From the outside looking in Holy Ship! is impossible to understand, and from the inside looking out it is impossible to explain. If you are truly passionate about electronic music and festival culture, I implore you to someday find yourself on board.
Holy Ship! is a gigantic house party, and its ‘reason for being’ is love of music and love of life. Imagine being locked in a house for 4 days straight with your favorite musical artists. Now hook this house up with festival-grade production and set it afloat in the waters of paradise with a cargo hold of champagne. Naturally, the surreal and unexpected with ensue.
The Holy Ship! roster spanned the stylistic spectrum of electronic music; with techno, house, and bass being the most prevalent genres. There was a moment, as I stepped out of an elevator packed with revelers and their pool toys, in which it struck me that these broad subgroups had been interacting and mingling in ways they often don’t at other events. The festival specifically gives each artist two calculatingly scheduled sets, so that one could feasibly see every single musician play one full set. The elimination of conflicts encouraged shippers to explore other artists, and the multitude of surprise genre-bending pop-up sets and B2B appearances made for an integrated yet ever-changing sound experience.
Artists ran amok aboard the boat, connecting personally with fans and throwing down both on and off stage. We decided to take a different approach to showing off this festival. So we captured media driven by the fan. The unusual presence of artist and fan interaction is something that you can’t find on any other level.
See below for some of our favorite highlights. Provided by fans, Holy Ship, and River Beats. Enjoy 🙂
Mija played a DNB set for the ages. A true moment of old school love.
At one point, one of the largest b2bs in history happened, in which eight different artists used eight different decks.
One of the craziest moments we have ever witnessed. Herobust b2b Jauz b2b Party Favor b2b GTA b2b Slushii b2b Subset b2b Kayzo.
Photo Credit: Rukes
Just like at Electric Forest, Griz was everywhere. From unannounced secret sets to performing the sunrise sermon, and officially “graduating” from ship, Griz was the real MVP.
Photo Credit: Oh Dag Yo Photography
Photo Credit: Isaiah Jared Campbell
Herobust and Kayzo were blown away by Holy Ship.
Surprise 8 am room sets with DESTRUCTO, Mija, Justin Martin are just the norm on Holy Ship!
Getter played Beer Pong with his fans for over an hour.
Slushii jammed out on a makeshift piano and discussed his life openly with everyone. This dude was literally all over the ship. Couldn’t go more than ten feet without him interacting with fans.
Photo Credit: Anthony Nixon
The pool never stood a chance. Captured during the 5 hour b2b between Herobust, Jauz, Slushii, Getter, Oookay and Kayzo.
Oshi was the most energetic of all artists, he even got up on the decks of the massive B2B set and twerked for the theater crowd.
Photo Credit: Rukes
REZZ kindly snapped photos and chatted with her many fans.
Annnnnnd she dropped Bassnectar.
A family photo for everyone. So many artists in one spot.
Photo Credit: Rukes
The Sunrise Sermon, conducted by DESTRUCTO, raged off the back of the boat until 9 AM as we cruised past Bahamian islands and pulled into Nassau.
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdestructohard%2Fvideos%2F10154774803211745%2F&show_text=0&width=560“Before HARD founder Gary Richards became the captain of one of dance music’s most credible event brands, he was a priest robe-donning DJ whose marathon “The Sermon” sunrise sets were a thing of Los Angeles rave scene legend. Since the ship made just one island stop this year, Richards decided to resurrect the concept by playing from 5:30 to 8:00 a.m. on Saturday night,” wrote BILLBOARD’s Matt Medved (1/9/14). ”
Holy Ship was Josh Pan’s coming out party, and he surely didn’t disappoint.
Photo Credit: Travis Small
Slow Magic gave everyone a show to remember.
Subset delivered his famous Renegade sets all over the ship.
Artist and fan interaction was a thing of beauty. (Pictured below: Wax Motif, Fatboy Slim, Claude Vonstroke, Ookay, Mija, Doorly, Dj Craze and AC Slater)
Gary Richards is the Man. Much love to the creator and man behind this show. Without him, none of this is possible. Till next year. Thanks Shipfam.
Photo Credit: Oh Dag Yo Photography
Special Thanks to all those who allowed us to use their amazing content: Anthony Nixon, Bruno Bruno, Isaiah Jared Campbell, Perceval Mosaedi, Gabe Johnson, Tori Deatherage, Gedi Medina, Amanda Lyn Gajderowicz, Spencer Proyles, Travis Small, Miguel Tenorio, Darren Sánchez, Cecilia Flores, Evan Butler, David Price and Charlie Lopez!
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