On the morning of September 16, thousands of people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were waking up to get ready for a brand new festival experience. Shaq’s Bass All Stars, presented by Disco Donnie, promised fans of EDM a day of head-banging and mosh pits. With Shaq leading the collaboration for this event, he promised some of the best artists in the bass-heavy electronic music scene. Held on Panther Island in Fort Worth, the same location as Ubbi Dubbi Fest, Shaq’s Bass All Stars provided locals with a familiar location while also providing additional treats not found at previous events held; such as a ferris wheel, long shot basketball, and food trucks that you couldn’t pass up.
The day started cloudy with the slightest chance of rain occurring, but that didn’t deter anyone away from experiencing a brand new festival for Texas. As people arrived before the gates opened, the clouds parted and gave everyone waiting in line some heat from the direct sun. Luckily for those who waited over an hour to be first inside, the festival decided to open the gates twenty minutes early from their 4pm scheduled time! This was assumably so that the two artists who began their sets at 4pm, the same time as the originally planned opening of gates, would have a good amount of people at their set when they began. As the day was off to a good start already, most attendees made their way to festival merchandise and other vendors to get ahead of selling out. Each artist performing had at least one item for sale; consisting of pashminas, jerseys, fans, and ordinary shirts. As per usual, the prices were not cheap for the items offered, but from personal experience, the jerseys were excellent quality. There were around six different food trucks and to everyone’s surprise, the price for the items offered were reasonable! That is definitely hard to find at festivals nowadays, so it was great for allowing attendees on a budget to still get the full festival experience without going hungry.
After the openers got through with their sets and most attendees had arrived, it was time to really start the day. Leotrix was the first full set I caught, which provided not only heavy bass and riddim to Panther Island, but also featured two dancers on stage in black body suits and big golden cat head helmets. the sun shone directly toward the stage, providing perfect visibility of the stage and dancers. Leotrix made sure to bring the heat, providing fans with his top hits while adding a little extra spice to his lineup with some differences to his songs. The energy he gave to the audience was infectious as he owned the main stage and got everyone into the mindset for the day. Of course, he made sure to interact with fans by standing on the deck table and dancing with the crowd. Overall, Leotrix provided a set that was for the fans entirely, and at the end, he took a picture for his socials by throwing a peace sign with the whole crowd behind him.
Next up at the main stage was Crankdat. Still on theme with the Bass All Stars, Crankdat’s music featured trap drum and bass, which certainly did not disappoint. Being lucky enough to perform his set during golden hour, fans and artists alike were blown away by the overall beauty of the day matched with the high energy from the man himself. He was definitely the set to see during golden hour, and it was apparent based on the huge crowd that stretched up to the slight hills that began the merchant and vendor areas. With a crowd like that, Crankdat and his fans were feeding off the enthusiasm and head banging the other provided. The colors used in his set displays and lighting were primarily blue and red, which provided for a perfect contrast to the golden glow. While Crankdat was still one of the earlier sets of the day, it was obvious that no one wanted to miss his set.
Directly following was Kai Wachi, who started his performance as the sunset was falling into the horizon. This was the first set of the day where darkness began encapsulating the sky, and it provided for the full experience most expect for raves. The lights and display colors were fully vibrant at this point, and the experience was elevated because of this for both the artist and his fans. Kai provided the crowd with an entire set of heavy bass dubstep which definitely set the mood for the rest of the night as Shaq himself was set to follow. With the night sky finally over the area, fans were going hard for this one. Some people had been at the rail for hours already, and were not set on moving as to get the closest experience they could. Of course, headbangers had taken over the rail, and a line of people throwing themselves back and forth in unison made for an incredible atmosphere.
After Kai Wachi was the man himself, DIESEL. More commonly known as Shaquille O’Neil, DIESEL has been dominating the bass music industry recently. Having sets at numerous festivals recently such as Lollapalooza Paris and Lost Lands, this man has created a unique performance that brings out the heavy side in everyone. His set was mostly focused on hard bass and heavy electronics, giving the crowd a reason to put all else aside and fully dive into the music on a bodily level. Of course, it wouldn’t be a DIESEL set without several mosh pits going on throughout the crowd. These mosh pits could get pretty rough for his set, and since it seemed like most everyone attending the festival was there for his set, room was heavy limited. If you were near a mosh pit but preferred to not be included, you’d either find yourself being pushed a few times from the impact of others in the actual mosh pit or you’d try and move to avoid the hectic nature of the crowd. Obviously, this is something that anyone who attends a DIESEL set knows since he makes it obvious that mosh pits should be active practically every other song. While his set can be rough and severely high energy in the crowd, everyone was having an amazing time and Shaq made the most of his performance.
Closing the main stage for the night was Alison Wonderland, who gave fans an unforgettable set with some of her top songs to date! Her music contains Electropop, chill wave, and trap future bass. Obviously being huge in the industry she is in, Alison Wonderland is an artist everyone attending a festival wants to see, and Shaq’s Bass All Stars was no different. While she did share closing the night with Layz, who was at the secondary stage, Alison stole the night and it was obvious based on her crowd size. The crowd was going hard to her set, making it known that no one wanted the night to be over. Her stage displays and lighting set the ambience for the evening, giving everyone a cool down from DIESEL while also providing the feel-good, bass heavy music she loves. Overall, Shaq’s Bass All Stars was a very successful festival for its first time, and the future looks bright for seeing it come around again next year!
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