Digging Into Goldrush 2019

Sikia Meza, Reporter

Goldrush took over at Rawhide Western Town on their third annual, two-day festival in Chandler, AZ.

This festival included Electronic Dance Music (EDM) DJ’s as well as hip-hop artists, and a new way of buying goods at the festival by linking a card to the wristband provided to enhance the new technological experience.

Each stage had a different type of style as well as music to dance to.

This event provided three large stages, the Golden Gorge, Pioneer Peak and Hideout.

At the Golden Gorge artists including Adventure Club, Ghastly, Alison Wonderland and Troiboi were found.

Blake Sheppard from Adventure Club spoke to Northeast Valley News about how they got started within the EDM community and where do they want to go from here.

“We got started eight or nine years ago.  Before, we were in metal punk bands and back then the EDM scene didn’t really have a lot of rock crossovers like it does today.  I know, like, Kayzo is doing a bunch of rock crossovers, Ghastly, all those guys.  I love everything they are doing.  So back then, we wanted to like, reimagine songs from some of our favorite bands and kind of put them more into an electronic music setting,” Sheppard commented.

At Pioneer Peak, Zomboy, Getter, Trippie Redd, and Boogie T would be heard from walking away from the Golden Gorge and so the genre of EDM would change as you went from stage to stage.

The Hideout stage featured artists like Gerry Gonza, Green Velvet, and Destructo.

The new stage was The Silent Disco stage and it featured artists like PAZ and R3LL through headphones while enjoying the artist sets simultaneously, you watched others use the mechanical bull and take pictures while they enjoy small western activities.

Artist PAZ talked to Northeast Valley News about his thoughts and reactions to performing at GoldRush as opposed to more intimate settings.

“I love playing at Rawhide.  I love it so much it is probably my favorite place to play in the world because this was the first place where I got a chance to play for a big crowd, when I played “Decadence” two years ago, and ever since then it’s held a special place in my heart.  The people here are amazing.  They really feel like family. I feel like, when I am playing here, I feel like I am playing for friends and people I love and care about,” PAZ commented.

The energy this festival brought was vibrant, colorful and everything an EDM concert should entail.