This past weekend, the 21st annual Global Dance Festival premiered a new venue, The National Western Complex. As with any major location change, there were pros and cons. Now that it’s all wrapped up, let’s look at the best new features and those that will require improvement in the years to come.
Stages
Global Dance previously took place in the parking lot of Empower Field from 3 PM to 11 PM, featuring four stages and a silent disco. This was still the case the last time I attended Global Dance in 2018. This year there were only three stages and the silent disco was removed.
Both the Summit Stage and Northern Lights stages were inside, while the Oasis stage was a pop-up tent outside. Having the bigger stages inside was helpful on Saturday when lightning was near the venue and everyone had to go indoors for safety. Unfortunately, this also made for a lot of traffic between stages, hot temperatures from crowding in a small place, and less production for each stage than you would have outdoors. Sets at the Northern Lights stage felt more like a warehouse while the Summit stage felt like a Mission Ballroom show, neither really gave off “festival” vibes. I did appreciate the later start and end times this year as I was coming from work and it allowed me more time to arrive without missing any sets.
Amenities
Moving to a new location is always challenging, especially if it is a smaller venue. The overall festival footprint was much smaller at the Stockyards Event Center. As a result, the only carnival ride was a Ferris wheel, there were two main art installations, and I didn’t notice as many roaming performers as in previous years. There were bars and bathrooms, both inside and outside the venue. Bathroom lines were long everywhere, but the bar lines moved quickly. There were various merch and vendor booths inside, including Be A Good Person and Keeping the Party Safe where attendees could learn to use Narcan. There were also food vendors inside and food trucks outside. The prices for both seemed pretty reasonable and none of the lines ever looked very long.
VIP
Outside, the VIP village was a nice area to relax if you needed a minute to sit and also had dedicated bathrooms and a bar. The VIP section for the Northern Lights stage was located to the right of the stage with tables, couches, and a bar, but patrons could barely see the stage. At the Summit Stage VIP, congestion was a problem as there was only one way in and out of VIP on Friday with just one security guard for the entire area. We saw many people hop over the bike rack into VIP, making it overfull. Luckily they added a second entrance, more security, and an ADA section to the VIP area on Saturday. It was also a bit hard to see the DJ from VIP at the Summit Stage since it was so close to the front of the stage and the DJ booth was higher up.
Verdict
The crowd was pretty chill, we didn’t see any fights or have any rude interactions with anyone. We did see a few people who needed medical attention, but thankfully medics got to them quickly. Security was also passing out water bottles to people at both indoor stages. On Friday we saw Wuki, Said The Sky, The Chainsmokers, Duke Dumont, and G Jones. Said the Sky brought out Dabin to perform a few songs with him! Saturday night we saw 1991, Champagne Drip, Gryffin, and Fisher. Almost every set we saw dropped some drum and bass. Each set was very different, so there was something for lovers of all genres.
Overall, we had a great time at Global Dance. Sadly, this instance did not measure up to what it once was and there is much work to be done to improve it for next year. I’m not sure if it will stay at The National Western Complex, move back to Empower Field, or go somewhere new entirely, but I hope that Global Dance recaptures some of the magic it lost this year. Use the links below to stay in the know about Global Dance events.
