By Seth Miller

Thursday Night

Thursday’s headliners were Big Gigantic and Beats Antique.  We got in late but seamlessly, all told, from the perimeter highway in Southwest Atlanta, through the festival gates was one of the quickest entries ever.  We were running late, dome light on, changing shoes in the car, a traffic cop directs us to the credentials area with a smile.

After checking in and being dropped off by two staffers on a golf cart, there was that feeling of anticipation that we all know and love.  Which way do you go?  That way- the direction of the music.  You could hear the tribal, experimental and edgy sound of  Beats Antique.  Forget about setting up camp, we were ready to go- this was not to miss.  After walking a quick pace, some could even consider it a light jog, we made it to the crest of the hill overlooking the main stage for Thursday, the Beat Tent.

Beats Antique

Beats Antique has a sound that is kind of hard to describe because there just aren’t a lot of bands out there like them.  If you were to be teleported into uncharted territory, a tribal region in the middle of Africa, into sacred ritual where everyone had some type of synth machine hooked up to their instrument.  An electronic drum circle keeps the beat, occasional deep bass hits, and a witchdoctor plays the flute accompanying a small string section, you may be imaging what Beats Antique sounds like.  Of course, nothing like that exists, and that’s what makes the band so fun to see live.

L4LM Stock Photo

The three piece is known to put on quite a show and has a stage presence that often pushes the boundaries of out-of-control.  Frontlady Zoe Jakes enjoys crowd pleasing, and leads the audience down a strange road of mischief and mystery.  At any point in time, the mood and direction of the set can completely change.  The trio is able to key off of each other, creating a musical circus with Jakes starring as the main attraction and ringleader.

Zoe is mesmerizing as a belly dancer, and a talented performance artist- the likes of who may actually be too interesting to book the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for a show.  Not that they wouldn’t have her.  She is synchronized with with the rest of the group, and her antics are both shocking and intriguing.  Eyes open and jaws drop as she entrances the audience with her Siren’s Call.

L4LM Stock Photo

Big Gigantic

As the name implies, Big Gigantic brings a full bodied sound, escalating melodies until just the right time and then exploding the rhythm into a dubstep and jazz influenced snapshot of music.  Playing familiar tunes such as their popular “I Need a Dolla” remix and a jazzed-out version of “I Can’t Stop” by Flux Pavilion,  they have the ability to slow things down, mix it up, and even throw in hip-hop to keep the party fresh.  Bring earplugs if you are coming to see Big G because part of what they do is play at a very high volume.  Big G is the kind of set where you may feel like you need to sit down and take a break (always drink lots of water, for sure) – but your body just won’t let you.

The duo drew the biggest crowd on the first night, fully packing out the Beat Tent to capacity.  Here’s a video that we took from the crowd as the Rowdy Train heads into the Station:

Friday Night Highlights

Friday and Saturday nights, the main festival stages were open, the Point and CounterPoint stages.

Bassnectar

30,000 Bass Heads Represent the Bassnectar Family

Always a crowd favorite, Bassnectar brought a set that was precise and kept the crowd on their toes.  A little dab’ll do ya, but in this case there were (we estimate) around 30,000 in attendance at the main stage, and so Bassnectar brought an extra special mix that transformed CounterPoint into a full on rage fest. The crowd stretched from the front rail of the stage to all the way back to the CounterPoint sign on the hill, and as the fog rolled in we were all dropped into a Magical Valley of Bass.

Sexy mashups, remixes and new songs such as “The Bass Episode”  were delivered during Bassnectar’s 90 minutes to peak the festival.  As he criss-crossed tracks, new and old, experimental and improvisational, Lorin (Bassnectar) continuously kept the crowd in the action by having us sing along, and maybe even to a certain degree dictate the pace of his performance.

Samples from Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” were incorporated into a new mix, and he used some of his classics including “Here We Go” as segways and buildups into new song introductions.  Just after CounterPoint, Bassnectar released his newest mixtape “Freestyle” – it turns out he featured a few of these new jams at the first annual festival.

Basshead Aliens

Look closely at this video and you will see that even some martians flew over to get a glimpse of the scenery:

All about the crowd participation, Bassnectar gave the crowd multiple opportunities to sing-along, fill in the gaps and dictate the pace of his juicy grooves.

