The festival is well known for having a friendly, inclusive atmosphere, so much so that people board the boat with the full intention to reunite with their ‘Groove Cruise Family’ members, aka #GCFam, from previous years.

“This is our 10th GC,” a festival attendee shared holding up both of her hands to visualize the 10, “we do both, this one and Miami”.

The festival is unlike anything you might experience. GC takes over the entire cruise ship (Norwegian Jewel this time) transforming it into a floating 24/7 festival city. It is easy to get lost early on, but once you figure out how to navigate this beast of a boat it turns into a familiar neighborhood. The experience, however, is not always all smooth sailing. In addition to the general lack of clarity in communication (around boarding and programming), there was a range of mixed issues around scheduling, pricing of things, WiFi issues, and general logistical mishaps, which I suppose are common at most large festivals. But we are at sea and it takes a lot of people to keep this festival moving. It is what it is, you get what you get. If you pay extra you will naturally get more.

The stay at this floating hotel is quite pleasant. The rooms are newly renovated and cozy. There is a wide range of dining options available (included and extra), an entire ‘strip of bars’ (aka Bar City), an actual casino, and an elaborate theatre. Music naturally happens everywhere. The top-deck tennis court was converted to the After Hours where you would hear a mix of DJs greeting the sun every morning. Smaller stages were scattered all across the boat while main events took place on the pool deck during the day and in the theatre for evening headliners. 

Many performances took place on the pool deck but non were as entertaining as Green Velvet’s Saturday afternoon set. Veteran house DJ and producer Curtis Alan Jones came with friends, and friends of friends were also invited. A tight squad of people was vibing behind Curtis while a mixed couple of dancers would step out to the front of the stage showcasing their moves. For two full hours, we danced to Green Velvets’ upbeat portfolio of tracks while masses of costumed people were causing a small fun-riot on stage. Eventually, even the stage security gave up, everyone was welcomed up.

The daytime stage also featured Charlie Duncker, better known by his stage name Acraze, for an upbeat hour-long set featuring his hottest singles, remixes, and throwbacks like Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone”. San Diego’s Casmalia played a handful of sets throughout the weekend showcasing her melodic blend of house, tech house, and disco infusions. In a similar manner, Chicago’s NEZ (Chuck Roberts) also played a number of sets sharing his authentic Chicago sound – a bit of classic house, a bit of ghetto house, and a dash of rap. A fun new discovery for this team was DJ Susan whose magnetic personality, giant smile, and infectious beats stole the show on Thursday afternoon.

“We are at sea!” ~ DJ Susan

For most of the weekend, the Bar City stage was taken over by the Martian Circus, an art collective offering an immersive ‘5D’ experience. The stage was decorated floor to ceiling with glow-in-the-dark art installations, an on-site shop, and naturally a very colourful stage. Nearly every night people gathered here for vibrant, occasionally psychedelic performances by a multi-instrumental cosmic soul house band. For those looking for a more personal experience, however, there was also a silent disco, curated by San Francisco’s Rizzo + Vassalo. Between the two channels, participants got quite a range of music which was nice, but the true charm of a silent disco is seeing the people dance to their own beat in a dark quiet room.

On Friday we reached Cabo San Lucas. A short boat trip followed by a bus ride took us to ME Cabo for a day-long pool party. A mix of DJs took over the rooftop bar for a more intimate party while the main pool raged all day to the sounds of Ekonovah (aka Stephen Scotti), Sam Wolfe, Scooter & Lavelle, Gem & Tauri, and the headlining performance by Blond:ish. Here the DJ booth was nested in an elevated hut, much like a bird’s nest overlooking the ocean and our floating home from a distance. Fans and friends took refuge in the surrounding area, tanning, dancing, soaking in the pool, indulging in hotel cuisine.

Ekonovah’s early set was perfectly fitting to the time and place – upbeat, melodic, and transformative in a way. Scotti even tried a few new tracks with the attendees but more on that later (interview coming soon). Sam Wolfe, who was up next, took things up a notch (or two) with his deeper and darker techno beats. But in time Blond:ish stepped up and balanced it all out by playing her catchy original tracks (ie. “Sete”) and dance floor favourites like Volaris’ “Slow Motion” and Disclosure’s “You & Me”. As the sun went down the fired-up entertainment began, and I mean it literally. There was fire in the pool, people in the air, and fireworks shooting out of the Norwegian Jewel. Oh, so many fireworks you could see them on the other side of the bay.

