All the Lights, Sights, Sounds and Rides you could ever want in a carnival especially made for music-loving adults: Global Dance Festival 2018
Enter: Denver Colorado mid-July. The sun is blazing and you approach the eventually-to-be-renamed Mile High Stadium, the ground shaking from the pure energy emanating from the grounds before you. Your own energy elevates and you start to pick up your steps to make your way to security, music is loud, faces are happy and there is nothing but colors before you. You’ve arrived.
This is the scene you found yourself the star of at the Global Dance Festival 2018. Having run for 16 years, the masterminds at GDF realized they needed to switch things up. Last year they swapped Red Rocks for Mile High for their location, and just when you thought GDF couldn’t step it up any more, this year, they most definitely took the festivities to the next level. Adding stages, space, and a totally new genre of music to the lineup, Global Dance Fest 2018 was truly a musical experience to be had.
Check out our review of Electric Forest 2018
This year, the folks at Global Dance decided to switch things up a bit. Since they added more space and an additional stage, why not add some new sounds to expand the audience as well? Billing acts like Future, Machine Gun Kelly, Kevin Gates and Gucci Mane, GDF added a whole new level to their repertoire.
Now, this change wasn’t without controversy. (SOME!) Global Dance Festival veterans had a qualm or two with the added genre – the main concern being that it wouldn’t bring the “same kind of crowd,” which, c’mon Y’all, it’s 2018. Regardless of the GDF “purist” complaints, the festival had the same happy bouncy vibes as any other Global Dance Festival, this time it just had a little more lyrics thrown in than usual.
We were able to catch Machine Gun Kelly and Future on Day 1 – two acts that definitely drew a large crowd. MGK was up first and for lack of better words, his set was… confusing. When we walked up XX was plastered on all of the LED light boards, which threw us non-die-hard-MGK fans for a bit of a loop (EST. 19XX is his label; didn’t know that). On top of that, when we walked up MGK was wrapping up his previous song and jumped into performing Day’N’Night by Kid Cudi… needless to say, we stood there a bit confused for about 5 or so minutes.
After MGK lit up the stage with hard-hitting lyrics, guitar riffs, and an oddly placed Kid Cudi song, Future stepped to the stage. With an even more packed crowd, Future jumped right into performing his featured A$AP Ferg hit, “I’m On a New Level.” A perfect start to his set that carried the same energy throughout his show. The rest of our Friday consisted of bright colors and bumping sounds thanks to Jai Wolf, Two Friends, and of course, Claud Von Stroke to wrap up our Friday night at Global Dance Festival 2018.
Saturday we started a bit earlier, making sure to catch Colorado/Global Dance favorite, Illenium. Illenium debuted his new single “Take You Down,” moving back toward his OG melodic style after a few heavier song he’s been recently coming out with. Of course, having become a Global Dance staple, Illenium had a massive crowd bouncing along to his sound at the Summit Stage. Performing a B2B with Said The Sky, who recently released his debut album, their floaty melodic sounds melded seamlessly together making for a great back-to-back set.
Saturday had a heftier lineup than Friday, but who we were interested in seeing skipped around the schedule quite a bit. The lines for the festival rides were long, very long, but we managed to wait it out for at least one, because how could you not? The flashing lights and warbled cheerful screams from fellow festival goers was way too inviting. Global Dance Festival 2018 was truly like a huge carnival for adult children.
Hip Hop for the night consisted of Kevin Gates and Gucci Mane for us. Gucci was… Gucci, The Trap God himself, not too much to say about the performance in all honesty. Unless you’re a die-hard fan or just listen to the radio, you heard every Gucci song you know.
We wrapped up our night with Tiesto, a classic. What better way to wrap up your festival weekend with some glorious house music brought to you by “the best DJ of the last 20 years” (DJ Magazine). Of course, fireworks filled the sky, which was great, considering our Fourth of July was rather lacking in the fireworks department (fire bans are important, everyone. Especially here in Colorado this summer). We ended the night on a definite high, Global Dance Festival yet again, did not disappoint.