It finally happened, and it still doesn’t feel real. Seismic Dance Event made history as our first festival back since the covid pandemic hit, and it was as close to perfect as you can get.
It’s obvious that festival founders Kelly Gray and Andrew Parsons put their hearts and souls into the mantra, “The show must go on.” Despite the emergence of several challenges leading up to the festival, the power couple produced an experience we will never forget.
These challenges could have been interpreted as heart-breaking setbacks, but rather than lie down and let the moss reclaim them, Kelly and Andrew kept finding ways to stay true to their vision and deliver what they had promised.
The Logistics
We cannot stress enough how good it felt to be back, to SWEAT and to smile at strangers with masks off. Our bass faces had been in storage for far too long.
Seismic required all attendees to present a negative covid test or proof of vaccination in order to enter the festival. This process worked smoothly with the help of Virified, an app which allowed attendees to upload their documents and receive the green light to roam the grounds mask-free.
Because Seismic is a boutique festival and had also considered capacity in light of COVID, there was more than enough room to dance and enjoy any vantage point at either stage. There were enough people for it to feel like you were in a proper crowd, but it was never packed or overstimulating.
A notable challenge Seismic overcame involved a combination of severe weather rolling into the area earlier in the week plus rain throughout the weekend. Although the infrastructure was successfully built and day 1 carried on as planned, day 2 had to be canceled for safety reasons.
Seismic worked quickly to book their artists at local venues in Austin for that night, and ticket holders received free entry until capacity was reached. Artbat and The Martinez Brothers played at Summit Austin, Black V Neck, Walker & Royce, and Bob Moses played Cedar Street Courtyard, and Subset and Sidepiece threw down at Vulcan Gas Company.
The Lineup
Several of the international artists on the initial lineup had to drop out due to travel issues, including the artists we were most excited to see: Township Rebellion and Kyle Watson. This completely transformed the lineup between its initial and final release, just days before the festival.
Blacklizt
In response, Seismic made rolling additions to the lineup, which included Blacklizt, who ended up being our favorite set of the entire weekend. You ever have really high expectations for something only to watch those expectations get blasted out of the water in real-time? Turns out, Blacklizt blasted us harder than he blasted our expectations.
Sidepiece
Although The Martinez Brothers were one our #1 acts of the entire weekend, the line was absolutely insane to get in. We ended up heading to Cedar Street, then Vulcan Gas Company later on to catch Sidepiece. Best decision ever.
They must have known we were coming late because they ended up playing an extra 20 minutes and saving our two favorite bangers for last. The energy inside that place was unreal, and we loved watching the two DJs feed off of each other and the crowd. We don’t want to admit how many times we’ve listened to their EDC Las Vegas Virtual Rave-A-Thon set, so being there in real life was a dream come true.
Lee Foss
Another artist we hadn’t seen before was Lee Foss, and honestly, we weren’t prepared. That man walked onstage with a plan to destroy every living soul in the crowd that night. We didn’t even try using Shazam – we had no business having our phones out at all. This set will forever stick out in our minds as one of hottest of all time.
Until Seismic 2022
Rather than fixate on the things that didn’t go according to plan, we acknowledged these things were out of Seismic’s control and practiced gratitude for the experience we did leave Austin with.
Seismic won’t be remembered as just another festival, it will be remembered as the time a global pandemic couldn’t stop us from safely uniting under lasers, rain, and a nearly full moon, dancing and loving each other intensely.
Kelly and Andrew did everything they could to ensure their community could still have the festival experience we’ve been dreaming of for more than a year, and that’s undoubtedly what we got. We can’t thank you enough or express how much Seismic meant to us. Already dreaming about the next edition!
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