Taking over the entire Wyndham Orlando Resort for the weekend, Home Bass is a can’t-miss event for EDC Orlando attendees.
One of the best surprises of festival season 2021 was EDC Orlando. While the idea that it was better than EDC Las Vegas might not resonate with everybody, most EDCO attendees would agree that the overall vibe and experience was particularly great this year. That vibe was especially felt at Home Bass, a 4-day long party at The Wyndham Orlando Resort.
Taking over the hotel and conference center, Home Bass is run independently of EDC. Music Festival Trips, the company behind Home Bass, brings in their own lineup of talent for the weekend. This year’s lineup included headliners like Snails, Baauer, Keys N Krates, Minnesota, Lee Foss, and Detlef.
This year was my second EDC Orlando, and at first, I wasn’t planning on going to Home Bass at all.
We actually booked an Airbnb that just happened to be across the street. I noticed our location on International Drive (with a Wawa between us and Wyndham), and I couldn’t decide whether to buy an official EDC shuttle pass or a Home Bass shuttle and party pass. I waited until the last minute, and when every EDC shuttle sold out the week before the festival, the decision was made for me…Home Bass was the move.
The festivities kicked off on Thursday night with sets from Gene Farris, Solardo, and Rebuke at the main stage inside the conference center: The Mothership. Going to a show in a carpeted conference hall with chandeliers on the ceiling definitely felt a little weird at first, but by the end of the weekend, I grew to love it. The production and sound was great, and it was nice to be inside after a long day at the festival.
Friday was the first pool party at Blue Planet, with the main attraction being an old school dubstep set from Snails. Throwback sets have become more common in dubstep lately, with Modestep playing a memorable one this year at Lost Lands. But Snails played an hour and a half of his classic #vomitstep tracks from when he was first coming up in 2014-2016. EDC Orlando weekend was definitely off to an amazing start.
The afters on Friday night expanded to multiple rooms, revealing an additional main stage called Bass X. Bass X was located in a much smaller meeting room. It could get a bit crowded sometimes, especially with people sitting in the back of the crowd. There were some solid bass sets here all weekend, but I’d like to see this stage expand into a bigger room next year. Friday’s Wakaan Afterparty had Sully, Minnesota, and Yookie, while Saturday brought Eprom, Jantsen, SubDocta, and Manic Focus.
The Mothership was definitely my favorite stage within Home Bass. It was the home to Lee Foss’ Warm Disco party on Saturday night, featuring sets from Lee Foss, Detlef, Anabel Englund, and Gina Turner. When it comes to house music, I’d say that was easily the best aftershow all weekend in Orlando.
After a long day at a festival, it can be hard to actually make it to the afterparty. But that’s not really the case when the party is at your hotel.
The shuttle lines to get home from the festival did get long. But with music going every until 6 AM every morning, you still had plenty of time to stop in your room and head to the conference room for afters. And if you don’t want to make the walk to the stages, you can probably find a renegade DJ set along the way to hang out at. Walking around Home Bass at night and hearing so many people throwing down DJ sets was awesome.
Day 3 began with DJ Craze and Happy Colors dropping sets at the pool. The closing party later that night was headlined by Baauer and Keys N Krates. And even though I hadn’t heard of anyone else on the lineup on Sunday after them, Bass X and The Mothership continued to go hard all night. If I could give out one piece of festival advice, it would be to (slightly) pace yourself early in the weekend and go as hard as you can on Sunday. Sunday always has the best vibes.
I’ve never really seen anything like Home Bass. One thing that makes it unique is that it’s run completely separately of EDC.
Home Bass brings together the best qualities of both city festivals and camping festivals. You have the amenities of a hotel and running water, but you’re still staying with everyone from the fest. And there’s always a party going on.
First occurring in 2018, Home Bass is still only in its first few years. In the future, it’d be great to see them expand this event. Specifically, it’d be great to see the pool utilized more. Nighttime pool parties might be unrealistic due to noise ordinances, but I’d love to see the day parties go past 4 PM.
There’s no doubt that I’ll be returning to EDC Orlando and Home Bass in 2022.
Music Festival Trips is also behind Dirtybird CampInn, which is returning to the Wyndham Orlando in February. I think this venue combined with the vibes that Dirtybird is known for would be amazing, and Dirtybird CampInn is now on my radar for this winter.
Sometimes, the quality of a festival isn’t just about the number of DJs you can see throughout the weekend. There’s plenty of other factors too, and I just felt like EDCO and Home Bass was the whole package. The vibe and energy was more fun and positive compared to other fests I’ve attended recently.
EDC Orlando and Home Bass is easily one of the weekends I’m most excited for next year. Combined with the much-anticipated return of Ultra Music Festival in March, we’ll definitely be making some memories in Florida in 2022.
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