Identity Festival Philadelphia 7/29 Recap

Posted by Middy on August 3, 2012

Identity Festival made its triumphant return to Philadelphia with a quality lineup for all tastes with the likes of Arty, Madeon, Noisa, Excision, the master Eric Prydz and more. Though the lineup may not have been as stacked as last year as booking fees have risen astonishingly high in the last year, causing ticket prices to go even higher (or the other way around, chicken and the egg) the lineup was still very good and Identity Festival is going to provide an excellent show with outstanding visuals at a great price. It is something that we are seeing less and less these days.

The day started off with good sets from upstarts like “The Eye” and “Le Castle Vania” and when 5 rolled around it was time for Noisa to grace the stage with their eclectic Drum N Bass style, kicking the night into full gear. Pulling from a full array of their own songs as well as Electro and Dubstep tracks from others, Noisa’s set helped bring the festival to energy level it needed to be at with the crowd levels coming to their peak capacity. Pictures are now up on Facebook. Hit the jump for more of the recap.

Arty sent the festival soaring at 6 with his monster set including his greats like “Around The World”, “Mozart”, his bootleg of “Rebound” & Calling, his remix of “Spectrum” Alesso’s “Years” (release tomorrow!) and many more high energy tracks. He played a more upbeat set from his ASOT 550 set in Den Bosch, with some more Electro House mixed in, showing the variety of his sets and his ability to manipulate the crowd with each song. Interview with Arty to come soon.

After Arty was Showtek and their high energy Electro House, Hardstyle set. They are simply mad on stage. They are jumping around, singing along to their vocals and generally creating a great upbeat vibe for the crowd, amping everybody up. I missed a fair amount of their set doing my interview, but they played a mix of their old Hardstyle tracks that got a good reaction because people love bass and their newer more mainstream sounding tracks like “Hell Yeah” and “How We Do“.

Madeon was next up on the docket. The little Frenchman surprised me and I think a lot of people with how heavy his set was. He played some very grungy, growling Electro House tracks that somehow seamlessly transitioned into his feelgood nu-disco tracks. While he may look like he is 13 and have a bit of a diminutive stature he knows how to throw down and has a blast behind the decks, displaying infectious energy getting the crowd to give a little more than they normally would have. The peak-time moment came during “Finale” with its incredible bass line and fury that explodes from the speakers. The vocals embodied that Sunday for many people who had to go to work the next day (me), and for those enjoying their youth to the fullest.

Excision came next with his painfully powerful bass. (up front it hurt to take pictures the bass was so powerful. I don’t know you guys did it, actually I know exactly how, but I don’t.) His visuals are as usual outstanding and his bass heavy sets get the masses going. While his sound is not my favorite, it was still fun to experience live with the various recognizable vocal bits and the energy that was brought to the table by him.

Last up was the master, Eric Prydz. People had been leaving Excision 15 minutes before he was done, 30 minutes before the start of Eric Prydz to try and get a good spot to witness this rare occurrence of a Pryda show on US soil. At first I was not sure how the crowd would react to an Eric Prydz set, seeing as he is not going to drop hit after hit, but with him it does not matter. He is like Armin van Buuren. There is something mystical about when he graces the decks, he gains complete control of the crowd and his music does his bidding until the end of his set. He played a more upbeat set than when I saw him in France, playing a more Eric Prydz styled set, as opposed to Pryda or Cirez D. His set never had any dips in evergy with tracks like “2Night”, “SW4”, “Pjanoo”, “Allein”, a remix of “The Veldt” I have never heard before and an encore with the fantastic bootleg of “Mirage” with Empire of the Sun – We Are People. His set was incredible and the crowd loved every second of it. I think he and the crowd would have stayed for hours longer doing the Pryda because we don’t rage we Pryda.