For a while on Saturday, Head Trip looked as though it might be remembered for the set that never happened. Lightning had interrupted FISHER and Chris Lake, Calvin Harris was still waiting to play, and the first night ended with an evacuation. By Sunday, Harris had been fitted into a bill that already included Skrillex and Swedish House Mafia. A weekend sold as a one-time event had acquired a genuinely unpredictable second act.
Read MoreSkrillex’s Head Trip set took a while to become the show it could be. The sound issues were frustrating for some, the visual presentation was unusually sparse beside the weekend’s other major performances, and the opening stretch sometimes struggled to deliver the impact that his music demands. By the end, though, he had found the groove and he was the Skrillex we all know and love.
Read MoreCalvin Harris arrived at Head Trip a day late and changed the whole feel of the night. Following Skrillex’s uneven, visually sparse performance, his set was a total 180: hit after hit, backed by the kind of spectacular visuals that made full use of the festival’s incredible production. The relief of finally getting the show mattered and the quality of what followed mattered more.
Read MoreSwedish House Mafia had a difficult act to follow at Head Trip, and an unusually large sense of occasion to work with. Skrillex and Calvin Harris had already played the same stage that evening, the latter rescued from Saturday’s weather cancellation. By the time Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso reached the final slot, Sunday had become far more concentrated than anyone had planned.
Read MoreUnder Construction’s Saturday set ended with a weather announcement instead of a closing track. FISHER and Chris Lake were playing “Turn Off the Lights” when Head Trip’s lightning alert interrupted the music around 9 p.m. It was an absurdly literal ending to a performance that had spent the evening making the festival’s huge production feel entirely justified.
Read MoreSeth Troxler and Ben Sterling had the unfashionable job of getting Head Trip started on Saturday. Before the enormous screen became the weekend’s main attraction, before the headliners and the weather alerts, they had to give an open field a reason to become a dance floor. Their back-to-back was a welcome opening argument for the festival’s format:
Read MoreDom Dolla and KETTAMA were loud. That is the first useful thing to say about their Head Trip back-to-back, and it gets close to the reason it was so much fun. Sunday’s revised schedule had packed an extraordinary number of DJs into one evening. Before the closing run of Skrillex, Calvin Harris, and Swedish House Mafia, this pair gave the field a convincing reason to spend some energy early.
Read MorePeggy Gou and Four Tet was the set I was most looking forward to this weekend and it did not disappoint. Gou’s direct, buoyant house and Kieran Hebden’s appetite for surreal musical detours made for a unique and compatible musical harmony.
Read MoreCan't make it to Indio this weekend? Head Trip is bringing the party to you. Goldenvoice's one-time-only dance festival takes over the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on October 10 and 11, and thanks to a major livestream partnership with Apple Music, fans around the world can tune in for free, no matter where they are.
Read MoreThe main festival days run June 3-5, 2027, and the names at the top of the bill make the ambition clear. Doechii, Phoebe Bridgers, Fontaines D.C., Massive Attack, Turnstile, FKA twigs, The Chemical Brothers, Robyn, Hayley Williams, Bad Gyal, Lola Young, Pavement, Caroline Polachek, ADÉLA, Prospa, and Skrillex b2b Ninajirachi lead a poster that is also notably female-forward, with women making up 9 of the 14 most prominent artists on the lineup.
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