by Grant Manley, Staff Writer
Super Bowl? No, Super Duper Bowl!
Two weeks ago we traveled North out near our State Capital to the city of Rancho Cordova, where Midnite Events hosted their 8th Annual Super Duper Bowl. It was our first time visiting and the headliner was the Dutch hardstyle mastermind Headhunterz. Since Headhunterz doesn’t make it out to SoCal often, this event was impossible for us to miss. The show boasted a wide variety of genres including techno, dubstep, progressive house, trap, and of course hardstyle, leaving no taste in music unsatisfied.
28 year-old Hardstyle DJ/producer Headhunterz
On our way out in the hotel lobby we ran into fellow ravers who shared in our excitement for Headhunterz, and kindly provided us walking directions to the show. If you haven’t had the chance to attend a smaller, local show, do it! With the popularity of EDM growing and the massive influx of new EDM fans attending, old school rave vibes like the ones we experienced throughout the night are not found very often.
The venue was Sunrise Event Center, a small ballroom, just under 6000′ square feet more commonly used for wedding receptions and quinceañeras. The show didn’t have a bar for the 21+, which can be pretty common when all-ages , so always double check if you want to drink! The stage production was very beautifully put together for the size with a small yet bright LED wall, two lasers, many strobes and an interesting egg shaped light ball behind the DJ.
When we entered GAMMA was on the decks, a local DJ born and raised in Northern California who was rocking some of the most impressive dreadlocks we had ever seen, going way past his waistline. His set was very unique: incorporating dubstep, acid techno, break beats, and even some house perfectly together. Feeding into the taste of Northern California’s EDM scene, GAMMA had the crowd pumped! If you’re feeling adventurous and in the need of a fresh mix for the day, head over to DjGamma’s Soundcloud where it’s loaded with hour long mixes of bass music, rockstep, dubstep/glitch and more.
Next up was Matt Lange. If you aren’t familiar with Matt, he’s known for his progressive house, techno, and ambient productions, some of which have been released on Anjunabeats. It’s not very often see dubstep followed up by ambient and techno, but tonight it worked. Lange had the crowd groovin and dancing to his beautifully building melodies. Some of his music seemed so complex the speakers weren’t fully able to handle it, which may be in part to his Music Synthesis degree.
Tonight was our first time seeing Kennedy Jones, with releases on Mad Decent and Buygore we were prepared for a healthy dose of trap. He opened his set with some Bay Area rap playing Dru Down’s “Pimp Of The Year”(an Oakland rapper). He then mixed it into RBL Posse – Blue Bird and even Dr. Dre ‘s “Let’s Get High.” After he was done with the bay area rap, Kennedy Jones got on the mic and announced he’s going to play some moombahton for the Latinos and Latinas of California. Half way into his set he dropped his and Borgore’s remix of Macarena taking the crowd back to 1995 as we all danced and sang along. Jones closed with a rock song we were unable to ID, but we’ll let you be the judge of how that went down.
Headhunterz on Soundcloud
12:45, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the calm before the storm as Headhunterz hit the decks. Not very often will you see an entire crowd on their feet jumping to the insane energy this young Dutch producer brings. His interaction with the eager ravers was top notch, singing, clapping, and jumping along to practically every song. We’re all huge Kaskade fan’s so when he dropped his remix of “Lessons In Love” everyone sang along and our night was complete. By this point the venue was packed full, everyone was drenched in sweat it had become so hot inside condensation was dripping from the ceiling (raver rain). Headhunterz and hardstyle is 100% about the music, and he reminded us with that when he dropped Toneshifterz & Code Black’s “About The Music.” You could feel the crowd vibing together under the pounding hardstyle bass, it was truly an amazing experience! An hour and a half still wasn’t enough of the legend, so he obliged us with the highly sought after one more track, playing his remix of Hardwell’s “Spaceman.” We were extremely grateful to have such a humble Dutch DJ come all this way to play an intimate, small venue most people have never heard of. You can’t forget this DJ has played for tens of thousands of people, destroying main stages like EDC Las Vegas and Defqon.1. The chances of seeing Headhunterz in a small “Super Duper” chill rave setting like Saturday night’s won’t come around again anytime soon, and for that, we’re forever grateful
The night for us was complete, with such a wide variety of EDM genres capped off by Headhunterz, Midnite Events put on a perfectly well rounded show. The Northern California vibes are legendary and the PLUR definitely lives on. We’re very much looking forward to seeing Headhunterz make his return to California later this year at Coachella Music Festival and a special thanks to everyone who made this night unforgettable!
