My first NYE outing and what a night

Being was my first year doing a NYE event, I’ve always stayed away opting for kickbacks with friends because of the hassle that comes with trying to attend a NYE event in the city. So the week before NYE, my friends and I decided we would head down to San Diego to attend LED’s OMFG 3-day New Years Eve festival with the likes of Slander, Ookay, GTA and Jauz. From there we would hit up LA to see Above & Beyond and Eric Prydz on the first day of the New Year. We didn’t get our hopes up because nothing ever goes as planned for my friends.

Getting sorted for OMFG proved harder than we thought but my friend Alexx Adam got a last-minute booking to play in SF. This left us with a lot less time than we thought we would have in SD. Our 4-day trip was now one and-a-half days, and traveling all the way to San Diego just didn’t make sense. Luckily we are blessed to live in a city with a multitude of NYE options and despite these dramatic changes, we planned to make the most of our NYE in San Francisco. We all got tickets to the Kaskade show at Bill Graham as well as his Redux set at 1015 Folsom.

I have never seen Kaskade live yet his tracks such as “We Don’t Stop”, “Disarm You”, “Atmosphere” and “It’s You, It’s Me” have always resonated me. With the thought of his mesmerizing music lingering in my mind and the promise of experiencing the two sides of this enigmatic artist, my anticipation for the night was high. I wasn’t entirely confident that the show would be worth the $150 price it commanded. He plays festivals so often I felt that it would get more for my money by attending a festival with him on the lineup for in 2017. I have no issue admitting that I was flat out wrong. I arrived just as CID’s set began. He was an impressive opener dropping house vibes of ever flavor with a splash of big room.

As CID closed out his set, 11pm was fast approaching and you could feel the energy heighten as it grew closer to the moment when Kaskade would grace the stage. He started off his three hour set pretty mellow with RY X’s “Only” easing us into the feel good zone. From there it took off, he played every song I could’ve asked for. Leading into the countdown, he transitioned  “Last Chance” into “Atmosphere” which was an incredible moment. The production was on point from the lasers to the confetti cannons, the balloon drops to the streamers and co2. The spectacle matched his set perfectly and everything is better when there’s pyro! To top it all off, the visuals were incredible and only made the experience more intense. Despite my earlier reservations, those three hours of Kaskade were truly magical, even so I could tell it wasn’t enough for my friends. As we exited Bill Graham, we decided to take a walk back to where we were staying to reflect on the experience and prepare ourselves for his Redux set hosted by 1015 Folsom.

The word intimate doesn’t usually come to mind when you think of 1015, however with the stage moved to where the sound booth normally is, the club felt more cozy, an appropriate feeling for this kind of event. Kaskade’s redux sets are what you would expect at an afterhours, the focus is on deeper, classic house grooves and a lo-fi laid back aesthetic. Being able to experience two extended sets back to back was more than I could ask for.

I was set to take photos of the event, which proved to be rather difficult because it was so dark in the booth. However the sound was amazing, no matter what room you were in (the whole club was open) the vibes flowed loud and unimpeded. I Truly could not have asked for a better NYE surrounded by close friends a great music.

-Phil Nguyen