This past Saturday in Oakland there were almost 400 noise complaints for a rave that was happening at the O.co Coliseum. This rave that lasted till 2 in the morning had headliners that consisted of Avicii, Alesso, Sander van Doorn, Chuckie, and much more. This rave that caused so much noise that can be felt and heard for miles was called Beyond Wonderland. And what a wonderful experience it was!

Beyond Wonderland has been around for sometime however this was the first time that Insomniac has decided to bring it north to the San Francisco Bay Area. The line to enter the venue moved fast, the weather wasn’t to cold, the Dj’s were killing it, and my ears were ringing till this afternoon 🙂

I have included a map (courtesy of Insomniac) of the venue below so you can get an idea of the venue. For those of you unfamiliar with O.co Coliseum and the Oracle Arena, the O.co is the home of both the Oakland Athletics and the Oakland Raiders while the Oracle Arena is the home of the Golden State Warriors. The O.co is set to the East of the Oracle Arena where they are both flanked by parking to the north and south. The venue was set in the south parking lot. There were 3 stages; the Caterpillar Garden which was to the north east of the venue, the Madhatter’s Castle set in the middle, and the Queens’s Domain to the south. There was a ferries wheel, drinks, and other “attractions” that were set between the Madhatter’s Castle and the Queen’s Domain.

With the name Beyond Wonderland I was coming to the venue expecting to go down the rabbit hole and find myself in a whole new world. Instead I ended up at the Madhatter’s table sober. Beyond Wonderland was like a bad regurgitation of the Electronic Daisy Carnival. I didn’t feel energy in the air, the ferries wheel and the picnic area seemed like an afterthought, and there wasn’t enough lights… What I mean by not enough lights is that the physical experience wasn’t all there. This is my opinion and I know that it aint fair to compare Beyond Wonderland with EDC.  With that said, the sets were amazing! Which is the very reason why people come to these events/raves/festivals. To hear and see their favorite DJ’s perform and fuck them sideways.

Oh man, where do I start? I saw Avicii for the first time and his set was crazy! Craziest part of it was that in the middle of his set, someone ignited a tear gas or let lose a fire extinguisher. I was to the right side of the tent when what ever it was went off and as soon as it did, many of us cleared the tent fast! People were running while covering their face, some were chocking and coughing, and there were still people enjoying the music. So I’m sure that what ever it was, was not tear gas. If it were, I’d be dying and more people would had been affected. The music kept on going and once the ominous cloud cleared, everyone went back in the tent to enjoy the night.

I can’t stop saying how wonderful the DJ’s were. Cazzette, Thomas Gold, and all the other DJ’s that I saw that night. I wished that there was better timing with the different set times and less overlapping. Since there were overlapping set times I caught the tail end of some sets. For example, after Aviccii I went from the Queen’s Domain to the Madhatter’s Castle to catch the end of Chuckie‘s set. I wished that I saw all of Chuckie’s set since he was killing it.

The best DJ of the night would be Sander van Doorn. This. Guy. Killed. It. WOW! Sander’s set at EDC was one of my favorite form that weekend. But the set that Sander played for Beyond was a godly amount better! Holy shit! Can you say wow! Damn, damn, damn. Here’s a tease of Sander’s set from my girlfriend.

I’m thankful that Insomniac brought Beyond Wonderland and these wonderful DJ’s to the Bay Area. Over all the night was bad ass! I know that I’m being ignorant for writing that my ears were ringing the next day but I earned those damage ear drums. Next time I’ll bring ear buds. Which means that next time Beyond Wonderland is up here in the Bay Area, I’m going.