In February, the folks at Factory 93 teamed up with Day Trip for a party in Downtown Los Angeles. The first-ever Skyline Music Festival on this side of the coast took place over two nights on February 26 and 27. The sounds of electronic drums, claps and eager partygoers singing offkey to catchy lyrics blended into the sirens and cries of The City of Angels. Despite only having two stages, the sky was lit with lasers and flashing strobes to grooving beats by the legendary Carl Cox and Green Velvet.
Because the event was held smack-dab in the middle of LA, there was not much space. The North Stage, which was home to tech-house DJs such as Lee Foss and Sonny Fodera, and the South Stage, the savage land of techno with the sounds of Loco Dice and Marco Carola, was connected by a narrow walkway where people swam upstream to catch the end of a DJ set. There were plenty of volunteers helping the traffic flow, but trying to herd cattle would have been easier.
Toilets were conveniently located at the entrance of both stages. There were enough port-a-potties for you to take a wee if your group is making the journey to the next DJ. The South Stage had a rest area with food trucks for anyone’s dietary needs. Unless you don’t care about diet, you could take a bite out of the Cinnabon truck. My pick of the night was the Billionaire Burger Club.
If there were any complaints about the night, it would have to be the design choice for the North Stage because there was absolutely no room for dancing. The sides of the stage were cluttered with bars and people trying to bulldoze to the front. Not as many people went on Sunday as they did on Saturday, so the spacing issue wasn’t as bad.
The highlight of my weekend was seeing two of Naples's best techno DJs (IMO) of today: Anfisa Letyago and Deborah De Luca. Holy moly, their set was absolutely mental. Their sets were a barrage of dark 808s, acid riffs, and unexpected remixes. It was strong “Britney'' energy. I knew I was in for a treat Sunday when I turned to my friend at the end of Letyago’s set and asked, “Yo bro, is she playing psytrance?!”
All in all, Skyline was a good time. I hope Insomniac can allocate more room for dancing and travel in the future if they decide to bring the festival back to LA. The music was great, the food was great, and the friend lineup was stacked. Plus, seeing Luca and Letyago was the sweet, sweet cherry of the weekend.
10 out of 10, will probably do again.
