Escape Halloween has been Insomniac’s Halloween festival since 2011 and is the United States’ most anticipated spooky festival. This year Insomniac once again showed why Escape rules Halloween! With a stacked lineup featuring names like Above & Beyond, Zomboy, Malaa, and Zedd, there was something for everyone’s music taste. With two days of music, the debut of five main stages, and Crazy Town, it was another wildly successful festival for ravers. Based on my personal experience, I’ve shared my scores for the production, music, and venue, plus an overall grade for the event.
The Production: 9 / 10
With every Insomniac event, the production is going to be next level. Each stage — The Grimm, Feeding Grounds, Sanitarium, Sewer District, and the brand new Wicked Woods stage — all had great visuals, lasers, ambiance, sound, and pyrotechnics.
The main stage, The Grimm, was closed out by some massive names: Kaskade on Day 1 and Armin Van Buuren on Day 2. The production at this stage was amazing as always. Featuring its signature Grim Reaper behind the DJ booth, accompanied by even more lasers than last year, amazing dancers and pyrotechnics, this stage got people hyped. Once the night got underway and the Grim Reaper started moving its arms around the artists, the crowd cheered every time. The hanging visuals that seemed like portals into another dimension had festivalgoers mesmerized. While hosting some of the biggest names of the weekend, like Slander, Zedd, and DJ Snake, the stage never got too crowded. There was room to walk around and dance without sacrificing your view or personal space. Simply put, the main stage was amazing!
Feeding Grounds was home to the bass lovers of the festival and was hosted by Bassrush on Day 1. With performances by Svdden Death, Zomboy, ATliens, Rezz, and Three Six Mafia, this stage had people headbanging, dancing, and singing all night long. It featured production that felt like we were in a hellscape surrounded by a giant spider web with two giant hanging spiders above us — and of course more lasers and pyrotechnics. If you like bass in your face, this was the place to be!
Sanitarium had a different vibe each day. Day 1 was hosted by Basscon for hardstyle fans, and Day 2 was hosted by Night Trip for the house heads. The first day featured sets from Darren Styles and Lady Faith. the second day featured artists MK and Matroda B2B San Pacho. The crowd was dancing and shuffling like crazy both nights. Spookier than the other stages, this stage was darker and had lights and lasers to enhance the vibes.
Sewer District was hosted both nights by Factory93 and the techno was bumping. Blessing the stage were artists Jamie Jones B2B Loco Dice, Hot Since 82, Lily Palmer, and Green Velvet. This stage was unique and had my favorite layout of all the stages. It was open air while the others were under a tent and was surrounded by shipping containers with LED panels on them with fire blasting from the top. It was packed from open to close with techno fans vibing all night.
The newest stage at Escape was Wicked Woods. Day 1 was hosted by Lost in Dreams and had acts like ARMNHMR playing a house set and Kaivon playing a nostalgic 2010s throwback set. Day 2 was hosted Bassrush with acts like Macky Gee and Culture Shock. Hosted inside a warehouse, the bass at this stage was bumping, one could feel it in their bones. The only downside to this stage is that it got hot from the packed crown, but it still sounded great.
Each stage stood out in its own way with amazing Halloween vibes. There was no sound bleed between stages and everything was incredible. The production earned a 9 out of 10 this year.
Music: 9.5 / 10
This year’s Escape lineup was absolutely stacked. There was something for the bass heads, house heads, techno fans, and hardstyle kids. Both days had a slew of must-see acts, and from 4 pm to 2 am it was hard to find time to sit down and eat without missing an amazing artist. There were even after parties this year that featured Slander: Before Dawn and Malaa. It is hard to earn a perfect score, but Escape’s amazing music this year combined with the after parties deserves a 9.5 out of 10 score for the loads of talent across multiple different genres.
Venue: 9 / 10
NOS Event Center is the go-to venue for many California-based Insomniac events, and many ravers are quite familiar with it already. But what Insomniac does with the space is truly magical and masterful. As always, they went all out for Halloween, starting with Crazy Town and Psycho Circus, a little pocket of the festival that has fortune tellers, a lion tamer, acrobats, magicians, and singers — it really evoked the Psycho Circus theme. Not to leave out the Silent Disco which featured some notable up-and-coming artists.
On the walk into the festival, there was a cathedral with dancers and shows where one could sit and watch. There were also two secret stages that felt like walking into a haunted maze. The first was called the Poison Ivy Club. People handed out 3D glasses as you entered this club and there was a giant poison ivy plant in the middle with 3D paint everywhere. Music was bumping and drinks were flowing.
The second was called The Butcher, which had a much darker vibe. When you walked in there were dead bodies in bags hanging from the ceiling and body parts hanging all around with a butcher cutting more bodies. Listening to techno in a black-and-red-themed room was surely a Halloween vibe.
Insomniac went all out with its Psycho Circus theme this year. It was so impressive, I can’t even touch on all of it — an easy 9 out of 10!
Overall Grade: 9.5 / 10
Halloween and Escape go hand in hand for SoCal ravers and Insomniac fans around the world, and this year was no different. From incredible stages, top-of-the-line music acts, and a spooky ambiance throughout the venue, there was something to see, do, and listen to anywhere one went. The overall grade for this year’s Escape is a huge 9.5 out of 10 because it is hard to find a detail out of place. I’m already counting down the days until next year’s event! Hopefully, you’ll be there in 2024 too.
