DJ Tiësto kicks off Little 500 weekend

Bounce Music Festival founders Brandon Silverstein and Jared Lyons said they were in Mexico for their spring break tour in Puerto Vallarta when they heard Afrojack was coming to IU. They said they had to top it.

“And I think we did it,” Silverstein said.

In one month, the Bounce duo brought one of the world’s largest DJ’s, Tiësto, to Bloomington. He flew in Thursday night and left for Mexico on a private jet from Bloomington airport this morning.

“But this isn’t just about us doing a Tiësto or an Alesso show, whatever,” Silverstein said. “We’re really trying to build a brand and the Bounce experience so it’s more than just a concert.”

After bringing Avicii in November, Lyons and Silverstein said they had to not only outdo everyone else, but themselves as well, with an even bigger bill and even more stage production to create that insane Bounce experience.

“The lights alone were five times bigger and 10 times more expensive than Avicii,” Silverstein said. “It’s stuff that has most likely never hit the Midwest before.”

They not only produced the concert, but built the venue. Stretching across the open grounds of Pic-A-Chic Farms was an 80 foot stage surrounded by LED walls and $30,000 worth of fireworks — a production with lights they said cost $100,000 on top of Tiësto’s production requirements.

“The entire stage, except for where he stands, is just fireworks everywhere,” Lyons said.

The Bounce founders said Pic-A-Chic was the only venue that allowed them to be themselves by having no capacity limits and no restrictions. 

“The best part is that it’s out in the middle of nowhere,” IU graduate student Natalie O’Bryan said. “Campus has rules and noise limits. You can do whatever the hell you want out here.”

And people did.

As Tiësto took the stage, nothing could be heard except for the overwhelming bass.
Sophomore Molly Crawford ran from the center of the crowd drenched in sweat and out
of breath.

“I tweeted at Tiësto last night,” she said. “I said ‘I’m preemptively thanking you for the eargasmic and body-popping beats you’re about to drop at Tiësto Fiesto tomorrow.”
She pointed out that it rhymed as she yelled with the CLUB LIFE tracks behind her.

IU alumnus Seth Walker asked if he was allowed to give the concert three thumbs up before putting on rave glasses and posing to take a picture with a woman in a bikini and panda headdress.

Walker was wearing gold tights and a striped top, which was stuffed with grass to make it appear like he had breasts.

“There’s a cross dressing bar crawl after, and I don’t have time to change beforehand,” Walker said. But he fit right in.

Nikki Wagner from Louisville, Ky., bobbed her head slightly as she stood in the back of the VIP area. She said the beat, the bass and watching people, such as Walker, was the best thing about electronic concerts.

“There seems to be more half-naked people here than I’ve seen in awhile,” she said.
As Tiësto sounds from his upcoming album release CLUB LIFE: Volume Two Miami led the crowd to sing to mixes of Coldplay’s “Paradise” and Gotye’s “Someone that I Used to Know,” a woman mounted a man against the fence and started to remove clothing.
“People are crazier here,” VIP and graduate student Roberto Opice said comparing the concert to the ones he’s attended in his native country Brazil.

His only complaint was that there was no open bar, but he said the Bounce production measured up to every electronic concert he’s seen in Brazil.

In a press release, Tiësto said that bringing the sounds of the club scenes to other places was his exact goal for his songs, and along with Bounce’s stage production and the festival’s giant bouncy balls, the concert did just that.

Opice simply tipped his Red Bull Lite toward the stage and said, “Yeah, that’s the best part” as streamers shot from the stage illuminated by strobes through the smoke, which consumed the neon crowd before it.

“It’s unbelievable here,” Silverstein said. “Avicii left and said that was one of his best shows in six months, but I’m curious to see how Tiësto responds.”

But no matter how Tiësto responds, the crowd response alone spoke for the festival’s success. No one paid attention to the car alarms or sirens that whispered below the electronic bass lines.

“Tiësto is just the fucking man,” Crawford said.

Lyons said he agreed.

“Tiësto is probably the biggest, but next time we’ll build a bill that not just hits electronic music but something else,” Lyons said.

Lyons and Silverstein said they already have someone in mind, but they’re not willing to share just yet. However, Silverstein said they have a sentimental attachment to Bloomington and that students can expect a Bounce show next welcome week. Until then, fans will just have to be left in anticipation of Bounce’s next move.

“Concerts like Bounce and Tiësto put Bloomington on the global map,” Opice said. “I’d definitely come again.”