words: Jacqueline Dubin

photos: Alexis Fedoroff

No ID required for the music mania that ensued in Bristow, Virginia August 18, 2011. With thousands of screaming fans, multiple stages, and multiple big name artists, Identity Music Tour is the first ever electronic-only music festival to visit major outdoor amphitheaters throughout North America. Making its way to the DC area last weekend, the music tour, brought to us by Skull Candy with local promotional support by Glow/Panaorama Productions, hit Jiffy Lube Live with all the expected energy, hype, and memorable performances. More than two-dozen EDM acts hit three different stages throughout the 1PM to 11PM show. The event boasted names like Rusko, Steve Aoki, Avicii, Booka Shade, Hercules And Love Affair, Holy Ghost!, Disco Bisquits, Chuckie, DJ Shadow, Kaskade, and a last minute, surprise appearance by Markus Schultz. Guys and girls in nothing but glow danced, jumped, and waved their arms in the gorgeous sun that blazed over the event until about 8PM when a lightning stormed took over and formed the perfect backdrop to the amazing multifaceted light shows coming from each stage.  

Jiffy Lube Live set up three performance areas including the Skullcandy Stage (the main pavillion), Rockstar/Dim Mack stage (which was set up in an open area along with a multitude of vendors) and the Advent Stage put right in the center of both, making it hard not to stop and dance on the way to and from the other stages. The set up was quite like that of this year’s Starscape, but with much larger spaces. Though the pavilion held the main stage area, it was the Advent stage where Le Castle Vania spun heavy Electro tracksthat brought energy to the day time scene. A touch of disappointment hit Dubstep fans when crowd favorites, Nero, were somehow nowhere to be found for their scheduled set.  The group, who recently hit number one in the UK with their recent single “Promises”, later tweeted and posted on FaceBooked their frustration about having been bumped supposedly due to the addition of Markus Schultz.  Although many fans were let down, there was plenty of Dubstep to go around.  Afterward, Datsik took over and set the high hype standard for the rest of the day time performaces. His set drew a massive crowd that blocked the pathway to the Rockstar stage area forcing patrons to climb the huge hill that rounds the pavillion to avoid getting moshed. Rusko took over the main pavillion at sundown spinning his well known Dubstep songs like “Woo Boost”, and newer unheard tracks.

The headlining performance by Kaskade, waited on by every fan at Identity, brought even more ravers and their glow sticks to the Main Stage, converting them with his unique brand of high energy melodic Progress House. The performance opened with an amazing light show of colorful columns that flashed and changed with each sound and beat of his tracks, and continued to amaze until the end. Finishing out the night was a hard-hitting set by the always entertaining CEO of Dim Mak Records, Mr. Steve Aoki. The Bottle popping, bass dropping performance gave a real bang to the end of the night, leaving fans with as much and more energy than they came with. And if the energy weren’t enough of a reminder of where they came, the drenched clothing from a massive downpour at the end only added to the story that was Identity Festival 2011.