Basel Castle 2013
Grand Central Park, Miami
Saturday, December 7, 2013
In the past, the setting for The Overthrow's Basel Castle extravaganza had been a slightly cartoonish, sort of fragile-looking fortress in Wynwood. But that shit is dead, son.
Last year, the overcrowding got outta hand. So for 2013, the party moved to Grand Central Park, a grassy field across from Grand Central Miami.
There was one big main stage, some skate ramps, fashionable phone gear for sale, a Red Bull tent, and of course, a whole slew of street art.
See also: Basel 2013: Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Sheek Louch Turn Up Till Closing Time
Now that it goes down in a park, Basel Castle may be a less appropriate name for The Overthrow's annual bash. But it was a move we have to applaud.
There was also way more music this year. Or at least it felt that way with one stage and a super non-vampy start time of freaking noon.
The sun was brutal. We spent the better part of the daylight hours sneaking backstage to raid the bar and, more importantly, hide under that green-room tent.
Can we get some shade out in the field next year? That would be dope.
Of course, the art and music was amazing.
Big shout outs to Austin Paul, who debuted a couple of new and groovy tracks, and Niko Javan who brought out some of his fresh new solo beats with a side of L.Rey and a few O'Grime jams. Big ups Robb Bank$ for all "T/H/A" leaned-out bass music, Heroes X Villains for running the trap, and Travi$ Scott for bringing the motherfuckin' ruckus.
Also, what the hell to Denzel Curry who decided last minute that he'd rather play a show in NYC? We see how it is. Okay, so you were accidentally booked for two shows on opposite ends of the country. We'll let it slide, this time.
Judging by the highlights, you should notice a trend: hip-hop.
Brodinski killed it with a tight hip-hop set, not unlike the sweet glory he unleashed during October's III Points Fest in Wynwood. He came on kind of early in the evening, and we might not have noticed who it was had we not been checking the main stage every 10 minutes.
Can we add schedules next time, too? There might be an app for that.
We're going to go ahead and say our favorite act of the night was Chicago's babyface savior, Chance the Rapper. And judging by the crowd's outpouring of adoration, we're not alone.
He could have easily carried his own headline performance, and though we wish we had a more direct line to the Social Experiment tour, nothing can downplay the feels we experienced singing "Everybody's Something."
Maybe it was because we're such Chance fans, or maybe it was the five or six drinks, but we can hardly remember what the hell SBTRKT even did. It sounded to us like he just played a bunch of what you can hear anyone else play. But obviously, he did it with a cool mask on.
We were disappointed. And if that makes us sound like glib assholes. Well, what else is new?
Closing out the night was the man in the suit with the darkest of beats and the blackest of lungs. France's shadowy gentleman, Gesaffelstein, put in that work, and he didn't give one shit that it was raining.
He probably prefers rain, because he's such a gloomy Gus Ges.
The set was live, so it was both audibly and intellectually impressive. He played through all his nighttime hits. And kind of just by being there, he brought the old Castle feeling back.
Sure, he was doing Count Dracula in a broad, open space, but if we squinted through the falling water and looked at the lights, it was kind of like huge spires hovered around us.
Or we were drunk. It doesn't matter. Great success.
Follow Crossfade on Facebook and Twitter @Crossfade_SFL.
Follow Kat Bein on Twitter @KatSaysKill.
