By KELLY MORAN
With festival season soon approaching, so is the impending and crowd-induced claustrophobia. Just last year, Coachella attracted crowds of approximately 125,000, and attendees were not pleased. Many even took to social media to share complaints over the loss of the certain intimacy a festival promises.
However, this has opened the door to new approaches to the festival experience, such as Moving Castle Collective’s mini-festival “Moving Castle World.” Hosted at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood by its founders Andrew Okamura (AObeats), Chris Gavino (Manila Killa), Ethan Budnick (Robokid), and label manager and public relations director Brett Blackman, the show was truly one-of-a-kind.
The doors opened at 5 pm to a stacked lineup of the collective’s very own artists. Each performer electrified the crowd and the energy only grew greater as the night went on. Between sets, attendees had access to the upstairs area where photo-booths and lounge areas were provided. To top it off, the upstairs opened to a large patio accompanied by another DJ booth, all of which only added to the already thrilling experience of "Moving Castle World."
In addition to the excitement harvested by this hardworking team, special guests Whethan, Louis the Child, Jai Wolf, and Hotel Garuda made appearances onstage during headliner Manila Killa's performance. To the audience's surprise, each guest added their own unique flare to the show as they took turns in the DJ booth. This combination of surprise and authenticity felt by the crowd at the sight of such great performers collaborating on stage to produce insane music was just that: insane. The genuine nature of these DJs friendships shown beyond the impressive light shows and heavy bass to mark "Moving Castle World" as not only an innovative concert experience but a totally successful one.
A huge shout out to Brett Blackman, who was seen running around the venue, non-stop, ensuring the success of Moving Castle World. Excellent work! And, hopefully, with the help of forward thinkers such as Brett and the entire Moving Castle team, others will be inspired to organize festivals of smaller capacities in an effort to keep the magically visceral concert experience alive.
Be sure to check out Louis the Child X Whethan’s collaborative and instrumental mixtape “Honey” -- some of which they debuted at Moving Castle World -- out now on Soundcloud: