The second annual Moonrise Festival took to Pimlico Race Course this past weekend for 2 days of total excitement. Its packed lineup featured a wide range of artists and live performances, with genres ranging from heavy bass and dubstep to progressive house, and everything in between.
Mise en scène
Set in a quaint neighborhood just outside of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, The Pimlico Race Course was transformed into the ultimate festival grounds for Moonrise Festival 2015.Β The event included 4 stages, each with their own unique lineups.Β A bonus exhibition sponsored by Heineken was the site of live art, as local artists spent hours working on masterpieces for all attendees to enjoy.Β The grounds were large enough to feel spacious, yet small enough to be able to walk from stage to stage in just a few minutes time.Β Food and merchandise vendors lined a pathway which lead to a sparkling Ferris wheel, positioned right in the center of the festival grounds; it provided a breathtaking birds-eye view of the vibrant crowd dancing and roaming the area.
The music
Moonrise served up a lineup that any music-lover could enjoy. Bassnectarβs thunderous live set on the Lunar Stage drew a record-breaking crowd, and was so explosive that it even contributed to a 2.2 magnitude earthquake to occur nearby (fans are calling it a Bassquake)!
Doctor P, FuntCase, and Cookie Monsta threw down during a back-to-back-to-back set underneath the Solar Tent, complete with lasers and a big plate of freshly baked cookies.Β A fast-growing name in the music world, Dillon Francis brought his βfireβ to the Stellar Stage on Sunday night; the LA native has a knack for not only making crowds dance, but for also making them laugh.Β The unique and unpredictable set made for thousands of attentive and focused music-lovers, especially when Dillon Francis dropped his infamous βWhatβs That Spellβ track, a collaboration with DJ/Producer TJR.
To close out the weekend, Above and Beyond connected with the crowd on a new level with their uplifting melodies, beautiful visuals, and classic tracks that everybody knows and loves.Β In true Above and Beyond fashion, they invited two lucky audience members to βpush the buttonβ during their track βBlue Sky Actionβ, which surely sent chills down everybodyβs spine.
Organization
In addition to the importance of the music at Moonrise, safety of attendees was definitely a top priority of the festival organizers, especially since it was an all-ages event.Β The Sherp sat down with Evan Weinstein, Partner/Marketing Director/Talent Buyer for Steez Promotions, LLC., who played a key role in the overall success of Moonrise Festival 2015.Β He explained that the Star Team, comprised of volunteers who ensure the health and safety of the festival goers, was a new operation created after years of work experience in event planning.Β The Star Team sports bright orange shirts, and are loaded with free water bottles and water misters, ready to help out anybody in need.Β They are stationed in the pit sections of stages, within the middle of crowds, and all over the festival grounds, in hopes of preventing any hospitalization transports of attendees. In addition to the Star Team, a first aid tent was set up, and various ambulances were stationed on the grounds in case of an emergency.
Members of the local community in Baltimore were invited to attend the festival in order to see what it was all about; various community leaders expressed their support of Moonrise becoming βBaltimoreβs Music Festivalβ to return to Pimlico for years to come.
The Sherp certainly hopes to be back in Baltimore to see what Moonrise has to offer in 2016!
Words by: Jacqueline Gottlob
(All Images by: Greg Bowser)