“I hope you appreciate these moments. In 20, 30, 40 years, you’ll remember nights like this” —Madeon

This weekend, EDM DJs ISOxo and Knock2 hosted their first-ever hometown festival, SAN DIEGO 4EVR, under the collaborative name, ISOKNOCK. The San Diego-based DJs released their first album “4EVR” in early August and quickly followed the release with an announcement for the festival. Tickets sold out within 25 minutes of going on sale, and fans were eagerly awaiting for the early December festival weekend.

The festival took place over two nights and was hosted at SnapDragon stadium. Dressed in baggy pants, mini skirts, and lots of fish nets, fans had all agreed that the color code for the event was black and white. Projected high onto the stadium wall was the ISOKNOCK logo, looming over us like a crimson Bat-signal. 

Despite SAN DIEGO 4EVR being their first festival (as hosts), the event was effectively and efficiently organized. The grounds were split into two sections: the food and drink area, and the stage area. Clearly labeled tents sold Turkish, Filipino, and stadium foods, and drink stations were easily accessible; if you were dehydrated that was on you.

All of the acts shared a singular stage: a behemoth of steel pipes and industrial scaffolding, supporting an imposing installation of the ISOKNOCK logo. Beneath the stage, a five-foot-tall wall of subwoofers stretched from end to end. The opening act was an LA-based DJ, Club Action, whose mix of popular songs and dubstep gave a welcoming vibe for the early birds. She was followed by Aleko, who also had a very balanced set, mixing harder varieties of house with intense dubstep. 

The following set by the Snow Strippers was fairly unremarkable and the duo lacked chemistry with the audience, but it served as a break before the upcoming set by Peekaboo. He opened his performance with a bass drop that literally blew some of us off our feet, and he followed that with an on-stage presence that was just as hype. His style of dubstep felt more synonymous with bass music, similar to the music of G Jones and Skrillex. Despite the bass being monstrously large, it was also rich and textured, while never overpowering the rest of the mix. His mission statement, flashing on the gargantuan screens on either side of the stage, was “ALL I NEED IS BASS.”

Peekaboo was succeeded by the sub-headliner, Madeon. The critically acclaimed French DJ performed a moving and evocative set that paid homage to his discotheque influences. Of all the performers that weekend, he relied the most on mid-range synths and sentimental melodies, invoking the sounds of his collaborator Porter Robinson, as well as Dutch DJ San Holo. Madeon’s sampling of Daft Punk, Electric Light Orchestra, and The Gorillaz resonated very positively with the crowd, and his set was ultimately the second-best performance of the weekend. 

Madeon was also the first to employ pyrotechnics. Halfway through a song he stopped abruptly and said, “Can we do that with flames? I want a lot of flame though; okay here we go.” He replayed his piece up until the bass drop, and when it landed it was accompanied by a wall of fire that engulfed the entire stage. The only thing on stage hotter than Madeon was literal flames. 

The final performance of the night was the headlining set by ISOKNOCK. The duo came out like a pair of rockstars—sitting on the back of a Honda hatchback with blaring sirens and hammering bass letting everyone know it was time to get wild. The effects team was firing on all cylinders, shooting flames across the stage, unleashing fireworks into the air, blasting fog machines, and cracking flares. 

Mixing songs from behind their DJ table, the duo took turns jumping off said table, climbing the scaffolding, and shining spotlights into the crowd. The crowd responded vigorously (some too vigorously; this was the part of the night security started pulling folks out who had partied too hard) and the atmosphere was electrifying. My clothes were vibrating with the sound waves rippling through the air, and my skin was so tight against my face I was scared one more bass drop would blow it off completely. 

To anyone who missed the Day Two opening set by LIWAG, you missed out. Despite playing to a tiny crowd, the DJ had a welcoming and festive stage presence that made the performance feel intimate and intentional. Accompanied on stage by his crew, the performer and the audience became one as LIWAG mixed samples, dropped beats, and got the crowd involved. He did the most with what he had, and even when he messed up it was endearing because then we all knew he was really mixing instead of just pressing ‘PLAY.’

He was followed by the British basspunk duo, bassvictim, who were not particularly discernable from Snow Strippers—but if they both did the same thing, bassvictim was better at it. Bassvictim had a better relationship with the crowd, even admitting to their stage fright: “I’m so nervous!” Maria Manow exclaimed to the crowd. “We have never played a show this big, I’m nervous, sorry, just deal with it!”

The next act was singer-songwriter, glaive, who had the privilege of being the only non-EDM act. He combined EDM instrumentals with vocal chops reminiscent of Dominic Fike or Kevin Abstract, running up and down the stage all on his lonesome. While his backing track did a lot of the musical work, glaive made up for it with a theatrical performance and explosive ad-libs. His intense energy never waivered, but the energy of the show plateaued a few songs early and would have benefited from some emotional dynamics. With some refinement, glaive is an emo superstar in the making. 

The night got really crazy when the following duo, Brutalismus 3000, took the stage. If anyone there was doing acid for the first time, they definitely experienced irreversible brain damage. Projecting eerie, uncanny AI faces on the screens, Brutalsimus unleashed one of the most intense hardstyle sets I have ever experienced. The pounding bass drums were like artillery shells and the only other synths sounded like someone cutting a paint can with a handsaw. 

Across his 45-minute set, I witnessed six people carried out of the festival on stretchers and sent home in an ambulance. Thankfully the festival was ready to deal with the onslaught because EMS and security worked overtime to handle the individuals unable to handle the ferocious wub wub wubs.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for the R.L. Grimes to follow up such an impressive set. His dubstep set felt generally uninspired and lacking in innovation. There were several moments where he seemed to be setting up opportunities to subvert the audience’s expectations, but he failed every time. Rather than performing, it felt as if he was just playing songs.

As we waited out R.L. Grimes set, a fan named Daryl told us how excited he was to see the headliners. “I saw [ISOKNOCK] a year ago and they were the most lit [performers] there!” Daryl was excited by how much the duo might have improved in a year. “Watch, these guys will be headlining EDC soon.”

ISOKNOCK wrapped up the festival with their closing performance: blowing flames, blasting wubs, and dropping bass. The performance even led to a reddit post on r/SanDiegan where users from Hillcrest and North Park reported hearing the noise. User orangejulius said, “I’m pretty deep into North Park. It’s very ‘subwoofer in a 2004 Honda civic’ outside.” User Cmlvrvs said, “I’m a mile and a half away and our windows keep shaking.”

As the duo said their farewells, they were full of love for their hometown.“We love, love, LOVE you San Diego!” they yelled. No, ISOKNOCK, we love YOU.