This year’s Snowball Music Festival brought a massive cold front that sent chills to all festival goers to experience what nature had to offer in the gorgeous landscape known as Vail Valley.C=T festival contributor, El Licenciado, to take in the views, the cold and maybe some snowboarding.
“It was cold. There was bass. And it was one hell of a weekend. Snowball 2012 came correct.
Spirit hoodies were in. Kudos to the party kids for upping their hoodie game and taking the latest snow-tacular-fashion trend to the next level. Even the Kooks’ front man Luke Pritchard was impressed, “It’s lovely hat weather… need to get me some.. of these.. uhh.. hats.“
While Pretty Lights wasn’t at the festy, the Colorado label was well represented. Break Science threw down the beats and Chali 2na of J5 brought the rhymes. When Chali wasn’t dropping lyrics, he was busting moves and getting down in an amazing fusion of old school hiphop meets new school dubstep. After seeing Chali 2na break his neck, I have a new found enthusiasm for dubstep.
For all the Snowball heavy hitters, Big Boi stole the show. The entire crowd was moving at the Main Stage where he seamlessly mixed new tracks from Sir Lucious Left Foot with Stankonia and Aquemini classics. The crowd shook its ass to Shutterbug, sang along with Ms. Jackson, and straight erupted to B.O.B.
When Major Lazer jumped on the Main Stage, local Denver favorite Sub.mission Dubstep was warming up in the Heat Hut. Sub.mission quickly filled the sparsely populated tent with several hundred party goers. I’d happily choose the Denver crew over Major Lazer any day. This author looks forward to catching their upcoming Denver shows.
Some random guy outside the Groove Tent warned me, “Here come the lasers.” He was spot on. Ghostland Observatory had a loud, heavy, very unique sound, and their accompanying laser show was ridiculous.
The festival organizers successfully balanced out the electronic heavy, music scene with other genres. Pritchard announced the Kooks were from “Eng-ah-land” and proceeded to tear it up. TV on the Radio came on next and, comparatively, sounded a little flat. A. Tom Collins is a band, and they have a unique sound. I’d recommend listening to them for yourself. It’s fun. And My Goodness was an unexpected surprise of good old fashioned rock ‘n roll.
Pictureplane takes the award for tightest skinny jeans. Oh, and props to Rusko for playing Friction’s new track, “Led Astray.””
El Licenciado is a bon vivant that hails from the luscious sands of El Paso and is responsible for three two of my near death experiences.
Snowball Festival 2012 Gallery
Tom Collins.. + Trumpets = Yes