A range of theme nights took over the Atrium stage throughout the week including a full night of old school hip hop DJ sets by the likes of DJ Smiles, Discopill, Chris Duano, and a 3-hour set by Scooter. Sunday’s highlight event was the Deep House Brunch party at the back of the ship, set in the shade of a crochet curtain forest. A mix of old-school and Chicago house was a very welcome change on this final day of the cruise. This set was properly followed by the highly anticipated performance from Said The Sky.

One of the perks of staying on the ship with the artists is that the said artists are there, just wondering about the boat. Embracing this cohabitation the festival team curated a wide range of experiences inviting fans and artists to play and eat together. A quick sign-up form or a visit to the captain’s desk (festival support) allowed attendees to sign up for up to 3 artist-hosted activities and as many dinners as they want.

Having chatted with Acraze pre-event we decided to join him for a guided wine tasting. It was an hour filled with jokes and loose wine education. On a separate night, a small group of friends and fans gathered for a teppanyaki dinner with MitiS who also hosted a pub crawl that turned into an impromptu DJ set. And for something more different,  Kristina Sky brought her infamous ‘Champagne and Pizza’ party to the arcade for a short yet sweet casual hangout. It is worth mentioning though that some of these activities come at an additional cost which was not disclosed in any manner prior to the event’s end.

All in all, Groove Cruise is a truly immersive festival experience. A unique way to travel and a unique place to dance. It is also an excellent place to make friends with attendees and artists alike.

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The two-day event wasn’t without its hurdles, however. Due to thunderstorms throughout the weekend, event organizers had to evacuate everyone and hold off performances for safety reasons. It wasn’t until later in the evening that fans were allowed to enter the grounds in a slightly chaotic manner. While most of the DJ sets were cut completely, fans were still able to witness an hour or so from Zomboy, Bear Grillz, and ended the night on the high note with Excision‘s “Feel Something”.

Sunday things went a little smoother. Yes, for the first two hours it was constant heavy rain but there was no thunder so crowds huddled under sparse trees taking shelter while others just literally, soaked it all in. I was fortunate enough to be under the beer tent enjoying drinks with new friends while listening to Said The Sky in the distance playing Panic at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” taking us back to yesteryear. Once their set was over and the rain stopped pouring it was time to finally walk around and explore the stages.

The grass hadn’t recovered from the downfall so mud was everywhere yet everyone was looking fly and no mud would ruin a good time. At the Solstice stage, electronic duo Sofi Tukker (Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern) were going hard with Daft Punk’s “Technologic” accompanied with screeching alarm noise while their slogan flashed rapidly above. What fans appreciated most it seemed is the duo playing house music inspiring Sophie Hawley-Weld to sing “House Arrest” while Halpern commented: “we got a little wet, but that’s how we like it Chicago!”

One of the best sets of the evening was Atliens. Wearing a silver mask with beaming red eyes that pierced the soul, the duo put on one hell of a performance that got me and nearly everyone in the crowd moving to their perfectly blended modern wubbing bass with classic hip-hop tunes. The duo mixed Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s”, Ludacris “When I Move”, and songs off Kanye West & Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne before moving on to some heavy robotic bass drops.

Dillon Francis is a regular at Spring Awakening and a set that must not be missed. Francis played through a mix of genres, mixing Kanye West’s “Runaway” into My Chemical Romance The Black Parade then taking it back to the disco era with ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” for example. He then continued with Madonna’s “Hung Up” switching to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” before getting people into all the feels with Blink 182’s “I Miss U”. Typing that it sounds like a jumbled mess but that just shows Dillon Francis’ admirable ability to pull off such a mix.

The evening began to slowly come to an end with Adventure Club at the Equinox stage. The tunes they provided were much more chill compared to other sets which was a nice change of pace to mellow out after going hard for most of the day. All the respect to the duo for even dropping the Mortal Kombat theme song within their set. The end-of-the-night spectacle performance, however, was of course Martin Garrix.

This highly anticipated set came with all the bells and whistles: intergalactic alien visuals, blaring lights that you could see from space, bass that shakes the ground you dance on, and of course, brilliant tunes bringing all the visuals to life. The VIP area was set further in the back, elevated above the ground giving the audience a wide-angle view of this beautiful scene and the crowd dancing in unison as pyrotechnics fired from the stage. Seeing Martin Garrix signal alien character visual moving along with some of the biggest dance tunes shows why the DJ has acclaimed his iconic status.

Spring Awakening: Autumn Equinox was a damn good time. It was unfortunate that the first day was cut short, but the second day more than made up for it. Even with the rain and mud people still had an awesome time leaving the festival grounds buzzing. Can’t wait for the festival to return back in spring so we can do it over again sooner than later.

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