Inside Escape: Psycho Circus 2019 — The Spookiest of Festivals

Last weekend, NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California was transformed into a hell-raising, freak show fairground for the world’s largest Halloween dance music festival, Escape: Psycho Circus. The 9th annual event hosted a sold-out crowd of 135,000 festival-goers across both days, as well as carnival rides, ornately costumed performers, sinister circus attractions, and unforgettable sets from over 70 top artists in dance music across four colossal stages.

In previous years, Escape included a massive haunted house, the Wonderland Asylum, with an experience so frightening, festival-goers had to sign a waiver before entering. This year, the Wonderland Asylum closed its doors as all the “patients were set free.” They could be found in various themed areas throughout the grounds, particularly in Crazy Town, which was centered around a gargoyle fountain “providing fresh blood for all the arriving residents.”

Crazy Town was home to experiences like The Butcher, where dark music emanated from behind the counter with massive chunks of meat swaying from the sealing, The Well, for Crazy Town’s purveyors of fine cocktails, the Poison Ivy craft cocktail bar, featuring “magic tinctures,” Danse Macabre, a silent disco located inside the gates of an old cemetery, and Fire Cathedral, which provided reverent melodies before transforming into a fire-breathing behemoth.

This year featured four completely new stages, The Grimm, Psycho Circus, Sanitarium, and Sewer District. The Grimm, the largest mega structure ever built in Insomniac history, housed over 328 video panels, 550 lights, and 32 lasers. Nestled inside a massive, moving skeleton figure, this stage hosted heavyweights like Deadmau5, Dillon Francis, Alesso, RL Grime, Said The Sky, Timmy Trumpet, and more.

Across the way was Psycho Circus, with 351 lights and 19 lasers and artists like Excision, Borgore, Bear Grillz, Chris Lake, Gorgon City b2b Nora En Pure, and Eric Prydz gracing the stage. The Sanitarium in the middle of the fairgrounds presented a diverse lineup curated by Basscon and Audiotistic while Factory 93’s Sewer District debuted with signature underground minimal vibes.

This year’s Escape: Psycho Circus was bone chillingly fun as the typical festival experience was transformed into a Halloween themed event. It will be interesting to see what Insomniac will do next year for the 10th anniversary.

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