The Dancing Dreamers - Our Escape into the Heart of Hardstyle Dreams

The day to day drudgery of the 9-5 grind had finally worn us past our limits. We needed to get away from it all. We needed an Escape. On the morning of Thursday, the 26th of October, I set out with my best friend on a long road trip from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. It was different from our first road trip together, but it was every bit as epic. You can read more about the road trip here and here. With weary souls, we traversed state lines listening to the best hardstyle melodies to uplift us and prepare us for the insanity that was to take place at Insomniac Events' Escape: Psycho Circus 2017.

We finally got in to Glendale after about twelve hours of being on the road. We hung out for a little while, but because we were both so tired from driving all day, we both ended up passing out before it got too late. When we woke up the next day, we started our preparations for the journey into Escape: Psycho Circus. We had originally planned on leaving Glendale at around 3:30, but we had a late lunch that lasted longer than we expected. We ended up not leaving for the NOS Events Center until about 5:30 PM or so.

What should have only been a 45 minute trip ended up taking us almost 3 hours. I had forgotten how bad rush hour traffic is in Southern California, and definitely was not expecting that amount of traffic delays we were experiencing. Even when taking the side streets to avoid the traffic on the 210, the trip still took way longer than it should have. The time displayed on the clock in the car was still on Utah time, so the whole time J-Dubbz was getting bummed out that we were missing Rezz's set.

We finally got to San Bernardino and found ourselves a free parking lot near the NOS Events Center, so we hurriedly pulled in and parked, got into our costumes, and headed on the almost two-mile walk to the venue. We got our barcodes scanned at the Box Office line and got our Day One wristbands, and continued to make our way into the heart of the Psycho Circus. The security check went pretty quickly too, and we were fully inside the venue by about 8:30 or so.

We knew that we had to get some water, but we also had to go use the restroom before doing anything, so we decided to find the restrooms first and take care of that before doing anything else. When we were done, we both decided to skip getting water in favor of making a beeline over to the Slaughterhouse to see the last few minutes of Rezz. Our logic was that we could just go grab water after her set ended, so it was a worthwhile sacrifice if it meant that we could at least catch a few last songs.

We finally got into the tent right as Selector started playing, and the crowd went wild! We continued to make our way through the crowd as J-Dubbz found the totem that we were looking for, my friend Vince's Mr. Meseeks totem. I had met Vince at EDC back in June of this year, and he and his squad really took care of me while I was with them. So I made it a point to come find them once I knew we were all going to be at Escape together.

When we finally found them, I was greeted with excited smiles and we both yelled each other's name as we opened our arms to meet each other in a powerful hug. I was so taken aback by how stoked we both were to see each other, even though our only previous connection was a brief mutual raging and gloving session several months prior. It was a testament to the kinds of bonds that EDM festivals build between people who otherwise never would have met and never would have found something in common.

Rezz closed out her set with Diluted Brains, and then it was time for Vince and his squad to go over to Barely Alive b2b Virtual Riot. I wanted to go with them to check it out, but I had been stoked on Illenium for so long that I knew I couldn't pass it up. We bid farewell to them and told them we would see them later in the night. Then we went out to fill our hydration packs with water so that we could go on raging the rest of the night without having to worry about water for a while. We got back to Illenium right as he was dropping Fractures, and I was just living in the moment, enjoying the sheer ecstasy that Illenium's sound tends to provide.

When Illenium's set ended, we scurried around trying to find out way over to The Chopping Block, the stage being sponsored by Basscon. Our hardstyle home. It was because of the amazing Basscon lineup that we decided to drive all the way out to California for Escape instead of staying in Utah for Get Freaky. We got there right in time for Coone, who dropped some bangers to start off with, but then, as I had hoped, dropped Faye. Once that song came on, the crowd was a sea of people stomping their hearts out while simultaneously singing along and tearing up because of how heartfelt the song is.

After Coone, we got even more excited because Da Tweekaz came on, and they always provide such a perfect blend of hardstyle beats and happy-go-lucky feeling tunes. We hoped that they would drop Freedom, as it's one of their best songs, but sadly, they did not. They did, however, treat us to some Tequila and Vodka ;) They even brought a piece of the Defqon.1 experience to us when they had us all link up with the people next to us for that famous trope that popped up recently, of "Left-Right-Left-RIght" movement en masse.

