I Survived GDF 2019 - Part 1: Inferno! A Photo Diary

GDF rolls around but once a year in Colorado. Annually, the beloved event brings out the best in people. Whether your a performer, a behind the scenes person or just an attendee- Global Dance Festival makes us all happy. Global Dance and AEG brought a stellar lineup and exquisite production to this year's episode with day 1 falling over a very hot July 19. Besides all the memories made at Broncos Stadium at Mile High that day during the festival, Denver set a new record for heat. Nevertheless, the show went of without a hitch. Regardless of the intense temperatures bass heads flooded the festival grounds as they have in every year over the last 18 years. Denver loves it some Global, and when we come we only want to do one thing- DANCE!

Preamble

I knew I had two days to get as much quality footage as possible. There was so much to choose from so I decided to take some of my own advice. With that in mind I felt day 2 had all of the sets I did not want to miss most. Therefore, I chose to devote day 1 to capturing the spirit of the event. I made sure to hit all of the stages and also get some good shots of the festival grounds, art installations, and crowd. From this, I've created a photo diary to chronicle my day 1 perspective. These are my best shots mixed in with some of my more memorable experiences.

-Bass'D Out DNVR

Day 1: Inferno! A Photo Diary

GDF Day 1 was, in a word, Fiyah! Record heat, fire sets, soooooo many scintilating women, fireworks displays, pyrotechnics, and even a wasp's nest thingy that shot flames out all night. It was definitely a scorcher during the day though and there wasn't much repreive from the heat. Even the Silent Disco was lit up! Certainly, if you made it out of Day 1 alive you probably woke up in the burn unit because GDF 2019 came with the heat!

What's the one thing people want to do when it's hot as hell outside and they have to stand in a huge concrete lot next to a gigantic metal heat magnet? That's right, stand in line to use a port-o-potty. Also, dance. This was my first year doing press for GDF but I still made time to get it in on the dancefloor. I was on a solo mission for the first time too but it was "chill." I didn't get distracted by nonsense and was able to put in some work at all the stages including the silent disco. I definitely made the most of Day 1. Did you? This is how I got down...

This group of girls was muggin me hard when I was taking pics of the crowd. I managed to get a dece' shot though lol. If you know this chick, please tag away.

50 shots of fireworks and this was the ONLY one that didn't look like doodoo! This chick kept staring at me like I was some type of natural idiot for trying to even get the photo. Who's laughing now, Becky!? ...Nailed it!

This couple looked hella outta place so I made it a Kodak moment... No bullshit that's a 'Wish You Were Here" postcard photo for that ass! Minus the sweaty and mildy heat strokish-ravers sprinkled around in the background. I can't even front though, the heat was outta control that day. I had level 5 swamp booty from the moment I left my spot until I get in my whip to head to the after hours gigs. It was funny seeing people just passed out in the grass or behind a trash can. Although, it does bring back memories of partying in warehouses back in the day. The food courts were poppin' with dank grub and there were water stations-a-plenty but the sun was being a total dick the whole time. When was the last time you were so hot that you just took a nap on the ground- in the middle of a huge festival- next to a dumpster and a gigantic wasp- in a tutu and pasties? Let that sink in.

I spent a fair amount of time at the Northern Lights Stage. I Got there a little bit before Herobust ended before Krewella came on. Herobust murdered that shit. As usual. I'm sure he went and fucked it up at Temple Denver afterwards too with Blanke. There's not really much else to say. Dude kills. Krewella, however, was surprisingly not terrible. Straight up they came out and dropped 20 minutes of straight burners before they even pulled out a microphone. They had the crowd jumping for sure!

Brutha on the right was goin' extra ham like Canadian Bacon.

It was hot af all day so peeps were just layed out all over the place, all day long. The wookery was real by the GDF hornets though. They were huddled up all deep in a musty ass cuddle puddle. 🤣🤣🤣

Not sure why but they kept blasting off flames from this orb like every 5 minutes. Haha, seriously! Somebody got paid to keep that thang on flame all day long- In 105 degree weather. I suppose it has it's artistic aspects. Moreover, it was in keeping with the whole insects and light theme (or like moths attracted to a flame I guess...) that GDF always has going.

