Insomniac Events hosted their annual Valentine’s Day themed event Crush SF at Bill Graham Civic Center on February 9, 2019. The line up featured a diverse lineup with genres ranging from Dubstep to Progressive House. The headliner for the event was bay area native KSHMR who has been around since 2014. The supporting artists included Blanke, Wavedash, Hekler, Cash Cash, and Joyryde.
The night started off with Blanke a DJ/Producer from Australia performing at Crush SF as his debut show in the United States. Blanke has been in the scene for a while, but recently has been blowing up hoping on tracks with artists such as Rezz. His set was definitely a great way to start off the night with a darker side of sound resembling the style of Rezz. He also played many Illenium tracks that had the whole crowd singing along.
Right after Blanke’s US debut Wavedash took the stage and brought the bass with them through the heavy sounds of dubstep and trap. Not only did they mix in many of their heavy hitting tracks, but they also played many tracks from G Jones and Porter Robinson. During their set they played out Darren Styles and Gammer’s remix of “Sad Machine” by Porter Robinson which instantly hit me with a wave of nostalgia bringing me back to my Happy Hardcore days.
Hekler’s set could be as easily described as heavy and deadly. It was the heaviest set of the night and I gave me the dubstep fix I needed. Nothing else is needed to say about his set.
Right after the Hekler comes along Cash Cash who I personally am not a big fan of but their music and vibe took over the crowd and made it feel as if I was out at a massive festival seeing them. So many people in the crowd started to bring out their flags and were singing along to every one of their songs. Cash Cash eventually even brought out their own flags towards the end of the set before exiting.
The party continues as Joyryde comes in at hot playing all of his hottest bass house tracks. The whole crowd was definitely at its peak while everyone was dancing, the shuffling circles started to appear left and right. He also played out many of his unreleased tracks from his upcoming album which has still yet to be released after announcing that it would be delayed as of August of last year.
As KSHMR takes the decks in his return to the bay, his set was full of songs with as he would describe had Indian influence on them ranging from many different genres of big room, progressive house, trance, and hardstyle. While I am not a big fan of these genres I do respect how he was able to connect with the crowd so well, having them dance and sing along to all of his songs.
Overall while I was not a big fan of KSHMR and Cash Cash the vibes felt throughout the event was unreal and my overall experience at this show can be described as happy and energetic. The production and sound of the event was amazing exactly what you would expect from Insomniac Events. Not only were there lights and lasers set all over the place, but they also had many heart structures set for the theme. They even had confetti blasters and some pyro work done onto the stage as well.
I give Crush SF a 8/9 ★★★★★★★★☆ on my scale.
The event would of been perfect if the line up was curated for me, but I do believe Insomniac did its best job to satisfy all of the attendants with its diverse line up and amazing production.
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