Beach Blanket Bingo Festival Feat. Dillon Francis, Adrian Lux, Paris Blohm, etc. East Beach, Galveston Island August 23rd, 2014

While it probably happens more frequently in different parts of the world, an EDM bash at the beach is not a regular occurrence in our neck of the woods. This is a bummer, because the meeting of dance music and sand makes of a lot of sense, especially when you consider that plenty of folks wear beachwear to dance shows as it is.

Of course, in order to have a beach show one has to get to the beach, and maybe therein is the issue. Driving to Galveston isn't exactly difficult, but the stretch of 45 from Houston until the Buc-ee's in Texas City can be maddening if you're the type who hates traffic, as most of us are.

Still, it's all worth it once you feel the wind in your hair and the bass in your ears. On a warm night, Beach Blanket Bingo proved to be one of the highlights of the soon (we hope) to be ending summer.

Sound Remedy: Because of the time it took get through security, I did not get to experience the whole of Sound Remedy's set, but what I did catch was enjoyable enough. One plus in his favor was he was pretty good at interacting with the crowd. I don't believe that ever DJ needs to toss cakes or crowd surf, but it doesn't hurt to get out from behind the decks and get a little closer to the fans from time to time.

Paris Blohm: This was the pleasant surprise of the night. Paris played a super-uptempo set that never slowed down once it got started, which is exactly the sort of thing an opening DJ should do. Yeah, taking the crowd on a journey is all fine and dandy, but save that for the names higher on the poster. Blohm has a great ear for picking songs, his transitions are nice and he set the stage nicely for the rest of the evening, putting the headliners in a position where they were going to have to step their game up to put on a memorable performance.

Adrian Lux: Lux has been doing the EDM thing for a few years now, and it's clear that he knows what he's doing. OK, so maybe a transition or two was a little underwhelming, but at least he never crashed and burned. On the whole, this was a perfectly fine set, but it felt like part of the crowd was holding out just a bit while waiting for the main event. That's not a knock on Lux; sometimes you can be playing some really great stuff and not have the crowd fully in to it. It happens.

Dillon Francis: Let's get it out of the way early: yes, it was weird that Dillon Francis was headlining an EDM show so close to appearing at Something Wicked. Sure, Bassnectar is the big draw on SW Saturday, but Francis still has his name up at the top of the flyer.

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