I rang in the new year once again, the best way I can think of, at Decadence Arizona. Relentless Beats‘ largest festival of the year has become my traditional way of ringing in the new year since 2018. This year’s festival was expected to top 30,000 attendees. With the upgraded size of the festival, a new stage for the house heads, carnival rides, and tons of food vendors, I’d call this year another smash hit way to celebrate a trip around the sun. I spent hours each night dancing my heart out and breaking my neck in front of the two massive main stages, and these are the five sets that I enjoyed the most.
Adventure Club: Throwback Set
The lineup for night one left me wanting more heavy dubstep. The night was full of big names from the world of house, techno, and hardstyle, but Kai Wachi B2B Sullivan King weren’t taking the stage that night until 2 in the morning, and I needed some dubstep to keep me going. I didn’t expect much going into Adventure Club. I was familiar with some of their melodic hits and was expecting some big, beautiful drops, but nothing too heavy. The set surprised me in the best way. Opening with a clip from The Boondock Saints, and transitioning into their song Gold featuring vocalist Yuna singing on the big screen. The crowd was already belting the words. The set then moved into a lot of heavy 2018-sounding dubstep drops, getting me moving around. The set shifted through the throwback brostep sounds and their more future bass sounds seamlessly. Both artist were jumping around, having the time of their life on stage, creating a fun throwback party atmosphere that got me through to the rest of the night.
Level Up
Night two was the night of heavy music for me, and I started it off with the dark queen, Level Up. This set was exactly the thing I wanted to start the night, with heavy neck-breaking drops and some master class mixing, keeping the crowd on their feet. Level Up came out with the heavy stuff right away, dropping a new song she’s working on with fellow dubstep artist Kompany. She played up to the more mainstream crowd that Decadence attracts by playing out some mainstream pop and emo hits, but transitioning them into the ungodly dark, heavy dubstep drops she has defined as her sound. Having the crowd jumping to LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem only to interrupt them with a “Ha Ha He Hu” and smash them with a bone-crushing drop caused a crazy loud crowd reaction. This set was a perfect way to start off the night and the best thing I could imagine leading into VOYD.
Tape B
My first time finally catching a Tape B set live, and it did not disappoint. Seeing him throw down his low, heavy, funky beats on a massive stage with so many lasers did not disappoint. The slowed version of Juicy J’s A Zip A Double Cup had the bass vibrating so low I could feel my bones shaking. Whoever on Tape B’s team was in charge of the lasers that night knew their job and pulled it off with perfect timing. The amazing laser light show caused roars from the crowd for the drops to Ganja Tape and Dopamine. I spent so much of this set vibing to the music and enjoying the lights that it was over before I was anywhere near being ready for it to end.
Griz
Giving Griz a New Year’s countdown set time was a smart choice by Relentless Beats. With the artist’s current comeback putting him at what might be the highest point of his career, the crowd swelled out all sides of the massive mainstage tent. This was the pace to be for midnight, and everyone knew. Griz had the perfect plan to celebrate the start of the new year while calling last year to an end. Immediately starting his set off with a live saxophone solo, and was joined on stage by two more artists playing live instruments. This set didn’t feel like just any other festival headline set, but something the artist and team worked together for weeks to create something special for the crowd. Singers, rappers, and other instrumental players would frequently join Griz on stage for their part before leaving, all while Griz seamlessly mixed and played his saxophone live. The midnight was a sight to behold as the balloons held against the ceiling dropped onto the sea of people below. Griz played his Innerbloom remix while doubing with his song Infinite as the crowd bounced the balloons in celebration. The vibes were high as hugs were passed around the ground, and Griz finished out his set keeping everyone smiling and loving to his funky bass drops.
Svdden Death: VOYD
There is nothing else like VOYD in the EDM world. I have heard many people say that it’s too intense a sound for them, or that they feel it is satanic imagery that makes them feel uncomfortable. I can’t argue with how those people feel, but I can say that anyone who chooses to skip this set for those reasons missed out on something huge. I think of VOYD as the what would be the soundtrack to the epic poem Dante’s Inferno. This is the music that would accompany Dante on his journey through the layers of hell. Just like the epic poem is not a satanic piece of work, but rather a work of art telling a gruesome story, so is VOYD. And this story created the best set of Decadence 2025 for me. What started as a somewhat normal heavy bass set with the crowd screaming the wubs to Shadow Land Burial continued to grow in intensity. Svdden Death seemed to be playing with laser focus, never getting on the mic until the last 10 minutes. He let his heavy drops and gruesome visuals tell their own story as the crowd continued to absorb every last ounce of energy he was playing out for them. Everything culminated in the last ten minutes when the artist took off his deer skull mask and started growling low, deep deathcore vocals over his insane drops. He yelled for the mosh pits not to stop, and they just kept growing. Until he called for a wall of death, and the crowd split from the rail all the way back to the production booth of the massive tent. When the drop came, the two sides of the crowd slammed together in a sea of swarming limbs that moved in every direction. Svdden Death thanked the crowd and played his last song only to have the split reopen, and a massive front-to-back mosh pit form right to the end. It was a sight to behold and a Decadence memory I will never forget.