Phoenix Lights has become one of the largest festivals of the year in the region with it’s always stacked lineup and features four stages. Because of that it becomes harder and harder for Relentless Beats, the team behind the festival, to top themselves each year. Well this year they said ‘challenge accepted’ and blew expectations out of the water with the festival for its five year anniversary.
We all knew the lineup was stellar but when you stepped into the festival grounds you just knew that the weekend was going to be something special. The first change from the past year which was instantly felt was the festival run time, moving from 12 PM – 12 AM to 5 PM – 2 AM. This helped with the Arizona heat which can become quite unbearable and kept the party going throughout the night. Production this year was also stepped up a notch, with the two big stages outside the main both being tented and featuring an upgrade in lighting and sound. The team also ensured that the dirt which is prominent throughout the grounds would also be defused by placing tile down in the ‘Invasion’ stage and turf in the ‘Colony’ stage while the main stage, appropriately named the ‘Mothership’ featured grass and tile up front by the stage.
Photo by Jeremy Verone
The production on all three stages was great but the real standout was the ‘Colony,’ which was a 360 degree tent with the stage in the middle with speakers and LED screens all-around, allowing attendees to sit on whichever side of the stage and not miss out on the music. This stage featured the deeper acts such as Sasha, Lane 8, Spencer Brown, Claude Vonstroke, J. Phlip, and more and the design was perfect for this sound. This was a great place to just sit down and chill out when needed and also catch some great music.
Photo by Jacob Tyler Dunn
The ‘Invasion’ stage featured much of the heavier sounds of the lineup with the likes of Doctor P, Subtronics b2b Squnto, and Sikdope. The stage was always jam-packed with the bass booming and the crowd headbanging.
Photo by Tony Cottrell
Finally, the ‘Mothership’ was where everything came together with its top-of-the-line LEDs and sound. Excision and Kaskade headlined this stage on each night respectively with both equally putting on an ‘A’ grade show. There was no lack of good music throughout the two days and there was no better way than to close it out with Kaskade.
Photo by Luis Colato
There were also several art pieces, local shops, eateries, and more spread throughout the festival which gave it the Phoenix stamp and identity. Relentless Beats really outdid themselves with this year’s rendition of the festival and this should be a blueprint for them on how to do things going forward as it was great. There could always be improvements and I am sure there are some being discussed as the promoter is always pushing themselves to be bigger and better but we no doubt feel that Phoenix Lights 2019 was as good as a festival could be and we are already looking forward to what’s in store for 2020.
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