The annual Goldrush Festival wrangled Goodyear, Arizona again this 2024 with its high-stake experience as Goldrush: Wild Card. Presenting a jackpot of electronic dance music winnings, this year shared never-before-seen performances in a wild west casino royale party. Dealt with a straight flush hand to a sea of fringe-wearing cows on the dance floor, savormeditation shares a few favorite highlights to inspire you to join the rodeo in 2025! 

Red Dice in the Goldrush Casino: A New Theme 

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Did you know the Goldrush theme expands in concept every year? This year’s festival theme was surrounded by entertainment, more specifically gambling and partying from the gold rush era. Goldrush: Wild Card was then given life with a fire-red poker theme and casino royale glamor! 

New and improved stage production matched the demand of an opulent theme. LED dice art installations connected to the main stage and synced to the colors of the lasers. Elevated VIP areas included expanded areas and larger than life-sized playing cards scattered in the Platinum Lounge. The mountain at The Moonrise Mountain Stage displayed visuals as if it was an official stage; every minute detail of production went all-in at this Goldrush casino. 

The Royal Flush on the Dance Floor: Special Sets 

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Goldrush, year after year, grows distinguished in its lineup curation offering a juggernaut experience worthy of a return. Making their first special B2B debut was INZO B2B Mersiv which was seen at Goldrush before any other festival! INZO wore a black bandana around his neck and a cowboy hat with purple fringe as he performed–can it get any more Goldrush than that? 

On day 1 at The Paradise Prairie Stage, Timmy Trumpet performed a set special enough to hold your heart with laughter. Timmy Trumpet danced and pretended he was riding an inflatable trumpet like a car! Then, he played a real trumpet live which felt surreal if you didn’t see him exchange one for the other. To my surprise and many others, he mixed Adele’s “Someone Like You” which led to the end of his set. Before leaving the stage, he shared some blunt wisdom with the crowd, “Love is the answer and  it always f***ing will be”. 

A crafted lineup so special, you had to choose one artist or the other. Black Tiger Sex Machine: The Anime Show was happening at the same time as ACRAZE B2B Noizu. Stage-hopping for this first world raver problem will always be a pro-tip! 

Gambling Musical Risks for Unexpected Winnings: Artists’ Experimental Moments 

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From Ray Volpe mixing Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” to San Pacho playing drum and bass for his encore, unexpected moments unfolded with every performance. At the Moonrise Mountain Stage, OG NIXIN not only played his signature riddim but shared with the crowd new music from his unnamed side project for half of his performance. Even though his unreleased music sounded nothing like hardcore riddim, the crowd loved it. 

Meanwhile at the Coyote Cove, Walker & Royce brought the heat to the dance floor as expected, but the visuals made some smile and do a double-take. Visuals began as a man and woman dancing on top of a car hood and roof, then it displayed the four penguins from Madagascar dancing perfectly to the beat. 

Have there been weirder visuals? Of course, but even taking a gamble with goofy visuals is an artistic risk appreciated by many! OMNOM played “By Myself” and 15-20 minutes past his set because Mall Grab arrived late. For OMNOM fans like myself, it was a happy surprise. 

Experimental but exclusive to Arizona was Sullivan King’s praise and introductory visuals during his performance. Sullivan King filmed his own special introductory visuals to commemorate he’s back in Arizona with a voiceover made exclusively just for Goldrush. “Phoenix, it’s been three years since we’ve reunited with the dubstep daddio and Phoenix knows how to party from the waste management open to ASU–sorry U of A, you got catching up to do”. With special visuals specifically dedicated for this crowd, Arizona seems to hold a special place in Sullivan King’s heart. 

Sullivan King played guitar on stage then threw it to a stage production member like it was a baseball before bringing Ray Volpe on stage to dance to new music they made together. Groups of gold-bikini wearing girl gangs headbanged in unison (holding the tips of their hats) to his new unreleased track featuring NGHTMRE and Grabbitz. 

Human Poker Tables and Double-Denim Cowgirls: Goldrush Fashion 

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As the Goldrush theme expands with each passing year, the fashion continues to develop its A-Game. Attendees dressed in no shortage of cowboy boots/hats, fringe, and bandanas per usual. Ace-X accessories for this A-Game included fringe harness belts and silver or turquoise medallion belts. Since looking like a cowboy/girl in this Sonoran sky wasn’t the only option, wearing gold or glitter made attendees look good enough to be enamored like a piece of gold. 

The Weird and Wonderful Cast performers were scattered throughout the festival wearing head-to-toe denim outfits and carrying poker tables connected to their casino royale-inspired costumes. 

You could be walking in the VIP lounge when a casual human-poker table offers you to play. Even though the fashion grows more experimental with each theme, the timeless cow onesie never grows old on this Southwest dance floor.  

Winning the Triple Red ‘777’ Jackpot: The Official Afterparties 

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After the final performances of each night, Coyote Cove became the life line for the afterparties until 5am. It didn’t matter if you were a headbanger or a house-loving hottie because the afterparty lineup was curated for either subgenre. If you missed a performance from either of these headliners, the afterparty was a guaranteed way of catching up! 

Day 1 presented Sullivan King with support from Dark Mark. On day 2, AC Slater started his performance mixing “Once in a LIfetime” by Talking Heads which felt like a nod and secret handshake to his musical influences. After, he featured new hits “Pump” featuring Chris Lorenzo, “Lights On”, and “Brain on Drugs” before FAIRYDVST ended the weekend.