Festival in Review: Snowballin’ 2012

Weather plays a big role in my enthusiasm for outdoor events, social gatherings, and especially music festivals. In fact, when it rains here at school in the desert, I actually take the liberty of not going to class. I’m serious. Any teacher that expects me to walk through the pouring rain to sit freezing in their class for an hour is seriously out of touch with reality. The only things that get excited about rain are plants, trees, assorted shrubbery, and umbrella enthusiasts. Since I don’t do photosynthesis and I am not one of those weirdos (you know, people who carry umbrellas on sunny days), I don’t dig on rain, wind, or cold weather.

The last two years, my lack of fondness for the cold made the start of my festival season in April at Coachella in the middle of a desert refreshing. The blistering heat is as much apart of the festival as are the annual rumors that Daft Punk will be headlining. I’ve always said that getting lost under the influence at a music festival with more than 40,000 people is best done in warm weather. Totally a safety thing.

Snowball Music Festival 2012 Lineup – Only for the Brave

For the young and reckless living in Colorado things are a completely different story. Braving temperatures below 15°F, thousands of dedicated ragers came out to Vail Valley for one of the best three day festival lineups that has taken place this year on the West Coast. Continuing a growing trend of bringing electronic and hip hop artists together, SnowBall Music Festival 2012 featured superstars like Snoop Dogg, Rusko and Bassnectar. To go along with our review of each day, I’ve included the review videos that the Snowball festival team put together.

Day 1

Day one of the festival started with temperatures well below freezing. Artists like Helicopter Showdown played the afternoon on Friday, and a heavily Diplo featured Major Lazer killed it as the sun began to go down. Big Boi got tons of love from the thousands of miserably cold festival goers when he played a few old Outkast tracks, but it was Rusko who lived up to his billing as a headliner by highlighting the first night. Playing all his favorites and showing off some new songs, the British DJ captivated the crowd in the frozen Colorado night air.

Day 2

Saturday brought some sunshine to the Vail Valley while Figure and Dillon Francisplayed memorable afternoon sets. The increasingly popular Dada Life continued to win over fans by the thousands, playing a killer set that culminated by the two DJs throwing tons of bananas into the crowd. That. Actually. Happened. The unique duo of Ghostland Observatory finished things up in the Groove Tent, but it was Snoop Dogg who closed out the night with hip hop and copious amounts of marijuana.

Day 3

The third day of a festival, referred to as “Day 3” in certain circles, is where the professionals get separated from the rookies. For a festival newcomer, the third day is a relaxing time to reflect on the weekend. For a professional, Day 3 is when every inch of your body hates you for the trauma you’ve inflicted on it, but your determined to finish the festival on another level. Early in the day the twins of Two Fresh and Los Angeles based Plastic Plates played memorable sets. Apparently Afroman made an appearance, which reminded me how much I used to like him, but then “I Got High” and forgot all about him again. Playing the last set of the festival, San Francisco dubstep hero Lorin Ashton (Bassnectar) brought all the womping and eardrum popping energy that Vail could handle. After three days of music, snow and stupid amounts of fun, festival season has officially begun in the Rocky Mountains. Jealous is an epic understatement.

It sucks getting texts from your friend all weekend long about how cool a music festival is. Coachella, I’m tired of waiting. Hurry up already.

PS — Mexico for Spring Break on Monday? Yeahhhhh Buddy.