Identity Festival to be No More?

Identity Festival was the first and only national touring EDM festival that ran from 2011 to 2012, featuring huge artists like Kaskade and Eric Prydz as headliners.

Recently, a flyer for the 2013 Identity Festival has been circulating online (seen here), claiming that the United State's only touring EDM festival would be returning from July 18 through August 17, 2013.

However, this flyer is highly likely to be fake. A quick view of the ID Fest's Facebook shows no activity since December, with people constantly posting "Any updates on the 2013 tour?" to no avail.

ID Festival's website shows nothing but the logo for Synergy Glogal Entertainment (SGE) (the production company that once hosted ID Fest).

A peek at their Twitter account also shows no activity since December, with their Twitter description reading in the past tense: “OFFICIAL Twitter of IDENTITY, which was the first ever touring electronic only festival from 2011-12. Account was managed by @nehamodi.”

The last tweet on the account was a response to @BeatsNotBombs_ saying "I need @IDENTITYfest back...", with a short response: "@BeatsNotBombs_ meee toooo" (@IDENTITYfest).

Sources close to EDM Boston say that there will be no ID Festival returning for 2013. Why? We don't know for sure yet. However, speculation is that is has something to do with the 2 deaths at the Mansfield stop on the tour last year.

We will keep you updated as we learn more.

By Lauren

Until then, check out our calendar of events for other EDM shows in the Boston area. 

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Identity Festival Review 2012 - Part 2 Mansfield

Continued from Identity Festival Review 2012 Part 1

Deidre:

Madeon was next up on the mainstage.  The youngster has been known to play a very mainstream setlist, but with professionalism and the ability to weave in and out of subgenres.  When he took the stage, he did just that. He jumped around from playing his hit “Pop Culture” to Skrillex’s “Breakn A Sweat” and almost everything in between. My favorite moment was when he dropped Knife Party’s “Sleaze” complete with strobe lights and smoke. The end of his set was filled with grand visuals and intense light shows, which complimented the dawn sky, a first of the day. The 16 year old French prodigy left the stage with the crowd screaming for more.

 

And more is just what the crowd at the iHome stage got. Wolfgang was up next and he tore it apart. Between his huge bass drops and build-ups I could hardly keep my composure. The volume of the music had increased drastically between Madeon and Wolfgang (and to my surprise would get EVEN louder for Prydz). At this point, the other stages had closed and the pavilion on the main stage filled in.  The obvious crowd favorites in Wolfgang’s set included “Illmerica” and “Redline”.

I personally enjoyed...

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Identity Festival 2012 Review - Part 1

 By Max and Deirdre

It was 7:15am and I was on the train to my full time job, and all i could do was smile at myself.  The prior night I had been led through a set that is often talked about by ravers but not often experienced.  The share excitement that I left identity fest with, after pryda finished out the night, was dumbfounding.  No one on the train will ever be able to relate to my experience at this festival unless they lived during the days of Woodstock or have attended one of the major EDM festivals circling the country the last 2 years.

As a leader of a music revolution, I’ve been given the keys to a kingdom many would beg for, and access others would pay thousands.  On the day of Identity festival, that meant stage access and beyond.  It’s hard to fathom the experience of being on stage, capturing images of a historical moment, such as the first return of pryda in five years.  Yet I was blessed with the honor to share my passion and focal lens with the fans of the Comcast center, and witness their musical journey to dance music ecstasy, which pryda led them through and provide an Identity Festival 2012 Review.

Much like the repetitive dun-dun dun-dun from the train tracks, a similar steady beat carried through out the...

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Le Castle Vania Identity Festival Video

The Identity Festival swept through Massachusetts and certainly left a mark (we'll report more on this later via an Identity Festival Review).  Le Castle Vania was an act that performed on the early side of the afternoon but he gave the crowd a nice boost of energy!  Watch Le Castle Vania Identity Festival Video below compliments of Dayzed Productions.

ID Festival: Le Castle Vania from Dayzed Productions on Vimeo.

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Identity Festival 2012 Photos Mansfield, MA

Thank you to everyone that posed down for a legendary shot at the Identity Festival 2012 on EDMBoston's optics!  We had a blast taking fan photos at the Mansfield Festival and hope the feeling was mutual.

Without further adue, here are the Identity Festival 2012 Photos Mansfield:


**UPDATE**

Photos are available on facebook for tagging and downloading

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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EDM Family loses 2 at Identity Festival

In a said turn of events at the Identity Festival in Mansfield, the EDM community suffered the loss of two of its members on July 26th, 2012.  It is more then troubling when EDMBoston receives this kind of news.  Everyone attends these events with the expectation of having fun and sharing their love of music.

We are deeply saddened to report Connor Brandon of Acton and Dominic Impelizzieri have passed away.

EDMBoston wishes their family, friends, and loved ones our deepest condolences.

We encourage everyone to be safe and party responsibly at shows!  Look out for your friends and always err on the side of caution. In no way does EDMBoston condone the use of drugs or illicit substances.

(Boston.com) Two people died and about 20 were hospitalized when an electronic music tour rolling through North America erupted into a dangerous frenzy of drugs and alcohol at the Comcast Center in Mansfield Thursday.

Mansfield Police Chief Arthur M. O’Neill said Friday that alcohol and drugs — including PCP, LSD, ecstasy, and marijuana — were pervasive at the Identity Festival concert, which ran from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the popular venue. Forty-five people were also arrested on various drug and alcohol charges, O’Neill said.

Dominic Impelizzieri, 27, of Syracuse, N.Y., and Connor Brandon, 19, of Acton, died as a result of drug and alcohol use, according to the police chief.

