ICONtact: Burning Man 2011 Review

by djicon on September 22, 2011 in ICONtact Archives

Hey party people! Has it really been a month since Burning Man??? Woah, that flew by fast! This decompression back to the real world was a difficult one because this burn was the best one ever! Everything went smoothly and wonderfully from start to finish. I loved the weather, my campmates at Opulent Temple, all the amazing art and music, and last but not least: I loved ALL the gigs I played on the playa – each one was special in their own way. A big factor in why I had much more fun this year than previous years is that I took on less gigs; it was great to have a couple nights off from DJing so I could really experience and explore the playa without looking at the time. I had my nights to rock then I had my nights to party… it’s a WIN!

So here is my brief review: I arrived in Black Rock City late Friday night and dove right into Opulent Temple soundcamp set up from Saturday through Monday. On Tuesday I could finally get into the groove and partied at the DISTRIKT opening party. That night we had a fun tag session with homies Elite Force, DJ Kramer and Matt Kramer aboard the Janky Barge art car; despite technical difficulties we still had a blast. Wednesday was a super fun night off, we did an art tour on our bikes and raved our faces off to Infected Mushroom live at Opulent Temple… epic times! After such a stellar night, that sunrise was especially beautiful. Thursday night I played at the annual No-Pants Party on my good friends’ awesome artcar, the Dusty Rhino, at Flower Camp for the second year in a row. It was awesome that there was a control in the DJ booth to blast fire from the Rhino’s horn! Yeehaw! After that I played at my homecamp Opulent Temple; words can’t describe how much I love performing there, how amazing the dancefloor, crowd, lasers, fire effects are and also the pure intensity of it all. I wait all year to be able to blast the flamethrowers from the booth during my set, where else in the world could this be possible? Friday was jam-packed, by this point I was panicking that the week was almost over! I played a little daytime Breaks set aboard the Crazy Train (aka The Queen Beast), the OT firetruck-transformed-into-caboose artcar we share with I’m OK, You’re OK Coral while we cheered on Critical Tits and rode out to the perimeter. That night was by far my favorite playa moment of the year. I was scheduled to play on the Dancetronauts Strip Ship at their camp on the Esplanade, but as soon as I started playing, they drove out to where the massive Trojan Horse was about to burn. As soon as we parked with a perfect view of the Trojan Horse, thousands of people flocked to the instant raging dancefloor below; I immediately was performing for a sea of thousands of burners, all dancing their asses off – WOW! After I slammed it for 1.5 hours, the horse went up in a ball of fireworks and flames and I headed back to camp to get ready for my sunrise set at Basscamp: Temple of Boom. Their PK soundsystem was amazing and LOUD, I was super stoked that they invited me to play this year. I couldn’t have asked for a better sunrise; I played a pretty, melodic Dubstep set with lots of vocals and right as the sun came up, I dropped the new bootleg Ground_Control and I just made of Smashing Pumpkins “Disarm” – it was truly magical and was a great way to end my gigs for the week. Saturday night was when the Man burned, and I had the night off to party with my friends and celebrate the amazing week we all just had together. The next day we did strike for OT, it went so smoothly that we all had time to go see the Temple burn that night. I’m so glad we stayed for the Temple burn because it was especially poetic and meaningful this year. I’m already planning for next year, can’t wait for the Opulent Temple 10 year anniversary! I posted all my BM photos on my Facebook page and also will be uploading to the photo gallery on my website… enjoy!

Enough of the past and future, now onto the present! This weekend marks the return of Love Parade/Lovefest/Lovevolution now in Oakland, not SF. Our beloved annual music parade and festival took a one year hiatus due to the negative press that burdened the EDM community last year, which led to San Francisco’s decision to not allow the festival to take place at Civic Center any longer. This Saturday the festival will be held at Oakland Coliseum, tickets will be $40 at the gate. I am looking forward to playing on the Dancetronauts Strip Ship stage at 5pm. That night I am playing at the annual Seismic After The Love with Plump DJs and Plaza De Funk. Use my promo code below to get $15 pre-sale tickets! After the Lovevolution festivities, I will be playing a pool party at Earthdance on Sunday at the Solono County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. What a busy bee weekend I am going to have!

All gig info is below. Have a safe, fun and wonderful weekend – I hope to see you on the dancefloor! xxx

Yours Truly,
ICONnie

Saturday September 24
LOVEVOLUTION: A Dance Music Parade and Festival
@ Oakland Coliseum
7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA
12pm-8pm
sflovevolution.org

DANCETRONAUTS STRIP SHIP LINE-UP

12pm Kyle Jouras
1pm Brian Williams
2pm Dulce Vita
3pm TravNasty
4pm Philthy Phil
5pm DJ ICON
6pm JB Vries & Billy Casazza
7pm Dancetronauts

18+ w/ ID
$25 Pre-sales | $40 Entry at Gates

GET PRE-SALE TICKETS HERE
RSVP ON THE FACEBOOK INVITE