Heatwave Music Festival just wrapped up its second year, and it once again showed its potential as the new summertime EDM festival in Chicago.
With headliners like Tiesto, Kx5, and Griz, the festival undoubtedly delivered a good time. Heatwave Festival moved to Northerly Island near downtown Chicago this year, giving it a prime spot on Lake Michigan with a gorgeous view of the city. Here are some of our favorite memories from the sophomore year of Heatwave Music Festival in Chicago, Illinois.
Northerly Island, the new Heatwave venue
Whenever a festival moves to a new location, there are a lot of unknowns: how the stages will fit, how long the lines will be, the level of ease of transportation, etc. Since Northerly Island typically only holds single shows, everyone was very curious to see how the festival would be set up at this Live Nation venue on the edge of Chicago’s coastline. It ended up being perfect for this kind of event. All three stages faced the same way in a row, which isn’t a standard festival setup, but there was virtually no sound bleed. There was also plenty of room to dance at all of the stages!
My favorite part of the venue is that it overlooks the Chicago skyline, and that was the perfect backdrop for the headliners, especially at night. Our only complaint about the venue is getting to and from, as calling ride shares was difficult here.
The World’s Largest Rubber Duck
One of our favorite art/pop up installations at Heatwave was the World’s Largest Rubber Duck. Now, I am not usually one to fawn over installations such as this, but “Momma Duck” was MASSIVE. You could see her from blocks away before you even entered the festival. Unfortunately, the duck was only present on Saturday due to Sunday’s high winds. She was instantly missed far and wide among Heatwavers.
The Music
Favorite Sets: Sidepiece & Gryffin
Sidepiece’s set was sexy. With tracks such as “In the Yuma” and “Take It Off” mixed into their usual set of Sidepiece bangers, the whole crowd was going wild at this set. They get better every time I see them and I am already looking forward to the next one.
I have seen a lot of Gryffin sets in my lifetime, and this one was my favorite since his Gravity Tour. With a mix of both old songs and his new album, there was an incredible flow to this set. He even played “dashstar*” and mixed in some dubstep and techno.
Unexpected Favorite Set: A-trak B2B VNSSA
I am a firm believer that B2Bs are not always equal to the sum of their parts, but this one was an exception to the rule. It was the first set I got to catch on Sunday due to the weather, and it instantly had me in a better mood. Rain or shine, everyone was bopping around to banger after banger at this house set.
Overall, it was a successful year for Heatwave Festival despite the cold and rainy weather on Sunday.
The first day of Heatwave exceeded expectations all around – from the rubber duck to a farewell set from Griz, the festival definitely brought the heat on day one. And despite temperatures dipping into the 50s and a steady stream of wind and rain on Sunday, the attendees didn’t let the undesirable climate stop the party.
Heatwave continued to bring the vibes after the gates cloesd on Sunday evening. With official afterparties like Tiesto at Radius, Slander at Cermak Hall, Gryffin at Prysm, and VNSSA at Spybar, it was easy to keep the heat going late into Sunday night (and Saturday night too).
The festival delivered with great music and a well-produced venue. It also added art installations across the park, something that was promised but not fully realized last year. Now the unofficial #1 EDM festival of summertime in Chicago, we’re already looking forward to the next Heatwave for another year and more new memories.
Author: @technokell w/ @michael_premier
Premier EDM 