recently released on Mad Decent, was heard more than once. Keep an eye out; breakbeat is coming back strong this year. –Alexander Dias

Calvin Forever

The closer in the Queen’s Domain was the clear crowd favorite on Saturday night. If people weren’t talking about his skills as a DJ and producer, they were talking about his dashing good looks. He brought a fitting end to a glorious day with a set that jumped between bangers, bouncers, and downright dirt. Of course there were the sing along moments everyone was waiting for, my favorite being “I Need Your Love.” It was my first experiencing him live, and he definitely brought it both in terms of on stage energy and technical skills. –Alexander Dias

Getting “Glorious” With Arty

With the release of Arty’s debut album Glorious in less than two weeks on Insomniac Records (10/9), Beyond Bay hosted an interactive listening and painting experience in conjunction with the album release. Headliners stopped by to create their own version of the Glorious artwork, and were lucky enough to have a first listen of the LP. There was also a special meet-and-greet with Arty ahead of his Saturday set, where some stoked fans got to get autographs and take pictures with the Russian superstar DJ.

Bouncing to Billon

Billon added an extra level of heat to my daytime vibes when I unexpectedly heard (well it wasn’t the original, but the vocal was still front and center) an updated rendition of one of house music’s most classic cuts, “My House” by Rhythm Controll. That small but simple offering put a bounce in my step for the rest of the day and I never looked back. –Boojie Baker

Raving Is A State of Mind Not Bound by Age

It’s hard to standout in a sea of 20,000 beautiful people, but Barbara Waters and her son, David, sure did. I came across these two enjoying the sounds of D.O.D at Mad Hatter’s Castle and decided to stop in for a quick chat. Barbara cut her teeth going to warehouse parties in Chicago in the 80s and converted her hard rock loving son into a lover of electronic music. Have you heard the quote: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” Well Barbara must have because this women beating age with a simple state of mind. You can read our interview here. –Boojie Baker