To successfully recount the weekend long experience of SnowBall Music Festival, Clarion reporters go through each set they attended and attempt to explain what made the weekend so successful.

Snowball Day 1

This year’s SnowBall Music Festival, which took place outside of Sports Authority Field at Mile High, stayed true to half of its name. There was not any snow, but it certainly was a ball. Day one of three kicked off on Friday with some big crowds, big names and even bigger drops.

Perhaps one of the biggest upsides to this year’s location change is the event’s accessibility. RTD light rail was packed with festival-garbed masses ready to have some fun. After a quick walk from the light rail, breezing through a short security line and ticket check, it was time for my concert crew and I to experience SnowBall 2014.

We entered the festival at around 6:30 p.m. To our dismay, we missed the set of HeRobust, the bass-master from Atlanta, but we gathered the troops, checked out some of the vendor booths in the center, filled the water bottles and were quickly drawn to some serious funk coming from the main stage.

It is easy to see why The Floozies have collaborated with the likes of the funk-master GRiZ. These guys had everyone in the crowd moving. The duo is made up of producer and guitarist Matt Hill with his brother Mark Hill on drums. Talk box vocals paired with some sweet guitar riffs got the crowd moving.

Next, we meandered over to the Groove Tent to catch GTA. This duo has their feet in many different subsections of the electronic genre, but hip-hop and trap-inspired tracks powered by chest-thumping bass lines gave the set its backbone.

We did not want to walk away, but Earl Sweatshirt was firing up back at the main stage. Sweatshirt was supposed to be one of the most anticipated sets of the festival, and it was easy to see why. He is a talented rapper with great sound and he pairs it with some fantastic beats. Not only that, but he has excellent charisma on stage and brings the crowd into the performance.

We ping-ponged back to the Groove Tent towards Mimosa, the powerful glitch-hop producer out of Los Angeles. This may have been the best set of the night. His tracks are best described as “grimy,” a word very familiar to the electronic die-hards. He played countless fresh tracks, most of which I didn’t even recognize. The crowd was rowdy, feet were moving, and a great first day was nearing its end.

The crowd started to lighten up at the Groove Tent as people began heading towards the main stage for Knife Party. If you are not familiar, this duo produces intense dubstep at its finest. Rob Swire was not in attendance as he is on a six-month hiatus from performing, but that did not impede the duo’s other half, Gareth McGrillen, from keeping the energy up. He played all of the group’s hits, everything from “Internet Friends” to “Bonfire,” which may or may not have been audible from the other side of Denver.

However, I was rather disappointed in the production element of the set. The stage had a pretty low-key setup with only one relatively small LED screen and robotic lights. There were six fog cannons in the front of the stage, which went off periodically, but it just did not seem like a headlining set. The energy was high and the crowd was moving, but it was nothing like any of the other days’ headliners, let alone the headliners from last year’s SnowBall in Winter Park.

Overall, the first day went smoothly. Attendance was the lightest of the weekend and the day did not have the biggest names, but that is to be expected of day one. The Floozies and Mimosa earned the awards for best sets of the day, with Knife Party coming in at a close third. Afterwards, the masses crowded the light rails, some headed to one of the numerous after parties downtown, and some headed home to rest up for the remainder of a huge weekend.

Snowball Day 2

I arrived at SnowBall around 4:00 p.m. and went straight to the Groove Stage to see the trap duo, Caked Up. Ravers were already lined up to see what Oscar Wylde and Vegas Banger had to bring to Denver. As I positioned myself near the front of the stage I noticed two girls, not older than 15 calling for the heavily-tattooed Wylde to acknowledge them. Eventually Wylde complied and delivered by taking a selfie with them. For the next few minutes before the show started, their screams of glee were the only thing people could hear. Caked Up ended up being one of the wildest non-headliner sets of the weekend. They dropped trapped out remixes of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Kendrick Lamar’s “M.A.A.D City” and Dr. Dre’s “Next Episode” amongst their large catalogue of songs.

Next up at the same stage was Lunice, one of the two DJs behind trap mega-stars TNGHT. Unfortunately, his plane got delayed, and he was unable to make his set time. Colorado natives Proper Motion took Lunice’s place, and while they were initially greeted by a chorus of boos, the crowd eventually warmed up to them and they played a set near full capacity.

After wandering away from the Groove Tent, I eventually discovered a funky trio going by the name Chrome Sparks at the Ballroom Stage. Foregoing the normal EDM structure for sound (heavy bass, lots of sampling), the group brought a jazzy, funky vibe that had the crowd grooving.

