San Francisco, Where’s Your Disco?: Dom Dolla Headlines Day To Night Festival

Day To Night Festival

Day 1

Thousands of people traveled to Treasure Island on October 15 for Day To Night Festival. Only a 15 minute drive from Berkeley, I was at the festival in no time. There was only a short line at Will Call and a two minute walk to the stage.

The cold and fog persisted all weekend, so people showed up in jackets that they quickly tied around their waist while dancing. The crowd, while busy at the start of the day, only grew throughout the day in anticipation of the headliner – Dom Dolla. The crowd’s dress was eclectic, ranging from sport jerseys to fishnets to fur coats, and even a Teletubbies costume. Similarly eclectic, the totems (items that rise above the crowd to help people locate their group) in the crowd included a baby doll wearing a cowboy hat and a glowing handprint.

Totem at Day To Night Festival

Totem at Day To Night Festival

Teletubbies at Day To Night Festival

Day one’s setlist included Nora Van Elken, Torren Foot, Felix Da Housecat, Jody Wisternoff, Booka Shade, Lee Foss, and headliner Dom Dolla. With only one stage, the artists performed back to back throughout the day. Between 12 and 9pm, all of the artists played long sets.

Dom Dolla

My highlight of the day were Booka Shade and Dom Dolla. While I did not know much about Booka Shade before attending Day To Night, the duo–Arno Kammermeir and Walter Merziger–lifted the crowd’s energy beginning with their first song. The entire live set was euphoric and danceable. The only performer to mix live in the entire festival, Booka Shade hit the nail on the head in terms of matching and uplifting crowd energy. Kammermeir played a drum pad live, which linked to the live mixing software on Merziger’s laptop. 

Dom Dolla, the headliner, brought in huge crowds. The venue was packed by his first song. He played his remixes of popular songs, including “I Love Kanye” by Kanye West and “Turn Out The Lights” by Fred Again... The whole crowd sang along under the fog machines and lazers. At this point, the venue got so packed that I, too, had to ditch my jacket after being cold all day. Soon enough, Dom Dolla also played some of his biggest hits, Miracle Maker, Pump The Breaks, and San Frandisco. San Frandisco, the crowd favorite, had everybody singing along. As his encore, Dom Dolla played his remix of “Better Off Alone” by Alice Deejay, sending the crowd off for the night with high spirits.

Dom Dolla

Dom Dolla

At the end of the day, the crowds all packed onto the 25-line bus into San Francisco for the afterparties. The day was not over yet–the crowds’ energy did not subside on the 30 minute, jam-packed bus ride. People yelled across the bus to coordinate which song to play on their phones’ speakers. It took teamwork across the entire bus to coordinate when to press play so that all their phones’ music would sync up.

Day 2

Just as many concert-goers packed the venue on day 2. With headliner ARTBAT, Sunday’s performers skewed further towards bass house–a change from Saturday’s tech house heavy lineup. The rest of the lineup consisted of Emanate, Enamour, Qrion, Cristoph, Township Rebellion, and Tinlicker.

Tinlicker played a lively sunset set with bass that rattled even the way-back of the venue. His crowd was one of the liveliest of the weekend. Tinlicker’s live set exceeded my expectations and proved to be my favorite set of the entire weekend, with a set much more energetic than their viral song “Because You Move Me.”

Tinlicker

ARTBAT finished out the weekend strong with a euphoric synth and bass heavy set, consisting of both original songs as well as remixes of other house artists, including “Turn Out The Lights” by Fred Again… ARTBAT’s stage presence was unmatched.

ARTBAT

Article and Photos by Eliza Scheer