An Identity Festival Review - In Numbers

I am really sorry. This is a day or two late, it will probably be a snoozefest for you guys to read, but I felt like I needed to address Identity Festival in one way. We did hype it up so much last week.

I don't want to go into the details because I don't have too many great things to say about the overall festival. But I hate lying. Mainly because I'm really awful at it, but you'd also see right through my 'glowing review'.



The timing never seemed right. DJ Shadow was completely canceled cause storms/downpour of rain, and the outdoors stages ended up getting shut down for the duration of the festival.

I was also asked a few times to buy beer by underage girls. I was probably the wrong person to ask because I'm a girl - that was your first mistake.You always ask boys first, duh. Your second mistake was wearing (insert any highlighter color that could blind you) tank top and orange hats that said, "RAGE".


**taken by Rashad**

I can't say much for myself though; I was running around the festival in an "I Love You But I've Chosen Disco" shirt, and people probably were actively judging me too.

Please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt because everyone should have their own opinion about music. I'm certainly not judging anyone (but really I am), so don't take my review and think it's the end all, be all. Cause it's not. Even though I wish it was because then disco dance parties would reign supreme and cupcakes would be considered a meal.



I had a great time overall (despite what you're about to read below), and I can't leave this post without also thanking our gracious hosts. You guys rule and you took us to the best places in Philly!!

Our asses were late to the party (Identity Festival being the party, and our asses were late cause we missed these two acts - womp womp), so here's a good rundown of our experience at Identity Festival.... in numbers.

Miles driven to Philadelphia - 136 miles


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Cups of coffee consumed by yours truly in the 3 hour car ride - 4

Minutes it took to crack open our first beer when we got to Philadelphia - 2

Whiskeys taken before we left for Camden - 4

Set time changes that occurred before we left to head to Camden - 3

Employees at Festival who had no idea where Booka Shade was playing - all of them



Employees at Festival who had no idea what the different stages were - all of them

Shirts that made me confused and slightly offended - 1


*taken by Rashad*

Beers consumed while Steve Aoki was playing - not enough

Beers consumed before realizing no matter how drunk we got Steve Aoki would still suck - too many

Times I was actively judging people in the crowd - too many

Times Rashad had to tell me to stop actively judging people in the crowd - three; once during Rusko, once during Aviici, and once when we were taking pictures in front of the main stage.

Neon hats I saw with the word 'RAGE' on it - too many

Times I heard Rashad ask people (the ladies) "Who Wanted to be Internet Famous" - too many (haha sorry!)

Creepy cars we saw in Philly - 1



People we fit in a cab ride from Camden to Philly after the show - 6

Crabs we ate at the crab and beer festival on Saturday - take a wild guess



Showers taken by yours truly while in Philly - 1 (gross, right?)

**And I'm sorry about the crappy photographs by me - clearly I was more interested in other things** And by interested in other things I mean I liked beer too much.

Identity Fest Spotlight!: Booka Shade

Personally, these guys were one of the few deal sealers for me to attend Identity Festival. From Berlin, Arno Kammermeirer and Walter Merziger, have been delighting ears and moving bodies for just under a decade. Booka Shade’s music is difficult fit into a specific genre, but at its core it is dance music plain and simple. It’s minimal with hints of Techno, but straddles the line into House (often deep/progressive) at times.



Six albums deep, their most recent, “More!” gave us just that. A bit different than their previous approach, this album was “..built from the dance floor up” (Booka Shade). Their single, “Regeneration”, was a hit in clubs around the globe. Their live show is an audio-visual insight into the duo's music. While Arno takes control of percussion, Walter does his thing on synth and various midi controllers.



Booka Shade tours extensively and has shaken dance floors from hottest clubs in Europe to the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. You are in for a treat if you are able to catch them as they play a number of the Identity Festival tour dates. Look out for the DPC crew in Camden, NJ this weekend as we will be getting down to Booka Shade and a host of premier electronic dance music acts. Also, stay tuned for more IDfest Spotlights…

If you’re not completely convinced of Booka Shade’s dance inducing sound just yet, do yourself a favor and check out this fantastic DJ set from earlier this year.

(30 min Sample, Full set download below)


Booka Shade Global Dance Session 1/8/2011 (via mixing.dj)