By Danielle Smith
Managing Editor
After a weekend full of snowboarding and skateboarding stunts accompanied by a compilation of indie rock, hip-hop and electronic dance music, Air + Style 2018 has come to a victorious close.
Air + Style 2018 catered to a variety of tastes, attracting a diverse crowd to the lively festival grounds. The two-day festival was electric and adrenaline-filled, complete with outstanding musical and athletic performances accompanied by impressive visual effects.
Air + Style is a yearly music festival held at Exposition Park in Downtown Los Angeles that also features snowboarding and skateboarding competitions. This year, the festival took place on March 3 and 4 from 1 p.m. until approximately 11 p.m. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White became the owner of Air + Style in 2014 in hopes of globally promoting snowboarding.
The festival featured only two stages: the “Summer Stage” and the “Winter Stage.” In addition, a “VIP Deck,” multiple food stand locations, and a large snowboarding and skateboarding arena decorated the festival grounds. Headliners Zedd and Phoenix closed on March 3 and 4 respectively, following over 10 other musical groups each day.
All of the musical performances featured extremely dynamic, electronic graphics projected behind the stage, including ethereal landscapes and flashing, neon shapes, which successfully added flare to the already high-energy songs. In addition, certain musical acts including Zedd utilized pyrotechnics to further entice excitement in the large crowd.
The layout of the festival was expertly planned as the two musical stages were located in the outskirts of the grounds, while the food areas were dispersed throughout the center, creating a hub for festival-goers to reboot before viewing the next performance. Although somewhat small, the festival grounds did not seem overcrowded or uncomfortable.
Food vendors including Chef Roy Choi’s Korean-Mexican food truck, Kogi, provided patrons with delicious, freshly-made meals. The wide variety of options ranging from slices of pie from Pizzanista to gourmet dumplings from Bling Bling Dumplings supplied much-needed nourishment to exhausted festival-goers who took a break from moshing to relax.
The snowboarding ramp at Air + Style 2018 was unimpressive in size in comparison to the 2017 ramp, which towered over 15 stories high, but this fact did little to detract from the grandeur of the extreme sport. Famous snowboarders including Heimana Reynolds and Alex Sorgente ramped up the competition with extraordinary stunts, causing crowds surrounding the ramp to gasp in amazement.
The only glaringly unenjoyable aspect of Air + Style 2018 was the long periods of time festival-goers were forced to wait between sets. Due to the large size of the crowd, it was nearly impossible for viewers to move from one stage to the other in order to avoid waiting over an hour for the next performance to begin.
Air + Style 2018 was an extremely engaging event that successfully integrated both music and sports to create an immersive experience. Despite small logistical shortcomings, the festival provided patrons with a plethora of opportunities to enjoy electronic music and explore the unconventional festival grounds.
Tickets to the event start at $79 for general admission one-day passes and $149 for general admission two-day passes. Prices increase with the addition of VIP tickets. The dates for Air + Style 2019 are not released yet, but more information about the festival can be found on airandstyle.com.
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