Goldrush 2018 snuck up on us so fast, and after two long days, last Saturday and Sunday, it concluded. We are truly feeling post-festival depression after this one because of how amazing it made us feel. For what has to be one of the best music festivals in the southwest United States, we are sad we have to wait a whole year to return to Rawhide Entertainment Center for this event in 2019.
From the minute we arrived, with the other 20,000 festival attendees, we knew we had arrived at a home away from home. A look of happiness spread far across the festival ground and some deep bass thumps echoing all the way from the MainStage. The layout since last year had slightly changed, and it was a nice improvement. Day one for many of us started off with Said The Sky, for some, it started earlier. He started the weekend out in our eyes with one of the most beautiful sets. Mid-set Illenium took the stage alongside Said The Sky, and as the sky began to set, the two of them turned it up a notch bringing out some heavier mixes. As the night progressed we, again and again, were born away by the likes of Chris Lake, Yung Pinch, Yookie, Slushii, Vince Staples, Squanto, Virtual Riot, Deorro, Liquid Stranger, Deadmau5, and many more. If you saw Deadmau5’s set there is a big chance you ended up going to his after party that night. It was a very unique and intimate setting. He had a small minimalist set up in a little warehouse onsite where he spun his some of his tracks, and remixes, on CDJ’s for no more than one or two thousand people. Day two started sunny and quickly got overcast and rainy, no worries though because Goldrush came correct and lit us all up. Our day began with Ekali and progressed into Slander, Tokimonsta, Louis The Child, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Troyboi, Illenium, Steve Aoki, and wrapped up with Kevin Gates. By the end of the night you could see the vibes everywhere even though the light on and off rain.
This festival is in ways so far beyond others that have been around for years. The level of organization and professionalism that is present as you walk into this festival is apparent in many ways. Security is nice, workers are happy to be there and help, and even with a little poor weather, everything flowed so smoothly. We had to opportunity to ask one of the main people running Goldrush, Chad Shearer, what his favorite part of putting on an event like this is, his response was “The entire Relentless Beats team starts working on the festival as much as 6-8 months out, and after all that time is amazing to see it come altogether. The looks on the faces of the fans, the reaction, and feedback we get to the upgrades. At the end of the day, it is for the fans and that’s what we all work for.”
All of our pictures from Goldrush 2018 can be found on Facebook & some can be found on Instagram.
Vince Staples (Night One)
Liquid Stranger (Night One)
Deadmau5 (Night One)
Deaduam5 (Night One Afterparty)
Louis The Child (Day Two)
Illenium (Night Two)
Kevin Gates (Night Two)