Another successful Escape Halloween has come and gone leaving many of us SoCal ravers craving the next event. True to their nature, Insomniac has out done themselves again. This year’s Escape was nothing short of absolute filth being North America’s largest Halloween festival. Halloween covered all areas of NOS Event Center. Performers were decked out and creepy to the max. The stages were upgraded from previous years and VIP areas were filled with props, decorations, activities, and vibes.
Escape: Psycho Circus Event Recap
As you read on, listen to Insomniac’s Escape: Psycho Circus 2017 Playlist:
Friday night hosted the sounds of DJ Snake, Grandtheft, Illenium, Madeon, Marshmello, REZZ, Shiba San, and Two Owls at Slaughterhouse.
The 200 ft. wide stage, located inside a 450 ft. long tent, featured an updated and re-imagined clown’s smile that eerily spanned from ear to ear. His eyes creepily watched your every move. The devilish design housed over 700 video tiles, 375 lights, and 24 lasers.
Bassrush brought the sounds of Culture Shock, Datsik, Flosstradamus, Ghastly, MC Dino, NERO, Nightstalker, Original Sin b2b Taxman, Ray Volpe b2b Tisoki, State of Mind, and Virtual Riot b2b Barely Alive to Ghoul’s Graveyard.
Chopping Block was presented by Basscon and saw the frightening sounds of Angerfist b2b Miss K8, Audiofreq, Coone, Crisis Era, Da Tweekaz, Darren Styles, DJ Isaac, Kutski, NOA, and Pulsatorz.
While Factory 93 brought the underground vibes to Cannibals’ Tea Party with Detlef, Green Velvet, Jamie Jones Presents Paradise, Joseph Capriati, Nathan Barato b2b Carlo Lio, No Requests, and Skream.
Saturday was filled with epic performances from Afrojack, Alan Walker, Baggi, Duke Dumont, Kungs, Luca Lush, Slander, and Tiesto at Slaughterhouse.
Ghouls’ Graveyard hosted BlackGummy, Don Diablo, Eric Prydz, Firebeatz, NGHTMRE, R3hab, YOOKiE, and ZEDD. Audiotistic took over Chopping Block with Baauer, Boys Noize (Live), Droeloe, Judge, Loudpvck, Mike Will Made-It, Rawtek, Rell The Soundbender, Slushii, and Team EZY.
While Cannibals’ Tea Party got down and dirty in the underground with Factory 93 returning for a second night with Chris Liebing, DJ Tennis, Lauren Lane, Nicole Moudaber Presents MOODZone, Paco Osuna, Pan-Pot, and Shmitty.
The weekend was a massive success attracting 125,000 fans in costume dancing the frightening nights away.
There was a revolving carousel, contortionists, fortunetellers, and burlesque shows. Interactive attractions were everywhere to be found throughout the venue.
Asylum, Escape’s largest and creepiest maze saw over 5,000 daring attendees that were brave enough to venture through the frightening theater experience.
The Asylum consisted of 30 distinct rooms recreated from seven years of Escape story lines featuring 120 costumed actors and 25 sound systems. Festival goers that built up the courage to admit themselves into the Asylum were dressed in a straitjacket and mask before entering the dark and dismal halls of the ward. Here they explored the twists and turns inside the maniacal Mad Hatter’s mind. A place where padded cells, blood showers, and graveyards awaited.
An adventurous and fortunate few were lucky enough to discover the Shanghai Surprise speakeasy.
This intimate word-of-mouth bar was only accessible through a refrigerator door located inside the ‘noodle shop’ on the outskirts of the Psycho Circus. The Chinese eatery disguised bar served up festive drinks all weekend long. Overall we had a fantastic weekend with Insomniac at Escape.
We are already planning our costumes for next year!
