A season to be thankful, what were you thankful for?

For me it has been Give Thanks as we finished what felt like the longest week of our lives after Thanksgiving, it’s impossible to not have flashbacks to Give Thanks Festival. Every year, Midnite Events brings a fire line up with more variety than any other show in NorCal. With headliners like Alesso, Dillon Francis and Excision, this might have been the most diverse line up this event has seen up to date over a span of three nights of pre and post Thanksgiving.

As most people were probably looking forward to a 4-day weekend, what better way to start off night-1 with a banging sound of electro, progressive and house where the tone was set early with local talent Michael Bricker and rising duo Brklyn warming up the dance floor. To pick up the pace as one never disappoints, Ummet Ozcan brought an interactive set with the high energy he is known for while closing out the night, the legend Alesso built us up with set full of his classics, proving progressive house is still a crowd favorite.

Returning from the turkey day hiatus for night-2, the madness continued on with up n’ coming acts Hollows and Oshi who kept the party alive with two of the most original sets of the weekend. Supporting headliners Madeintyo and Hippie Sabotage surprised us all with some of the best sets of the night, surpassing any previous expectations. However, the prized performance of the night had to go to the one and only Dillon Francis which was his first Bay Area appearance in years, the pioneer of moombaton and electro house had the whole place dancing.

However though, night-3 was a night for the basshead faithful as we all have been craving for this night . Phiso and Shlump got heads nodding early but the real head bangers knew the real reason why they came out was for Excision. Let’s not forget the heavy and melodic set his young protégé Dion Timmer gave us as a proper warm up for the mayhem to close out the night. For a full 90 minutes, Excision delivered a full neck breaking set that was relentless. Even now, a lot of us are still recovering from one of the heaviest sets Give Thanks has ever seen.

With another raging Thanksgiving weekend which concluded, all the artists that performed this year have left us with enough memories and good times to have us reminiscing until the next one.

Until then, we will just have to wait patiently for what surprises Give Thanks has for us next year.

-Tyler James