It’s been a busy week! After all the concerts this past week, I flew out to Texas for the first ever Middlelands! I saw Galantis, Seven Lions, Marshmello and Illenium were going to be there so I really wanted to go. Originally I was supposed to go with Sarah, but she had to go back to Taiwan; since I’m trying to do things this year that I want to do regardless of if I’m doing them alone so I decided to head there and check it out!

Day 1

The first day I headed in and just took in all the sights. The festival took place on the renaissance grounds in Todd Mission.

There were 5 total stages, so since I didn’t know many of the Day 1 artists that were playing I just wandered around until I heard something I enjoyed. This happened at the Middlelands arena stage where Tim Gunter had a good set going. After his set Tokimonsta came on. I headed down into the pit area to go dance about halfway through the set; it was really great. I am definitely a fan of hers now.

As night fell, I wandered around a bit and got some food while I waited for Marshmello’s set to start.

As I headed to Castle Northwoods for Marshmello’s set a bit early, Big Gigantic was finishing up. Never heard of them before but I really jived with their set. I loved that they were playing live sax and drums over the tracks. Instant fan.

I moved up a little closer while waiting for Marshmello to come on. The stage had some awesome visuals:

I had only learned of Marshmello within the last half year. I saw him co-headline with Martin Garrix in Detroit. And he was pretty good then, his set was definitely improved for this show.

Major Lazer was the last set of the day. I didn’t know a lot about them, but Pat always talked about them so I stayed for their set. While waiting for them to come on, I met and talked to some of the people around me as I worked my way forward to the stage. I met Kayleen and Cassie and their rave family and we had a great time talking.

At some point Diplo got into a hamster ball and surfed the crowd that way.

Took a picture with my new friends! Kayleen gave me my first Kandi and welcomed me into the Shroom Crew. It was cool to make friends the first night.

Day 2

I realized as the day wore on that there wasn’t much change in scenery, so I didn’t have to take as many pictures. I was mostly excited to see Seven Lions and Gryffin at night, so I mostly wandered around Day 2 and followed my ears.

I wandered around and saw Jurassic 5 was playing. I recognized the name so I stopped by. The DJs came out at one point and played these custom instruments they made.

I wandered around while I waited for Gryffin and stopped by the Wench’s Bay pirate ship and enjoyed the Hicks with Sticks set, there was an arena where a puppet was wrapping, and I took a picture with two imposing looking villains.

I made my way to the Stronghold stage, and it cleared out a bit. I made my way to the rail and enjoyed the set from there. Some of the models for the festival showed up at the front so I got to interact with them!

I know Gryffin because the Electric Forest trailer(?) used his song Heading Home. I really liked that song so I started listening to him, and really liked his stuff.

He recently did a collab with Illenium and ended his set with it, I was very pleased by that.

I headed over to Seven Lions after Gryffin and didn’t take any video because I was too busy enjoying his set. I love Seven Lions because he just plays music. There’s almost no talking, he just plays his music and loves it. It’s amazing.

A great end to the second day, I couldn’t wait to see Galantis.

Day 3

Most of the artists I wanted to see on Day 3 closed out the festival. So I ate a lot of food and wandered around. The steak on a stick was SURPRISINGLY good for the $8 that it cost. I should’ve gotten more.

I made my way to the Middlelands arena to check it out, and recognized the flag of the shroom crew. So I made my way over to say hi. It was really cool to have run into them again, and recognize them from so far away because of their flag.

I stayed around for the Boombox Cartel set, but then went to get some food. While I was roaming, there was a parade of all the different models.

I made my way to Middlelands arena for Illenium and on my way there I saw the Shroom Crew flag again! I met up with them and we hung out together the rest of the night

Illenium played some new music too! Unreleased, I liked it a lot.

Afterwards, we made our way over to Castle Northwoods to see Galantis. I was super psyched. Galantis is one of my favorite EDM artists. They did not disappoint. The 1.5 hour set they had flew by. I danced like a maniac. Near the end of their set, they brought out the “seafox” that is the basis of their band’s story.

There was a guy in a leopard onesie that would randomly boop me on the head/shoulder and go “meow”. He was cool, I wish I interacted with him more.

I had planned to leave after Galantis because I had an early flight to catch, but I stayed for the beginning of Kaskade’s set with Ryan, Cassie, and Tom. I thought I didn’t know Kaskade, but I recognized a lot of his stuff.

An amazing time! I’m really glad I still went, even after I found it it’d be just me. I made some great new friends and had an amazing experience. I want to go to more music festivals!

-Evilmanta