Saguaro Pool by Santiago Burelli
For event producers everywhere the million dollar question is: what makes a great party? In my humble opinion, it takes a calculated combination of several factors, the people, the music, the ambiance, and last but not least, the aftertaste. For alas, a hangover and liver damage is not a great takeaway. In sheer numbers, Splash House August 2016 was a success. The Palm Springs blow out sold out and was attended by 5,000 partiers each day last weekend. The lineup included Gorgon City, Viceroy, Snakehips, and a plethora of other poolside vibe DJs. The day parties were based out of two hotels, The Riviera and The Saguaro. The Riviera pool deck was perfect for this kind of party because of its size, depth, and proximity to the stage. It was pretty epic to be able to dance directly in front of the DJ while riding a dragon float with one of my buddies. The Saguaro was ideal with rooms offering amazing balcony dance floors and views overlooking the stage and people. It was also super convenient to be able to take AC breaks from the 112-degree weather while still jamming out with the music. The majority of the people seemed to be college-aged or recently graduated – a crowd resembling that of Coachella or a Vegas DJ set. To that extent, I would not recommend this party to everyone and I think Splash House has a lot of room to improve in the coming years.
For starters, Splash House takes very little risks. Most of the August acts, though ultimately good and fit for poolside partying, were playing the same poolside house/tech-house as everyone else. At the end of the weekend most of the acts blended together and the feel got a little monotonous. It seemed as if most of the artists were playing music they thought the crowd wanted to hear instead of pushing their audience musically or creating variation and new moods on the dance floor. At the end of the day the fun you were having became correlated to the fun your crew was having and it wasn’t really about the quality of the music. Luckily, most of the people out there were making a mess of themselves and using each set to dance, meet new people, and get wet in the raucous pools. My weekend highlights were easily when I was jumping from raft to raft in the Saguaro pool, taking in the rays, drink in hand, beats bumpin’.
The weekend ran smoothly aside from the pools, which resembled white murky cess-hot tubs by the end of day one, the nasty puddles of muddy water along the edges of both the Saguaro and the Riviera pool deck, which most people avoided, and a disappointing cancellation by Metroplane, the new super group by Alex Metric and Aeroplane. The shuttles between the hotels ran on time and were never too crowded, the lines to get into the pools were short and mostly orderly – even the party goers were on their best behavior and I didn’t see any fights break out or too many people being escorted away by security.
The weekend started at the Air Museum afterparty on Friday night featuring the Aussie trio, RÜFÜS DU SOL. I’ve been to a fair share of parties in the last year covering San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Berlin, and Barcelona and, aside from the impressive dingy warehouses of Berlin, this venue, seated feet from the Palm Springs Airport tarmac was the most impressive. It is not often you can enjoy dance music while taking instagram pictures next to fighter jets and other air relics. The venue was packed and people scrambled to get close to RÜFÜS when they came on. Tyrone and the boys had the crowd going crazy with groovy bass lines and live vocals. Their latest hits, “You Were Right” and “Say a Prayer for Me,” had the entire party singing along and dancing effortlessly not to mention all the couples making out passionately to the romantic hits.
RUFUS DU SOL by Anastasia Velocescu
Saturday morning started off dirty with a tech-house set by Vincent San Fuentes. The set featured heavy bass and aggressive drops; a good way to get the people going for a long day of drinking and frolicking poolside. Viceroy followed with a smooth live set featuring a sax player that left the crowd feeling blissed and lubricated for the rest of the night. MK came on last and pleased the crowd with hits galore and a poppy house set which had even us scenesters moving our hips and bobbing our heads. The Air Museum after party featured Claptone on Saturday night who played a mellow set due to the lack of people at the show, which was slightly disappointing in my opinion. People were pretty tired after the long day and sat back listening and enjoying from the sidelines.
Claptone by Quinn Tucker
Day two started with a great set by the young Matt Dimona. He had the crowd feeling itself early in the day with one of the most atypical sets of the weekend. He played hits by Father John Misty, Vulfpeck, MGMT, Justice and 80% of his latest EP titled, “Up All Night EP.” Lost Kings came on after Dimona and played another housey set that I watched and danced to from the the balcony of a friend’s room. Bondax closed up shop at The Saguaro on Sunday night and had everyone feeling right. The dance floor went off as everyone put all their energy into finishing the party in the best way possible. After Bondax everyone at The Saguaro shuttled over to The Riviera to watch Gorgon City play a DJ set. The energy was wild at The Riviera and the pool and deck were absolutely packed with sexy people getting down to Gorgon City’s handpicked party tunes. In hindsight I would have personally preferred a live set from the duo but it is always nice to see what a good artist likes to listen to and draws inspiration from.
Gorgon City by Jeffrey Scott
The desert really is a magical place to party and the Palm Springs vibe was really something special. The Splash House crowd, including house heads and Coachella has-beens, were really happy to be there. In the end, the music, repetitive and lacking venture, seemed to be background noise to a party that everyone was making the most out of. Thus, Splash House is special because it’s a fun excuse to get wasted in the desert and party with your homies. If you want high-quality music though, try something else.
