Nocturnal Wonderland

"Nocturnal Wonderland" is a massive electronic music festival themed around Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Now in its 14th year, Nocturnal Wonderland has been steadily growing and brings the biggest names in music and dance to an audience of over 20,000 musical enthusiasts. Nocturnal Wonderland is a single-day event that has usually occurred at the end of August, or in early September around Labor Day. however, this year the event will take place on September 13, 2008 [ [http://www.nocturnalfestival.com/ The 14th Annual Nocturnal Festival - Saturday September 13th, 2008 ] ] . There are usually about 5 stages with a total of over 30 different artist playing in one night. The styles of music heard are extremely vast and vary in range from year to year. Every year there are artists from trance, drum and bass, break beat, and house genres.

The first Nocturnal Wonderland was held in 1995. In its early years, Insomniac (the production crew responsible for Nocturnal Wonderland), did not have a steady venue for this event. The location for the party/event would have to move around from year to year. One of its most famous locations was in the Indio Desert at a place known as 'The Polo Fields'. This is the same location where the now famous Coachella Music Festival is held. In 2003 (after one year of Nocturnal Wonderland not being held due to the fact that no venue large enough for the event could be secured), Nocturnal Wonderland returned to the National Orange Show, in San Bernardino, after having first taken place at that location in 1998. The event was a huge success with an estimated 20,000 fans in attendance. The Orange Show was the location of Nocturnal 2003-2006.

The Stages

There are five main stages at the event, each with its own type of music and theme.

The main rooms are called:

"The Labrynth" and has usually been held in a giant warehouse-like building, although in 2007 all the stages were in the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. The decorations for this stage are always the most lavish, with convert|20|ft|m|sing=on tall stacks of speakers, huge colorful designs, abstract shapes of all sorts and sizes hanging from the ceiling, lasers, smoke machines, and a phenomenal display of lights. In recent years, trapeze artists have performed above the crowd during the shows.

The Upside DownroomThis stage is in the shape of a giant dome, or bubble. It is not as visually intense as 'The Labrynth'. The large dome shaped ceiling gives the feeling of being inside of a giant observatory or Imax theater.

Alice's HouseThis is held on a huge grass field right next to a man made lagoon. It is an outdoor stage and is a wonderful place to come when all the high energy from the inside rooms gets to be too much. This stage features some very chill/groovy house vibes.

The Sunken GardenThis stage is the most energy intensive of all the stages, with huge speakers, heavy bass, and MCs that freestyle over the music. While other stages focus on the slower, more traditional styles of electronic music such as house, trance, or breaks, this room is dedicated to the electronic music genre drum and bass. This room is sort of a mini event that is thrown inside of Nocturnal Wonderland known as 'Bassrush.' Separate Bassrush events are held at various locations around Los Angeles through out the year.

The Queen's GroundsThe Queen's Grounds include everything that is located outside of the buildings. Here you will find everything from carnival rides (that started in 2006), daring fire performances and dancing, various vendors selling clothing, toys, food, and a beautiful convert|400|ft|m|sing=on long art wall by Los Angeles artist Jerico Woggon.

Talent

Nocturnal has featured artists from around the world.

* The Chemical Brothers
* Paul Van Dyk
* Carl Cox
* Benny Benassi
* Sharam (of Deep Dish)
* Christopher Lawrence
* D. Ramirez
* Hype
* LTJ Bukem
* Friction & SPMC
* Subfocus
* Fresh
* Simon Bassline Smith

2006

* Hernan Cattaneo
* Christopher Lawrence
* Infected Mushroom
* Rabbit In The Moon
* Eddie Halliwell
* Blank & Jones
* Tall Paul

* The Crystal Method
* Dominic B (of Stanton Warriors)
* DJ Icey
* Uberzone
* Bassbin Twins
* Deekline & Wizard
* Jackal & Hyde

* Kaskade
* Miguel Migs & Lisa Shaw
* King Britt
* Doc Martin
* Julius Papp
* Lilly Anne

* Andy C
* DJ Hype
* Pendulum
* LTJ BUKEM
* Simon “Bassline” Smith
* XXXL & Hazen
* Scooba & Clutch
* DJ Subflo

References

#http://www.nocturnalwonderland.com
#http://www.insomniacevents.com
#http://www.bassrush.com