We ended up walking around eventually, exploring the rest of the festival grounds for a while. After walking around the whole place, we ended up deciding to get in line for the ferris wheel, since neither of us had ever ridden the ferris wheel at an EDM festival. So we got in a painfully long line and just waited for our turn. That was where the magic happened.

I had been meeting cool new people all night, as I tend to get very extroverted and talkative at these events, but the coolest thing happened while we were waiting in line for the ferris wheel. It was right there, standing in line, that I met Kiki and her friend Shelley. We started all talking to each other for a while because what else are you supposed to do while waiting in line for a ride at an EDM festival, right? Anyway, eventually, Kiki notices the Guam EDM Ambassador pin I have on my camelback strap and she gets excited and asks if I'm from Guam. I tell her that I'm actually from Saipan, and I ask if she's from Guam, and she says yes!

It completely blew my mind that out of thousands of people in attendance at Escape, two people from the same string of islands would end up standing right next to each other in line for a ride! Once I found out that she was Japanese, we even began conversing in Japanese. Then, after moving up in line a bit, out of nowhere someone in a mask comes right up to me and starts talking to me. It was Vince! "I can't believe, that out of everyone here at this festival, I would end up standing right next to you in the line for the ferris wheel," he said.

He said that after Rezz ended and they all started to head over to Barely Alive b2b Virtual Riot, he actually lost the rest of the group and ended up wandering the festival on his own. After walking around for a while, he just had the sudden urge to go ride the ferris wheel. Apparently, we had that same urge at a similar time and ended up standing next to each other in line.

That was two significant connections within moments of each other. These are the moments I live for. These are the moments I rave for. I wish everyone could understand how magickal the raving/EDM scene truly is. These kinds of magickal moments have been happening to me more and more frequently at every event since EDC. The kinds of connections that I've made at every festival I've been to this year are nothing short of mind-blowingly magickal. The EDM lifestyle has reignited a flame within me and brought the passion and purpose back into my vision. I want to see the world that I see inside the walls of EDM festivals, also be the world that exists outside the walls of our beloved sonic sanctuaries.

Anyway, we finally got onto the ferris wheel right as DJ Isaac's set was about to end. He dropped Ran-D's version of Zombie and I went nuts because of how much I love that song and was hoping to hear it that night. By the time our go on the ferris wheel had ended, Angerfist and Miss K8 had just come on. The epic B2B set that we had been waiting for was finally here. J-Dubbz and I ventured into the crowd and worked our way closer to the front than we had ever gone at previous shows.

As soon as we planted ourselves in that spot, our bodies began to channel the energy of the music and we began to stomp around to the heavy beats. I understood why he was called Angerfist. This was the kind of music that you really just let your anger and frustration out to as you jump around and transmute that energy into something else. What a healthy outlet for just letting it all out!

Everyone's peace was shattered for a while, though, when someone activated a smoke bomb right in the middle of the crowd. We were so confused at first and thought that someone had lit something on fire. The mass confusion lasted for a few minutes, until the smoke finally cleared out. Then we began raging once more and went on until the night was finally over.

We ended up staying at Vince's house that night because we didn't want to drive such a long distance after making ourselves so tired that night. He was nice enough to accommodate us, and we are forever grateful for his kindness. This is what I love about this culture/scene. It brings people, complete strangers, together like no other! I had only known him since EDC, and this was our first time seeing each other since EDC, yet he still offered up his home for us to crash at that night. The good in humanity is very evident in here.

All in all, it was an amazing festival experience. Pretty much nothing went according to plan, but somehow everything still worked out in the end. It was pretty sick. It was definitely worth it to drive all the way out to California just for one night of Escape: Psycho Circus. Just for the Basscon stage. Just for the Hardstyle. I had not had a hardstyle experience since EDC, so it was such a great experience this time around. I got several people's contact information for stories for The Dancing Dreamers, so that's something to look forward to soon!

Thank you so much for reading this, I really appreciate your time! I plan on doing event recaps like this in the future. as well as my Dancing Dreamer profiles which will feature people I meet at these EDM events. Read more about the mission of The Dancing Dreamers here.

!steemitworldmap 34.088151 lat -117.291863 long Escape: Psycho Circus 2017 @ NOS Event Center in San Bernardino, CA d3scr