The Amazon stage was fucking ILLLL! It made getting pics a pain in the ass, but it was too dope! Shout out to whoever conceptualized this! Destructo was dropping some nasty bass house too. I probably should've spent more time at this stage considering it had Dr. Fresch, Luttrell,and Golf Clap- I would have stayed longer but I had to....

...hustle my moist ass over to the Summit Stage before it got too dark and crowded for Kaskade's set. VIP was crowded as shit but I could still mosey up to the front pretty easily to get some shots. Additionally, I def knew that getting crowd shots here was gonna be my best bet if I was gonna make the most of Day 1 as far as my press duties were concerned.

I got there in the middle of a jazz solo from ZHU's saxophonist. In typical fashion the wooks were all about it, going extra hard on the vape pens doing their rhythm-less wook shuffles. I wasn't too jazzed up about it but...

...Then they started dropping fire ass trap, dub and dnb ID's. Their set was my favorite of the night for sure! I love Keys 'N' Krates but these cats are like KNK on roids. No joke! Def wanna see them again soon.

At this point, I was super deep in the festival brozone layer. They kept eyeballing me dumb hard too. I yelled out "hey Chad!" and they all looked so I snapped a pic lol. Also, dude in the white hat was chewing face tough dancing all off the beat. I don't understand why people jus cram the rail and stand there fist pumping like Conan the Bro-barian here. It's a damn shame too because Zhu was murkin that shit.

As could be expected, the Summit stage was definitely the beast of the area! It was huge too, so I definitely see why they had to pull the plug after the storms on day 2. Guaranteed the stages were just death traps after that. Plus, people were acting ignorant af too. Could've been a recipe for disaster...

We lost out on day 2 but Global Dance really outdid themselves with the production this year. Would be legendary if they found a way to get the Summit stage inside the stadium for GDF 2020!

The line was stupid long for the Yoyo. This type of advanced level nonsense needs to go. We coulda had another stage out there. Maybe book some locals to rock the stage instead of cramming them underneath the stadium at the silent disco. Seriously though if you want to rock headphones and dance by yourself in the dark then why are you at a festival? However, much love to all the DJs who did rock the Crystal Cavern. Y'all slayed. Especially D3lphie who dropped a fire ass Antifractall set! Still waiting on that mix Flower Conway =). Stoked I got to catch some of Ston3 vs DJ Strike too! Shouts to the DTF Denver Trance Fam who was holding it down for the local scene all day!

Keys N Krates held it the fuck down at the Tundra stage yo! I was kickin it in the VIP lounge trying to cool off and they willed me to the dancefloor with bass. I was definitely looking forward to their set and they did not disappoint! In fact, I was surprised how heavy their set was. I was standing in between the Summit and Tundra stages and KNK definitely had shit thumpin' louder than Zhu there for a minute. That's why they get so much love in the D! Glad I caught some of their set.

Those projector type visuals are hot right now. Seems like everyone is using them. Shout out to Nathan Mynus from Pulse Of Prophets for hooking up the visuals at the AK/QL After Party!

Once again, fantastic production on the stages. Everything was vastly improved over last year. How they were able to pack so much knock into a relatively small area is beyond me. Furthermore, the fact they continue to lure heads out into the swealtering heat every July and convince us all that we really do want to dance right now- and yes you want a beer! And you're damn right you'll pay $15 for a tallboy and you'll drink 5 of them bitches in succession then struggle to decide whether or not to book it to the porto-potty and risk losing you're spot up front for Shiba San's set. It's Global Week and that's how shit goes down. And we were ready to come back for more on day 2. Or so we thought...

Thank you for reading! Be sure to check in with me on EDM Tunes' site next week for the harrowing Part 2 of the story! It covers day 2 of GDF and all the madness that ensues!