The basshead community was brought together for its annual Basscenter gathering. Although last year the 2-day festival was held at Red Rocks, Bassnectar has been banned from performing there due to the fragility of the surrounding rock formations. The rock formations have been cracking and faulting due to the loud and seismic force of the bass, so heavy bass performers like Lorin are restricted in the decibels they can perform at. So instead of compromising his love for bass in your face, Lorin and his amazing team of sound engineers found a sports arena to use for this massive gathering. The stadium and general set up of this Basscenter reminded me of how Basslights is set up. Nearly 50,000 bassheads filled the stadium to the brim as Bassnectar and friends blasted from his towering speakers, bumpin’ so hard that the surrounding neighborhoods thought there were earthquakes occurring (and there are some hilarious videos of the news interviews online, I’m hoping one day he’ll sample their quotes or something!)

Friday
Dabin – 5pm
Minnesota – 5:45pm
Lupe Fiasco – 6:35pm
Flying Lotus – 7:35pm
Flux Pavilion – 8:40pm
Bassnectar – 10pm

Saturday
Thriftworks – 5pm
G Jones – 5:45pm
AlunaGeorge – 6:35pm
Porter Robinson – 7:35pm
Wu-Tang Clan – 8:40pm
Bassnectar – 10pm

The line-up for this festival was stacked with great artists, as well as two nights of Bassnectar. I’ve always wanted to see Minnesota and Flying Lotus, so those two sets were highlights for me. Minnesota opened the first night and I was satisfied in his set but I wish I could see him perform in an indoor venue. Flying Lotus’ set was awesome, and he played a handful of some throwback songs that really set the right mood for night two.

Everyone was so excited to see Wu-tang clan, but I was fortunate enough to see GZA at Moogfest this past summer, so I already had high expectations for their performance. I loved GZA’s set at Moogfest because it was so concise, smart, and professional (much to the theme of Moogfest), but their set at Basscenter was entertaining for different reasons. The members of Wu-tang were having much more fun at this set, and the music reflected this goofy attitude. And in the spirit of Colorado, they also lit the fattest joint I have ever seen on stage and smoked it through the duration of three songs. Hahaha, but what can I say, killer bees forever. ❤

Although I have only seen Bassnectar a hand-full of times, especially compared to other diehard bassheads, I thought this was a great showcase of music for Lorin. The first night was very melodic, and he played a lot of new songs from the album he just released. I had a mutual friend complain that they didn’t enjoy the first night, but then they also started bitching about all of his new music and told me that it was their 40ish Bassnectar show. Look, I’ve been listening to Bassnectar since 2011ish, and although I didn’t go to shows at the time, I believe it’s unfair for us as the listeners to hate on their progress.

And to make them eat their words, the second night of Bassnectar was fireeeee, where he showcased his ability to switch anywhere between heavy bass, trap, ambient, melodic and hip-hop, and also did a bunch of cool mixing and scratching. My favorite moments were this weird clip where he sampled himself saying “This bass is sooo fuckeddd upppp”and used a synthesizer to bend the sounds, and when he played this dope remix of “It’s bigger than hip-hop” by dead prez.

All in all, Basscenter was a great time, with a fantastic line up, genius sound engineering, and a little something to shake the ground and literally wake the neighbors.