There’s no better sight to see than a city being taken over by the attendees of a Music Festival. This Labor Day weekend, NCMF 2015 was held at Union Park in Chicago. The streets pulsing with smiling faces, vibrant clothing, and dancing feet. The excitement both inside and around the grounds made Chicago the place to be for the last summer celebration.
Now check out some of LostinSound‘s Highlights from NCMF 2015!
The 847 Stage was a smaller stage built on the basketball court – located on the far end of the festival grounds. To get there, you had to walk through the outdoor gallery of live painters, who had something new and vibrant to look at each time you walked through. It housed personally a large portion of my favorite performances ranging from future garage, deep house, and chill electronic artists. I found myself there multiple times throughout the day and caught each headliner at the end of all three nights of the weekend.
Slow Magic
Slow Magic closed out night one on the 847 stage with impressive fusions of audio and visual displays. He dropped tracks from his new album ‘How to Run Away’ including “Girls”, all performed beat by beat on his drum pad. If you missed the chance to see the animal masked DJ, definitely make sure to check out his music.
Wave Racer brought the heat as he closed out day 2 at the 847 Stage. His impressive performance was backed by an equally impressive visual array. Happiness seeped from his reel of bright colored retro videos paired with rainbow lights that illuminated pink. He closed his set with his remix of Duke Dumont’s – “The Giver (Wave Racer remix)”, which left people begging for more! Since opening for Flume on tour, to closing out this festival, we are very excited to see what he brings in the future to come.
Haywyre
I stumbled upon Haywre’s set when I got to the 847 stage a few minutes early before Gold Fish. And I was blown away! From Vancouver, Canada – this up and comer delivers deep and future garage and house sounds on his key board. Remixing songs by Odesza, and dropping his own productions sharing a similar yet fresh sound – this artist should definitely be on your radar as he rises throughout the scene.
Gold Fish
I was fortunate enough to catch South Africa’s most popular electronic act, Goldfish. Having not seen them before, I was not prepared when they brought out a saxophone and flute to play over chill electronic beats! I had listened to their music, but missed them on various bills this summer such as Electric Forest. Seeing them live is simply incomparable.
Hands down one of the most impressive performances I saw was Atmosphere at the 773 Stage. They brought the lyrical heat, bass, rhymes, and a sense of humor. Their heavy set was completely unexpected by the crowd, hopefully you were lucky enough to catch their set.
Other notable acts included…
Glitch Mob dropping their remix of The White Stripes’ – Seven Nation Army was a major Highlight this year. Bass exploded into the crowd and echoed into Chicago’s night sky.
Widespread Panic
Wide Spread Panic’s set was one not to forget. Their unbreakable chemistry jammed into ecstasy leaving us all lost in sound and excitement.
Galactic returned after having a reputation as a North Coast crowd favorite. This year they brought along Macy Gray, adding a touch of soul.
Shpongle played a set at the 630 Stage full of uptempo psychedelic dance beats. Shpongle classics like “Star Shpongled Banner”, and “Divine Moment of Truth” were mixed amongst his new sounds.
Tycho
Tycho is always a set never to miss; and their NCMF 2015 set was nothing but a testament to that. Truly one of the most beautiful sounding artists in the world right now…nothing more I can add to that!
The Heineken House was one of the newest additions to the festival this year. The blow up air conditioned dome was a perfect escape from the hot, humid summer air. It was polished with a lineup featuring techno and deep house artists, a hidden Heineken bar and video projections that danced around the ceiling of the dome. This immersive experience is one that I hope will be a continuing tradition for NCMF years to come.
Kill the Noise
Finally, we ended the festival with our most anticipated headliner, The Chemical Brothers was a headliner all were excited for. They got the crowd prepared while they tested the magnitude of the strobe and laser lights. They certainly made us “Swoon”! The light show was as strong as their performance making it a perfect way for attendees to close out not only their weekend, but also summer’s last stand!
Silent Disco
Silent Disco
Photography by Brittlyn Tyler
[Visions of Liberation] [Brittlyn Tyler]
