It is one of the world’s biggest festivals dedicated to the dreamy, floaty, tech-y form of trance music. And after its inaugural year in Long Beach last year, where tens of thousands showed up to levitate musically, Dreamstate returns. It arrives along the Queen Mary stomping grounds Nov. 22 and Nov. 23.
Wait—what is Dreamstate and where was it before it came to Long Beach?
After six years of serving the National Orange Show Event Center in the Inland Empire, Dreamstate moved toward the water for their first outing here in Long Beach last year. It follows stints in San Francisco, Mexico City, London, Melbourne, and New York.
It took in over 25,000 people each day last year. And this year is no different. {arty-goers will bear witness to trance masters like Paul Oakenfold, Darude, Armin van Buuren, Vini Vici, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten, Infected Mushroom, and more. It also includes the world premiere Giuseppe Ottaviani’s new show dubbed “Ottagon.”
EDM journalist extraordinaire Grant Gilmore lists these six artists as must-sees: Julian Gray, Grigoré, MIYUKI, Taylor Torrence, XiJaro & Pitch, and Daniel Pinho.
The reason for the move? The need for more space—and, more importantly for the hardcore partiers, an exclusive after-party aboard the starboard-and-port-side wrap around deck on the Queen Mary’s bow that goes past the festival’s 1AM end time.
Basics to know about Dreamstate
The Queen Mary will host four stages throughout the weekend as compared to three last year. The newest stage, Beatbox Boombox Art Car, will be situated between the Vision and Sequence stages and just above the Void stage.
The days run for 12 hours each, from 1PM to 1AM. Two after-parties aboard the ship that will allow you to watch the sunrise aboard the ship since they end at 6AM. Dreamstate offers free shuttles that go from the convention center to the venue and back on both days. There will be pre-paid parking on The Pike and the convention center. There will also be designated areas for rideshare drop-off near the venue.
Why Insomniac’s presence in Long Beach is important to our cultural capital.
Whether or not you’re into EDM, EDM festival giant Insomniac haveing a presence amidst our event scene is culturally clutch.
The Spruce Goose dome. The Queen Mary. The Downtown Long Beach skyline. It is a space like no other. And something Insomniac has grown to love and appreciate for its festival goers as it continues to move festivals to our waterfront. With its removal from residential areas and a ton of easily accessible hotels and transit, it is no wonder that the Burbank-based festival organizer is moving more and more of its events to Long Beach—a much-needed and appreciated boost to local festival going after Goldenvoice vacated the space after a slew of pre-pandemic events that drew in massive crowds.
While many of the indie electronic acts frown upon Insomniac’s corporate culture and lack of love for the authentic raver scene—overselling and dangerous conditions of the event organization’s cornerstone event, Electric Daisy Carnival, prompted the event to be suspended in the L.A. region, moving it to Vegas, for instance—the one thing they cannot deny is that they have turned Long Beach into an EDM festival haven.
Taking over the Queen Mary Waterfront (where they’ve been no strangers: the Electric Daisy Carnival made steady appearances there during the 1990s and 2000s), they’ve brought househeads together for Day Trip and, for the first time last year, the tranceheads of Dreamstate as well as the drum’n’bass-meets-dubstep crowd for Apocalypse.
Dreamstate takes place on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23 at The Queen Mary. For more information, click here.