Near the end of Chrome Sparks set, I headed over to the main stage where I was able to set up near the very front of the stage so I could capture both Yeasayer and Pretty Lights without distraction. Yeasayer played a mostly unmemorable set of their hits. Since most of the festival-goers were there for the constant raves, I felt that Yeasayers psychedelic pop went under appreciated. I have seen Yeasayer once before a few years ago, and this time it felt like they played a much more electronically-tinged set.

Maybe this was because of the atmosphere, but it showed both growth and diversity in their sound. They ended their set with “Ambling Alp” and the promise of new music within the next year.

The night ended with everyone gathered around the Main Stage to see the biggest star of SnowBall, Pretty Lights. The Fort Collins native absolutely dominated the fest; people in the trademark PL hats were everywhere and ravers were lining up at the Main Stage at least two hours before his listed set time of 8:40 p.m. Since I was one of those people, I was able to meet some of the Pretty Light die-hards. One even boasted that they had not missed a PL set in Colorado since 2008.

The DJ, born Derek Vincent Smith, also had the coolest stage set up of the weekend, with a full mixing table with two laptops propped up, another DJ mixing and a drummer. The light show was spectacular and kept the crowd entranced with its psychedelic aura. He played at an exhausting pace for over an hour and a half, blasting through all his major hits such as “You Get High,” “I Know the Truth” and “Finally Moving.” One thing was made clear Saturday night: There is no SnowBall fest without Pretty Lights. The DJ has headlined the festival every single year of its existence except 2012. This year he had two sets, one headlining Saturday night at the main stage and a second Sunday night headlining the Groove Tent with a label showcase.

Smith closed his set by praising Colorado and the EDM community that has flourished here. “This is a special place and a special time right now,” said Smith.

Snowball Day 3

I arrived a little earlier on Sunday to catch the highly-buzzed about duo, TWRK, who have come out of nowhere in the past few months as beneficiaries of the mega-DJ Diplo and are now two of the brightest stars in the rising trap scene. They played a shorter set of about 45 minutes that left the crowd wanting more. Unfortunately, the DJ they were supposed to lead into, WHAT SO NOT, was unable to make their set time so I was cast free, out into the packed day three atmosphere. I had originally planned to stay at the Groove Tent all day, but I eventually wandered over to the Heat Hut and discovered the duo, Keepers. They had a small, but dedicated crowd in constant movement, jamming out to their funk.

After Keepers ended at 5:30 p.m. I ended up back at the Groove Tent for KapSlap. Although he was able to get the hype built and the party started, he felt a little rough around the edges compared to the next DJ, Clockwork. Clockwork ended up playing perhaps my favorite set of the whole festival. He blended slow melodic sounds with thunderous bass drops that entranced the huge crowd and got everyone raging harder than I thought possible.

The aforementioned PLM house party was up next. Smith took the front of the stage and the rest of his label, with Colorado DJs such as Michael Menert, Paul Basic, Supervision and Eliot Lipp, surrounding him. This was an incredible display of label showcase. With all four DJs mixing at the same time, bouncing their distinct sounds off one another, they created a unique “have to be there” moment. Like Smith said Saturday night, this weekend at Mile High Stadium really was a special time and place to be.

After the PLM party ended around 9:45 p.m., the hundreds of people crammed at the Groove Stage rushed to the main stage to catch GRiZ. I was not a big fan of GRiZ before his headlining set but he really brought his A-game Sunday night. He shut the whole festival down with his massive drops and his light show rivaled Pretty Lights from yesterday. He played songs mostly from his newest album, “Rebel Era.”

Some of the non-music highlights of the weekend were the walls set up for Denver street artists to showcase their talents. There ended up being a lot of high-quality work that almost everyone ended up checking out. Other cool stuff was the delicious festival standard, the giant turkey leg and the free vapor pens being handed out left and right.

Most of the complaints I heard over the weekend were focused on the spacing of the festival, which although was a little tight did not matter much once you got to raving. There were also a number of people complaining about it being in Denver which most festival-goers deemed as solely a money-making move. On the other hand, more people were able to enjoy the fest and had easier access to it.

SnowBall was an amazing experience, and I urge anyone who is able to attend next year. There were absolutely no bad sets, just different levels of mind-melting awesome. Thanks to SnowBall for hosting an incredible weekend full of amazing music and experiences.