[Event Review] Soaring Through the Stars at Dreamstate SoCal 2024

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We are back from the Queen Mary and resting from an entire weekend of dancing and dreaming. This year’s edition of Dreamstate Southern California was nothing short of amazing and impactful. To a top notch production, to a crowd flow that alleviated most of our concerns that were raised last year. This Insomniac production has quickly become one of our favorites, so let us tell you why.

The Production At Dreamstate

This year’s Dreamstate Music Festival in South California saw its return to the Queen Mary Waterfront. This is just the second edition that took place in the venue, and the production took a huge step up from last year. First, the shuttles that took you from Long Beach to the festival grounds and back were not on the main street that crossed the city, but rather near the marina. This helped with the main traffic within the city and it was safer for ravers to commute through the more calmer streets.

Then, each stage had a big improvement with visuals that gave us bigger immersive experience. Each set was a wonderful audiovisual journey. Each stage had its own package of pyros, smoke machines, lasers, and great vibes that carried on through the night. Furthermore, let’s not forget about the raging afterparties on the Queen Mary. Two nights of insane and special sets that lasted til sunrise, within three separate ballrooms on the ship. It was heavenly to have shuttles that lasted through the afters as well.

The Music

The festival crafted a magical selection of tastemakers this year, including legendary sets that people have waited for years. Sets we must mention include the Judge Jules (classics set), Darude, and Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella, which is the first time Corsten does a set under thos alias in the US in many years. The set was special cuz he only has a handful of tracks under the alias, which represent the meaning of heaven in different languages. Even though the Gouryella project began with Tiesto, Corsten took over the project and now brings it back from time to time, and we were the lucky ones to experience such a special set this weekend.

Other sets we loved included psytrance specialists Out of Orbit, Giorgia Angiuli, and Captain Hook. On the Techno side, we danced our booties off to Funk Tribu and day 1 closer of the Void stage Clara Cuve. Then, we heard the violent yet fun basslines of Hard Trance, which included David Rust, and David Forbes & Matthew Sherry present Thick as Thieves.

The Main Stage (The Dream) gave us all we needed. Trance pioneers such as Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, and Giusseppe Ottaviani pres Ottagon controlled the crowd with their melodies. Moreover, day two saw even bigger diversity with an Anjunabeats takeover lead by Above and Beyond. Other progressive artists we enjoyed were Grigore, Amy Wiles & Leena Punks, and Andrew Bayer, who closed the weekend with a Trance remix of ‘Eusexua’ by FKA Twigs and made our entire night.

Favorite Set of the Weekend

Our top set of Dreamstate SoCal 2024 goes to Giorgia Angiuli. Her frequencies are extremely seasoned and dark. Her audio-engineering skills that allow her to perform with her own made up instruments that resemble child toys while still touching on adult emotions is sublime. In addition, the mantras she displays on her visuals are extremely positive and uplifting, which leads into some hardcore dancing with her insane kicks and rumbles. This is one extremely talended artist and we hope she returns to Dreamstate SoCal consistently.

The Vibes

We will never quiet down about how amazing the Trance crowd is. Dreamstate is a sea full of respectful individuals. They continuously set the bar extremely high with the marvelous behavior and public etiquette. With their permanent smiles, and respectful behavior, Dreamstate’s audience is the PLUR personified. Since last year, others are wary of the Techno crowd. As the festival includes Hard Techno artists since last year, attendees remain calm and collected as we cherish each beautiful interaction we had with them.