Artist: Zeds Dead
Falling on the last day of August, just a few short weeks before the autumnal equinox this concert was the perfect culmination to end the summer off right for our Dallas Fort Worth natives. The Deadbeats Jamboree took Fort Worth’s Panther Island Pavilion by storm, literally and figuratively. Hosted by the DeadBeats, Disco Presents and AEG, this one night dual staged event with its ultra stacked line up of artists smashed through this quaint western towns decibel limit, and rode hard and wet into the night…
With Panther Island Pavilion‘s being the perfect venue for the first ever Texas Jamboree this location did not disappoint. Located in between an embankment of the Trinity river the natural acoustics of the venue makes for an excellent spot for outside performances. Crossing a bridge to get inside and winding through the security check point, entrance to this show went off without a hitch. Once inside there was a wide array of speculates for one to check out. With multiple bounce houses located in the middle standing areas, giant looming inflatable attractions and plenty of food and drink vendors lined across the outer edge it was a great time for all. This all aged event, had face painting, a giant cowboy man walking around on stilts and plenty of other family friendly attractions.
Giving the MainStage a run for its money the DnB stage nestled far off in the back corner past all the obstacle’s and food vendors, rang in plenty of sick sets with the likes of skellyton, liquid smoak, Imanu, and Aeon:mode. The gritty beats of the drum and bass stage rang loudly as we stood in line to buy 5$ bottles of water and some funnel cakes. Although the lines were massive, there was in fact a free water filling station to fill ones water bottles just over yonder. Even though the water was warm in the 90 degree heat it was a nice gesture considering the normal scoring temperature’s of the Texas Heat. Today though the gods had mercy on our souls, because there was sufficient cloud coverage and sub par temps for being the last day of August.
The Main stage or Deadbeats stage was positioned at the front of the venue, backing up to a fork along the Trinity river, blasting its music backwards in a giant v shape towards its audience. As the sun went down and the City of Fort Worth illuminated beautifully behind the stage its created a postcard esq. back drop for the headlining acts.
With the rowdy set of Gentlemen’s Club b2b with Levity the group of youngsters warmed the crowd up nicely as the sun began to set for the upcoming act Inzo. Finishing their set with a beer chug out of their dirty sneakers it was a nice touch an ode to their youthful spirit. After the sun went down and the night grew darker Inzo’s whimsical set of bangers eased the night along flawlessly. With an intrinsic cover of Gnarles Barkley “crazy” and many of his other classics his set eloquently matched the PLUR energy surging through the crowd.
Next beneath the back drop of green lasers blasting outwards in front of the Cities Skyline was the Liquid Stranger. Wakaan’s label head gave us a tiny teaser of what is coming at Wakaan music Festival on Mulberry mountain.
Playing multiple bangers and his current hit “In My Mind” the groovy sounds of the Liquid Stranger waved us onward into the night perfectly. Softly put by his own words “I’m just here to warm you guys up for Zeds Dead” the statement couldn’t have been further from the truth. Wishing his set could’ve been longer Stranger took a bow and exited the stage left for the headlining act to set up.
As the stage grew dim two shadowy figures in matching cowboy hats emerged, “Ecstasy of the soul” began to fade in and ring loudly over the speakers.
Feeling like I was in the climax scene of a Tarantino movie my soul almost left my body. The beat kicked in and the entire crowd viciously began bobbing their heads as the beat raged on. With 90 minutes of pure bliss Zeds Dead set was a delicately crafted mix of house, dubstep, a dash of “trap” with a Texas twang, an a whimsical blend of bass that tore through the warm summer night.
Taking you on a journey through music, and just when I thought they couldn’t leave me anymore speechless they did it again, slowing it down with “Lost You” sending the entire crowd into a swaying motion and feverishly chanting a long with the chorus.
Singing along with them I hugged my wife closer and kissed her on the cheek… this was by far the pinnacle of the evening.
Then before I could realize it they were dropping gnarly head bangers, and throwing the crowd into a frenzy of the opposite direction, BUT nothing was choppy it was as smooth as butter. The whole set blended and melted together just perfectly. There is a reason they’re considered one of the GOATS of modern day EDM and they proved it at Deadbeats Jamboree.
Wondering how the fuck they were going to wrap this impeccable evening up they blew my mind yet again with their rendition of pure imagination blending the title track of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ thus eloquently bringing this wonderful evening of good vibes and dance music to an end in the humble country town of Fort Worth Texas.
