ARC Music Festival Makes House Music History

Looking back on this past weekend, the first inaugural ARC Music Festival feels like a dream. Between the lineup, the production, and the afterparties, next to nothing could have been better. As the birthplace of house music, Chicago was in desperate need of a festival like this, and we can only imagine more success for future editions and, anything else Auris Presents does.

ARC Music Festival Logistics

Despite being a first-time festival this year, ARC got a lot of things right. It was honestly a really positive experience, enhanced by a really chill crowd – the kind where strangers share smiles, completely on the same wavelength.

• There were a good number of security lanes, making entering the festival a breeze. Security was also super friendly throughout the entire festival.
• Each of the four stages was uniquely and beautifully designed with minimal sound bleed between them.
• The sound systems were impeccible.
• There were plenty of restrooms and beverage tents, seemingly proportionate to the number of fans attending. We never had to wait in a long line for either.
• The one complaint we have is about the single water refill station, which seemed unable to quickly accommodate the number of people and had a pretty intense line most of the time.

Elrow at ARC Music Festival

We would be lying if we said we didn’t spend most of our time at ARC Music Festival beneath the completely immersive, rainbow-colored canopy that was the Elrow stage. Casey had been at an Elrow party before but having a full stage takeover took the experience to another level.

The first time we stepped beneath the structure, we were in absolute awe. Every inch of the ginormous ceiling was thoughtfully decorated with trippy dream catchers, intricate flowers, and magical mushrooms. Amidst these elements were strobe lights that illuminated the entire crowd. The stage itself featured a hippie van DJ booth and other ’70s art pieces.

If that wasn’t enough, there were performers who danced on stage and also came out into the crowd, pool floaties that attendees crowd-surfed on, and cannons that blasted the most confetti you have ever seen in your entire life out into the crowd.

Considering the completely interactive and pseudo-psychedelic experience was paired with some of our favorite artists on the lineup, it’s a no-brainer that the Elrow stage was our favorite spot at ARC Music Festival. It’s hard to put into words how special this place was, but we think the video below will do it justice.

ARC Music Festival Artist Highlights

We experienced the most schedule conflicts in the history of our festival-attending careers at ARC, simply because we wanted to see every single artist on the lineup. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to subdivide our particles and see them all, so here are some of the hottest sets we were able to experience:

Eli & Fur

Eli & Fur was our first set at the Elrow tent, so naturally, we were extra blown away by how the trippy stage design and lighting accentuated the hauntingly-melodic beats pulsing through the speakers. The atmosphere perfectly paired with their music, and we thought they did an incredible job curating their set. There was also something about that first time the trillion pieces of confetti blasted out at the crowd – it brought actual tears to our eyes.

Camelphat

With so many bangers from this duo, Camelphat was one of our highly-anticipated sets on day two of ARC, and they did not disappoint. Hearing all of our favorite songs to the backdrop of the setting sun felt absolutely surreal.

We could tell everyone else was getting caught in their feels too as the crowd sang along to the lyrics of “Hypercolour”, feeling at home again for the first time in way too long. It was one of our favorite moments at ARC.

Fisher

Fisher closed out the Elrow stage on Saturday night and threw down possibly the best set we got to catch at ARC. The entire duration of his set was packed full of Fisher classics as well as IDs. He also somehow refrained from screaming too many profanities over the music.

It’s impossible to count how many times we have heard “Losing It” in our lifetime, and you would think a crowd who is accustomed to house music would be sick of hearing it for the umpteenth time, but au contraire. When Fisher dropped it this past Saturday, the energy level at Elrow was unlike anything we had seen before. See for yourself below:

Until ARC Music Festival 2022

We were blessed with not only the return of live music this summer in Chicago but also with a brand new festival that catered specifically to house and techno lovers. We closed out the beautiful weekend with an official ARC After Dark, Eric Prydz (PRYDA set) at Radius. This venue is another game-changer Auris Presents has brought to the scene in Chicago, with warehouse vibes, an unreal sound system, and insane lighting and production. This was our very first time attending a show at Radius, as well as seeing PRYDA, and it was a mind-blowingly perfect way to end the weekend.

We heard several of our favorite songs played throughout the weekend but one that stuck out and truly meant the most was “Free” by Vintage Culture. Our souls were on fire as we danced with our friends beneath the rainbow Elrow sky, looking into each other’s eyes and singing the lyrics:

“Finally, we are free, free to roam, free to touch
Free to move, free to dance, free to rejoice
From now until tomorrow, welcome back”

Our rave cowgirl hats go off to the whole team who made this past weekend possible. For all our fellow house and techno junkies in Chicago wanting more, keep your eyes on Auris Presents. After producing such a stellar first ARC festival and already announcing more upcoming shows this past week, it’s guaranteed they will have more incredible things in store for us.

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