WATCH: Lorin “OMG I love you!!” as the crowd fills in for him on his Redman vs. “Wildstyle Method” mashup

The Magical Valley

The highlight of possibly the entire festival came when Bassnectar dropped his massive hit with Nelly Furtado, “Magical World” – which although a little old – was a track that when released brought dubstep into listener’s living rooms and car stereos.  Unlike other songs of the night, ‘nectar left Magical World relatively intact, and played the melodic track near the end of his set in beautiful fashion, searing life long memories into the hearts of his endearing fans.  He also played his remix of “Lights”, a huge track that he remixed by Ellie Goulding which provided another slowed down – but heart warming moment in the evening.

Saturday Night

Everyone is recovering from night one and ready to do it again

Pretty Lights

Seeing Pretty Lights is believing, we’ve included some photos and a short recap video below so that you can relive the experience with us.  Pretty Lights headlined night three, and was one of the most anticipated artists at the show.  With an elaborate stage that almost mimic’d a cityscape, Pretty Lights filled the air with luscious tunes and a light show that is bar none.

Derek Vincent Smith (aka Pretty Lights) brought a very impressive stage setup, that included 3d projection mapping, LED lights, high output stage lights and lasers.  His DJ booth appears to be wrapped by millions of watts of electricity, and with each note the stage interacts with Derek.  Also at Pretty Lights, the lighting technicians do a phenonomal job of projecting the stage presence out into the crowd, by layering smoke and fog and then overlaying lasers and lights to create a blanket of rainbow visuals.

The crowd at Pretty Lights was as energetic as any of the entire weekend, and the venue was again filled to capacity as the much anticipated artist entertained with not only an impressive light show, but also beats that incorporated elements of electro, funk, dubstep and soul.

There were moments of the set that were more melodic and downtempo, which Pretty Lights used to please the audience.  With a bit more of a mainstream appeal that some of the other artists at the festival, Derek made sure to play a nice selection of sub-genres during his headlining gig.  During most of the weekend folks were coming and going throughout sets, but it seemed like there was no one leaving early for this one- and if anything the main stage area was more full at the end of his set than the beginning.

Recap Video: Pretty Lights X Fireworks

Looking back at the stage setup for Pretty Lights at CounterPoint, it was one of the best I’ve ever seen.  As the photo below demonstrates, some of the best in the business have spent numerous hours in staging and production areas, behind the scenes to make a display like this work.  If you have an opportunity to see to see Pretty Lights I would highly recommend it, it may just be one of the most amazing experiences of your lifetime.

AVICII

AVICII’s set was a dance party the entire time.  There was a nice hard-house drop that he came back into, time and time again during his set that I hadn’t heard before.   There was a lot going on during AVICII’s set, which was really unfortunate as he is personally one of my favorite artists.  As we were walking around we caught some artwork from graffiti artists, which would change by the day.  Have a look below as we look at the art, and take you into the into the crowd to get a feel for what it was like to walk into AVICII’s set.

Skrillex

Grammy Award Winning Sonny Moore, AKA Skrillex, came in to town to throw down his signature, grungy and grimey style of dubstep on Saturday night.  A lot of people at CounterPoint had not seen Skrillex live before, but for certain there were a lot there that had come to see the dubstep artist.

Sonny catches flack for being trendy, because he has nice hair, makes wompy dub step music and all of the posers like him.  Or whatever, that’s all nonsense and pretentious.  I’m here to tell you that the Skrillmaster turned heads as he took the stage, changing a few minds in Georgia on Saturday.  Seasoned EDM fans flocked to his set at the main stage, and the crowd went nuts when he dropped hits like “Make it Bun Dem” and his remix of Benny Benassi’s “Cinema.”

He did joke to the crowd “Pretend like you’ve never heard this before.” – whenever he brought in his version of AVICII’s “Levels.”  To my great pleasure, Skrillex played “Summit” – probably not one of his most popular songs live as it is a little slower, but it showed a true emotional side of his set that was candid and warming.  If we were giving out awards for success at CounterPoint, Skrillex probably would have won the Breakout Artist award, changing minds and showcasing good energy through music.

Also, Sonny was mixing live throughout his set, using improvisation and most importantly, having a good time.

We stumbled into a feat of bravery during Bass Cannon – a company had come in and blew up a gigantic airbag that you could jump on to from several stories up.

In Conclusion

We will be back next year

CounterPoint 2012 went off without a hitch.  There was a nice selection of festival wares, from special glasses to light sticks and apparel.  The crowd was great, staff worked their asses off, and there was a nice range of amenities available.  CounterPoint welcomed some of the largest names in electronic music with open arms, and a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Hats off to everyone who made CounterPoint possible including production, artists and management, vendors and festival staff, volunteers, the patrons, and everyone else who supported the event and brought their best.  Look forward to seeing you all next year!!!

Photos, HD Bassnectar & Pretty Lights video by Winston Murray