There were a lot of questions surrounding last weekend’s SpringWave Sunset party, which labeled itself as Taiwan’s first ever all-day electronic music festival. Would enough people come on a Sunday afternoon to see a packed bill including four “top 100” acts as well as top tier of local talent? Will the weather hold up? And why does the logo curiously look like sig rune from Nazi Germany?
Everyone wants to talk about the death of EDM as a genre, but like Yogi Berra once said, “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” SpringWave Sunset was filled to the rim with party-goers. The weather was perfect and the production — from the huge flowers on top of the speaker towers to the video screens — was top notch. Every DJ banged it out, with headliner Steve Aoki carpet-bombing the crowd with his boisterous productions and high-energy stage presence. Aoki’s reputation as more hat than cattle precedes him, but he gave his all, including tossing a number of cakes into the crowd while his song, Cake Me, played.
As for the logo, I never did get an answer, but sig rune stood for victory for the Nazis and SpringWave Sunset proved that EDM was victorious in Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of Johan Vosloo
SHOTS
Most clubs post pictures of hunky males and lascivious females to lure customers into their dens of debauchery. Johan Vosloo, a photographer from Taichung by way of South Africa, was bored by these pictures which all looked the same, so he came up with the concept of Tequilaface nights.
Photo courtesy of Johan Vosloo
Vosloo, a nightclub photographer, enjoyed taking genuine party portraits by catching people off guard. So the premise of Tequilaface is simple — people sit down in a photo booth and partake in the ritual of tequila with salt and lime. Vosloo then snaps a series of photos, capturing contorted faces simultaneously enjoying and hating the tequila shots. The parties are big hits and the photos are shared all over social media afterwards.
Surprisingly, no one has vomited in any of the photos, but one guy did try to do two shots at the same time and ended up spraying the others in the picture.
Vosloo has tons of crazy memories. “There were people doing flying kicks off staircases, people drinking shots off a hockey stick, guys on guys, girls on girls, human centipedes, kissing, slapping, biting, and oh so much love,” Vosloo told the Taipei Times.
“Being part of creating these pleasantly twisted photos is quite an honor because people always come back for more,” he added.
■ Tequilaface 15, featuring DJs Pyro, Amy Rao (饒仲玫), and ApeSh!t takes place tomorrow night from 10pm to 4am at 18TC, 38 Dachuan St, Taichung (台中市大川街38號). Admission is NT$400 for ladies and NT$600 for men, which includes a drink. Tequila shots at the photo booth are free.
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