Festival Review: Ubbi Dubbi in Fort Worth, Texas weathered the thunderstorms to deliver a memorable event with Tiesto, Zeds Dead, and Excision.
Ubbi Dubbi Festival in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas is one of the most recognizable music festivals in the Texas EDM scene. Ubbi Dubbi 2022 was canceled on Sunday due to inclement weather, but the festival made up for it with a great day one and several indoor shows on day two.
Returning to its past home at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth, Ubbi Dubbi hosted a mix of house music, bass music, and other EDM genres across three stages. Headliners on Day 1 included Excision and Alison Wonderland, while day 2 was moved to indoor venues throughout the DFW area with two massive shows headlined by Tiesto and Zeds Dead.
Ubbi Dubbi hosted three stages at Panther Island Pavilion, with a main stage, house stage, and bass stage spread across the venue.
Last year was my first Ubbi Dubbi festival, and it changed venues in 2022. In 2021, it was held at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, a far-off location that allowed for plenty of space. Panther Island Pavilion had hosted Ubbi in previous years, and it provided a more centralized location. However, the grounds here were considerably smaller. The production still met expectations, and the artists that performed on day one delivered. However, the most impressive aspects of this weekend were the last-minute shows that Disco Donnie Presents threw in Dallas/Ft. Worth venues.
After getting our tickets and waiting in line for nearly an hour on Saturday, we made it into Ubbi Dubbi for the tail end of Au5 b2b Chime at the Ubbi Stage.
The theme for the Ubbi Stage (main stage) on Saturday was bass music. Sets from Ophelia Records favorites like Blanke, Trivecta, and Dabin warmed up the crowd as the sun set. The stage then closed with Black Tiger Sex Machine, Alison Wonderland, and Excision. The Ubbi Stage was the place to be, and none of these sets disappointed.
Vibes at the beginning of a festival can often take a long time to warm up, but there was positive energy felt at the Ubbi Stage all day. Finding a good spot in a packed crowd is crucial, and sitting on top of the hill towards the right back of the crowd worked well for our group.
Directly behind the Ubbi Stage past the merch tent was the Zoom Room with headlining sets from John Summit and Dom Dolla.
Friendly house vibes were felt all day at the Zoom Room, and the performers consisted of some of the genre’s biggest artists. I think Zoom Room was probably the stage that was set up the best at Ubbi Dubbi. It was also conveniently located right in the middle of the festival. One particularly great thing about Ubbi this year was the complete lack of sound bleed between stages despite a smaller venue.
The last stage, the Dubbi Stage, was located a longer walk past the vendor booths in a corner of the festival reserved for heavy bass music.
I didn’t spend too much time at the Dubbi Stage, mostly due to its long distance from the rest of the festival. I stopped by for a few minutes of Mize, Minnesota b2b Buku, and Peekaboo, but I spent most of my time at Zoom Room and the Ubbi Stage.
Thunderstorms were in the forecast for weeks leading up to Ubbi Dubbi weekend.
Although the actual storm wasn’t as bad as expected, the festival still had to cancel Sunday before the music even started. At first, It was difficult to get over the disappointment of having the fest cut in half. Disco Donnie Presents then quickly pulled some strings and announced indoor shows with several of the headlining artists. The first show, Clubbi Dubbi in the Shack at Panther Island Pavilion, was headlined by Zeds Dead with opening sets from Clozee, Inzo, Apashe, and more.
I chose to attend Clubbi Ubbi at Cowboys Red River, a dance hall that is usually reserved for cowboys and country music.
The lineup featured Tiesto, Gorgon City, Sonny Fodera, Regard, Nurko, and Vindata. The venue was huge and included pool tables, plenty of bars, and decor that you’d only find in Texas. It was an epic party with particularly great sets from Nurko and Regard.
Tiesto played an amazing set for over two hours before the venue shut him down around 2:15 AM. The festival might’ve been canceled, but seeing over eight hours of EDM at Cowboys Red River that night made up for it.
Ubbi Dubbi also threw two additional shows in Fort Worth: one with The Sponges, and the other with Camelphat, Kyle Watson, and Bleu Clair. Overall, I was really impressed with the shows that Ubbi Dubbi put on in lieu of the event cancelation. The shows did sell out, meaning some festivalgoers were left without tickets in the end.
Ubbi Dubbi Festival 2022 delivered a positive experience in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.
It will be interesting to see what happens to this festival next year. I wonder if 2021 in Ennis, Texas was just an outlier and the festival will return to Panther Island. I enjoyed last year more, but with the festival falling on my birthday weekend, I’ll probably be back in 2023. 2-day festivals are great, and the lineup continues to impress year after year.
Saturday was fun, Sunday made me feel all possible emotions, and in the end, it was an event (and a Tiesto set) that I’ll never forget. I was surrounded by great people and great music all weekend, and despite the weather, it was another successful trip to Ubbi Dubbi.
Premier EDM 