“It was a return to the ’70s,” O’Neill said of the rampant drug use and drinking at the show, which featured DJs and music producers playing electronic dance music.

Mansfield Fire Chief Neal A. Boldrighini said the Comcast Center’s private ambulance service handled many of the medical emergencies Thursday night. Nineteen people, including four who were critically ill, were taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro for drug-related issues, according to hospital officials. One victim was taken to Norwood Hospital for treatment and another person was taken to an unnamed hospital after stumbling out of the woods after daylight, police said.

“It was a very busy night medically,” Boldrighini said. “There did appear to be a significant amount of drug use at the concert.”

Thursday’s deaths were the first to result from drug and alcohol use at a concert at the Comcast Center, O’Neill said. A person died several years ago after falling from a climbing wall at the site, and another person died a number of years ago as a result of a heart condition.

Although there were 45 arrests, O'Neill said “there were not an inordinate amount of arrests for a show of that size,” adding “this was really an EMS problem.”

Live Nation officials confirmed that several people required medical treatment during the show Thursday night. They also said they were “aware of two people who unfortunately have passed away, and our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends for their loss.”

Live Nation would not comment on security measures at the Comcast Center for the show, and how the drugs and alcohol were brought in. No one at Events EMS, the private service used at the Comcast Center, would comment on the event.

The center holds about 20,000 people.

According to the Comcast Center’s page on Live Nation’s website, vendors will not sell more than two alcoholic beverages to a patron at a time. Alcohol sales end at least one hour prior to the scheduled end of a show.

“We will not serve any patron whom we believe to be intoxicated,” the policy reads. “Alcoholic beverages may not be taken into or removed from these premises. Any patron in the possession of alcoholic beverages not obtained on premises will be subject to eviction.”

Police said Impelizzieri went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated by Events EMS, but later died at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence as a result of the substances he ingested.

Brandon died of cardiac arrest at Boston Medical Center from the effects of ecstasy, amphetamines, and marijuana, according to his mother, Lisa Brandon.

Lisa Brandon said Connor’s high school friends had tried to intervene with him about his drug use six weeks ago, but he wasn’t ready for the treatment necessary to get off drugs.

Then recently, they said, he submitted an application for a treatment program at McLean Hospital.

“He was supposed to have his phone interview on Thursday, but he chose to go to this concert instead,” Brandon said. “One of his friends called him up to go, but he didn’t have the tools to say no yet.”

Connor Brandon, a lacrosse and basketball player, was a student at the University of California in San Diego. He began using drugs midway through his senior year of high school, his mother said.

“People weren’t paying attention,” she said. “And in a matter of 18 months, he was dead. We are not proud of this, but we need to raise awareness in our community that this is an epidemic among our young people.”

His mother said Connor previously attended another rave-type concert in upstate New York called Camp Bisco.

“There always ends up being a fair amount of accidental overdoses at these,” she said. “What are we doing?”

The family of Impelizzieri could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The Identity Festival, which has so far played in Cincinnati, Detroit, and Toronto, had shows scheduled for Friday night in Bristow, Va., and Saturday in Wantagh, N.Y.

Alejandra Matos can be reached at alejandra.matos@globe.com and Zachary T. Sampson can be reached at zachary.sampson@globe.com.

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Boston DJs make a strong showing at Identity Festival ~Boston Globe

By Luke O'Neil for the Boston Globe:

(Boston.com) Now in its second year, the Identity Festival, one of the biggest roving electronic music productions of its kind, returns to Massachusetts. On Thursday, the grounds of the Comcast Center transform into the biggest dance party in the state, with a lineup of superstar international DJs and producers including Eric Prydz, Wolfgang Gartner, Showtek, Excision, and a few dozen more.

One of the stages will play host to a slew of Boston area talent, curated by the people behind the promotions and artist management group Mmmmaven. We asked some of the performers to introduce themselves, and to share their thoughts on the festival itself.

DJ: VolTran (Mike Tran), Boston

Style: moombahton, trap, bass music, house, dubstep

Hear here: Tran’s elongated, spaced-out remix of Boston band Gentlemen Hall’s “How Long Have They Been Watching” and more can be heard at www.soundcloud.com/djvoltran.

“I think that the Identity Festival is a

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Identity Festival Set Times Grid by Time

Festivals are challenging work to figure out whose set overlaps with whose and what you should be seeing at what time. EDMBoston composed a set time list for Identity Festival to make your life easier (and ours)

View here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aoe6GI5tEf80dExsenk4eXdwVzFCNnZUTGZXdjdZZmc&single=true&gid=1&output=html

Downloadable PDF

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aoe6GI5tEf80dExsenk4eXdwVzFCNnZUTGZXdjdZZmc&single=true&gid=1&output=pdf

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Identity Festival Recommendations: Who to See ~ An EDMBoston Guide

By Deirdre:

Identity Festival: Who to See

Identity Festival is making its second tour around the country this summer and we know the anxiety that can go hand and hand with music festivals. In this case, the Comcast Center is small enough to move from one stage to the next during or in between sets. Here at EDM Boston, we’ve compiled a small list of DJ’s we think are absolutely necessary to see this Thursday.  Hope you’re all ready to rage Mansfield with us!

1) Excision

If you want loud, in-your-face-bass, do not miss out on seeing Excision. He is known for hitting his crowds hard with “1000 watts of bass”. His sound is unique, and often brings up questions on how he makes it, but none-the-less its great. He often works with dubstep producers Datsik and Downlink. Earlier this year he was on tour with Lucky Date and Liquid Stranger and the reviews from that tour are through the roof. You do not want to miss your chance to check out him out. He plays at the Rockstar Energy Drink Festival Stage at 7:15.

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