Wet Electric 2016: Big Surf Gets Freaky

On April 30, thousands of dance music lovers fled to Big Surf for the 5th annual Wet Electric.

For some, Wet Electric meant seeing their favorite artists. Devin Phillips, a senior at ASU said he was most excited to see the house music duo Dada Life.

“I love to rave. I love Dada Life. I love all electronic music pretty much. I’ve never been so it seemed really cool and I thought this was a good time to come because my buddies came down from NAU to hang out with me, so I just had to,” Phillips said.

Dakota Templeton, a sophomore at NAU said he was looking forward to the waterpark aspect of the event.

He said, “I’m pretty pumped because it’s going to be in a wave pool and I’m pretty sure you can go on all the water rides too, so you can enjoy the water park while listening to awesome music, I think that’ll be pretty sick.”

Marissa Roper, a Sophomore at ASU said that this year’s Wet Electric was more sentimental to her than just another show. Roper and her current boyfriend got to know each other at Wet Electric last year.

She said, “After Wet Electric last year, my whole opinion changed about him and then we started dating.”

“It was just really sentimental to us since it was kind of how we started our relationship and to come around the full year and to be able to go again the next year,” she said.

Doors opened this year at 11AM, it was about 80 degrees, slightly cloudy, and the good vibes were already radiating.

Waterslides and EDM really were a match made in heaven. Having the option to not only enjoy some killer music from both local and mainstream artists, but also to enjoy time in one of the entertaining water parks in AZ made Wet Electric an event that anyone could enjoy.

As an attendee, I was pleasantly surprised at all of the activities available. There were water slides, two stages, a silent disco, inflatable toys, and even some crazy blow up hamster balls that people could literally walk on water with. The activities kept things interesting, but on top of all that, vendors were scattered throughout the venue selling everything from t-shirts to necklaces. Artists were also creating paintings right there at the water park.

And now the good stuff: the music.

The Wet Electric Stage featured local talent like Laffit, Nathan Reeser and Nuck N Futz. Then Wiwek came on as more crowds began to file into the water park. The wave pool provided the perfect place for dancing, and lots and lots of splashing. Wiwek played his collaboration with Skrillex, “Killa” near the end of his set, which really got me and the rest of the crowd hyped up.

Another perk to Wet Electric was the Silent Sunsets Stage, which featured some incredible local talent. I caught some of the Bass4Breakfast’s b2b Briarwood Skittles set and it was fire. Dancing silently while listening to high quality sounds under the palm trees was a really awesome experience.

Next Bro Safari was up on the Wet Electric Stage, and that’s when things started to get wild in the water. After every deep drop, water went flying, and the wave pool went crazy. It was quite a sight from the sidelines, but those participating in the water really got the full experience.

3LAU was set to follow Bro Safari, but unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for us. A little unexpected weather and strong winds caused a bit of a delay at the Wet Electric Stage, however that didn’t stop the party from continuing on dry land.

It was incredible to see that many people at an event stay so positive despite the weather conditions.

Phillips said he thought it was great to see everyone having a good time even though the weather was not perfect.

“So many people were quick to join in throwing a frisbee around or hitting around the beach ball. It was just a really great environment,” he said.

And he was right: the environment was great and the hype never stopped.

A majority of the crowd made its way over to the RB Deep Stage, where Morgan Laine, Mike Dao, Brandon Scott, Blossom, Costanza and Schmitty had all performed earlier. 

The crowd was massive, I’m not quite sure this small stage had ever seen such numbers. It was tight squeeze, but the fans loved it, probably because it was a great way to stay warm as we fell deeper into the chilly evening.

Soon, 3LAU made his appearance on the RB Deep Stage. His set attracted even more people to the stage and had fans not only sitting on shoulders, but standing on tables and getting more hype than ever.

The master of the mixes killed it to say the least. 3LAU played everything from his house remix of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” to a trappy version of the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody,” and everything in between. He made us forget about the weather and focus on the music.

Next up on the RB Deep Stage was an extra special guest: Justin Jay. He kicked it off with some nostalgia and kept up all the hype that 3LAU brought to the stage.

As the wind died down, Dada Life took the Wet Electric Stage, and even though it was a little chilly, fans made their way into the water. Needless to say, we all went bananas as giant blow up bananas and champagne bottles were thrown into the water.

The sun set over the wave pool during Dada Life’s set, for me that was the highlight of the whole day. It was a beautiful, not necessarily colorful, but something about that particular was powerful and radiated positive energy. After seeing a sight like that, it was hard for me to stay mad at Mother Nature and her weather plans.

Next, Destructo took over the RB Deep Stage and wow, now I know why we call it the RB DEEP Stage. The bass Destructo brought to Tempe was unreal. I’m almost positive the way the stage was set up amplified the bass to extreme levels.

And lastly, Phoenix native DJ Lujan ended the night on the Wet Electric Stage with some sick house beats and incredibly appealing visuals.

Overall, Wet Electric 2016 was a success. Although the weather was not 95 degrees and sunny, being in a water park, surrounded by good people and good music made this event one for the books.

Photos courtesy of Jacob Tyler Dunn