Let’s get one thing straight, right off the bat – Pacific Festival OC was epic. Like many others in attendance, we stomached 8+ hours of dance beats well into the night. Pacific Festival took place at the beautiful Oak Canyon Ranch with 5 mind blowing stages. Flashing lights, fog machines, loud bass, and constant flow of drinks ensured everyone was having fun and dancing! Acts like Steve Aoki, Calvin Harris, Cut Copy, Bad Raiders, The Twelves and Fred Falke were out there blasting out ear pleasuring music. With a plethora of over 50 DJ talent/bands to choose from, Orange County music lovers were out in full force! View the entire gallery on our Facebook!

With the sun slowly setting over Oak Canyon Ranch on Saturday, thousands of Southern Californians pushed forward to the main PACIFIC FESTIVAL OC Stage as Calvin Harris took control of the 1’s and 2’s! His looming presence commanded the full attention of everyone at the event. With a sea of whipping hair and hands raised to the sky wildly before him, Calvin Harris assaulted the audience with an onslaught of electro dance goodies and hundreds rubber-ducky beach balls! As Calvin Harris got more and more into it, his body language said it all: one leg forward, the other leg back, shoulder width apart, shoulders rocking to and out with asperity. Shaking his head, stomping around and fist pumping his long arms in the air, it was absolutely obvious that Calvin Harris was possessed by the music. His energy was returned to the crowd, which went completely crazy over his performance.

Harris played a crowd-pleasing assortment of songs from and even premiered a remix to his pulsating track “Awooga” adding a “Party Rock” twist to it by featuring LMFAO. Harris had superb stage presence, important trait for any DJ, and had the crowd responding to every fist pump, clap and hand command. His awesome selection of songs kept the energy level to a maximum and had everyone dancing – even the event securities! Calvin Harris demolished OC. And we loved it.

Following Calvin Harris’s set, Steve Aoki cranked it up a notch as the lights began to backlight the lush trees of Oak Canyon Ranch. Steve Aoki’s performances are always explosive because he knows how to build up the crowd and keep them at a climax. When Aoki got on stage, the champagne bottles and dirty beats popped off in a major way, so major that their speakers blew out! After a few minutes, Aoki was back up at the forefront and bodies crammed tightly together again and the raging continued which are good indications of his talent and appeal.

Snoop

The gangsta that he is, Snoop Dogg showed up about an hour late from the time he was supposed to begin. His tardiness didn’t stop anyone from straying away and during those long minutes, the anticipation grew strong for the OG’s arrival. This was a big surprise to us given that this was mainly an EDM audience and no one was interested in leaving the main stage. Nonetheless, Snoop stormed on stage clad in a black tracksuit and the crowd began roaring as he encouraged everyone to light up their blunts. Clouds of weed smoked swarmed the entire stage area and it was clear that the king of the West Coast had arrived. Snoop immediately fired up and regained the crowd’s favor as he unloaded his infectious classic tracks “What’s My Name,” “Drop It Like it’s Hot,” “PIMP,” and “Gin & Juice” to name a few. Snoop’s catalog is so legendary that everyone knew what was next. We honestly didn’t know what to expect from the performance, but the D O double G delivered in every way and left everyone in Irvine cheering for more. Snoop concludes the performance with a gushing profession of his love for Irvine and that he’ll be back soon. Does Irvine love him back? Fo’shizzles!

Due to Snoop’s tardiness, Cut Copy’s set was pushed back and started at 1am. This was the perfect talent to close up the festival mainly due to the fact that they were a full band full. Cut Copy relentlessly delivered a balance set of selections from both their older and newer materials, barely pausing between songs. It was mainly the In Ghost Colours material that seemed to go down well with the festival goers; the biggest excitement of the night came as the band launched into “Lights & Music” and “Hearts On Fire.” By far, one of the best dance shows ever. The sweaty band danced nonstop and asked everyone to join and dance with them, a suggestion which was already gladly accepted by the crowd (and myself) as their synthpop sounds built up and blasted through Oak Canyon Ranch. Everyone danced as if no one was watching. Cut Copy definitely knows how to put on a quality live show and if you were ever lucky enough to experience this fine Aussie band live, you know I’m not exaggerating about how good they are live. Cut Copy was the perfect concluding act for Pacific Festival OC 2011.

We happened to run into the Twelves backstage, Brazil’s answer to Daft Punk.

What better way to end an epic day than with a kiss good night?

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For more PACIFIC FESTIVAL pictures, check out HEIST & CO

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