Two days before:
C: What are you doing tomorrow?
E: Beach day with some friends.
C: Go to Mad Decent Block Party with meeeeee
E: Uhm that's kinda last min right?
C: 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 spontaneous adventures
E: Alright, let's do this
Top: American Apparel
Nails: Laque Top: LF Tats: Madness
In the cool AC of our building, we transformed ourselves into our alter-egos. With a layered Free People bralette, LF fringe top, and bootylicious shorts, Coco channeled the cool, effortless festival style. As for myself, I ended up looking like a cross breed between The Jungle Book and Queen Amidala in my American Apparel crop top, Lime Crime liquid lipstick, and gold Urban Decay eyeliner. We braced ourselves for the LA heat and armed ourselves with three canteens, sunnies, and snapbacks. As much as Coco and I love LA, we are beach girls. Well, Coco actually hates the beach, but we can both agree that the beach has the best weather. Either way, the heat is unbearable; especially in the mass crowd of people at the venue.
Jungle Nymph~ lip: Lime Crime Gold: Urban Decay Eyes: Naked #3
Eyes: Urban Decay, Kat Von D, Mac
Diplo was the goal, but in the meantime we caught the tail end of GrandTheft which was a great start to the evening. Then came Cashmere Cat and Thomas Jack, who reminded me of a runaway pirate. His music was so chill and cool as it moved through the overheated crowd. Coco and I weaved through sweaty bodies and cigarette smoke to get as close as humanly possible to the main stage. The heat was no joke. When I say the heat, I mean, stagnant, moist, body heat, with a touch of smoke and BO. By the time Klingande came on, we were only two rows away from the front. The crowd was calm as we bobbed to the trap music flowing through our bodies. Klingande brought on a killer saxophone player during his set which was a refreshing twist to all the electronic music. Prior to this concert, I had never heard of any of the artists except Grandtheft and Diplo. It was a pleasant surprise to hear something different from traditional EDM with huge drops and bass.
After what felt like an hour long intermission, Cut Copy finally came on the stage. They were a group of typically basic hipster dudes. The lead guitarist even wore a shirt that had a milk carton on it. Their music was lively and alternative. Think Foster the People infused with even more electronic music. The mood lighting set the stage and the smoke left the musicians standing in silhouettes. It was a beautiful set. By the time they finished, hype spread across the crowd for Diplo. Coco has already seen him live and knew what we were getting ourselves into. I, on the other hand, had no clue. LED plates were placed in front of the main stage as the crowd pushed and shoved towards the front. I held onto some guy's camelback and hoped for the best.
By 8pm, Diplo himself set the stage. Screams spread through the crowd and the second the first beat played, the crowd started thrashing. It was as if everyone's inner savage came out to play.
We sang our hearts out, "I wanna run awayyyy....cause you & I-i-i-i...you know you like it...I love it....you know you'll never be alone..." We would have danced our hearts out too had we not been sandwiched between thousands of bodies. Even just lifting up our arms was a huge effort. As the sky turned darker and the strobe lights transported us elsewhere, we lost track of time and all obligations. Throughout the whole set, Diplo brought out various guests like Aluna and Ty$. By the closing beats of the night, a swarm of rappers threw down on stage as streams of white confetti fell down like snow.
Once the lights faded, our legs began to give out and the ringing in our ears only increased. It was still a warm summer night as we walked down the streets of LA to the parking lot. Though it was only 9pm, it felt like midnight. On the ride home, we hit up Sonic for slushies and midnight cravings. As the city lights faded away and my face jewels began to peel off, I began to feel like my old self: academically-driven, over-thinking, realistic. Dressing up for concerts and festivals is literally like putting on fairy wings and calling yourself Sparkle; it's fantastic for a little while, but it doesn't last forever.
Rave/festival culture is like many brands. It's not just an experience, it's a lifestyle. Like drugs are to an addict, the rush that comes from concerts is insatiable. Music is transportive, and with mass amounts of people, it creates a unique flow of energy, of connection. There's a lot of bad connotations that are associated with raves/festivals nowadays. Usually, people think of drugs, dirty dancing, and dirty people. Undeniably, that all exists, but it's what you decide to make of it. Not everyone is doing drugs. Not all girls are running around naked. Not all guys dance dirty. Festival culture is all about having an open-mind and escaping. Everyone has a different way to escape reality, but for me coming back to reality is what makes the fantasy special. Let your Wild side out, but remember that it was the Tame that made you.
xx Ella-Kol
