Photo Credit: FYM Agency / Keiki Knudsen / Demian Becerra / Myles Heidenreich
The dust is settling after the first-ever edition of the All Day I Dream festival, which took place at the Woodward Reservoir in Oakdale, California last weekend. Friends of new and old have been quick to create communication streams, swapping highlights, track IDs, and gushing emotions, as a synchronized and contented community gradually floats back down from the clouds.
Such a gathering wouldn’t have happened without Lee Burridge and Matthew Dekay, who have helmed the ADID label since it began over a decade ago. Together they have spearheaded a family of artists which has flourished into an ever-expanding bunch of pioneers of the sound. A melodic house movement that has developed through open-air celebrations and blissful day parties in exquisite locations, often headed up by the co-owners themselves.
To this end, the organizers know a thing or two about what a festive environment should look like. Set up on the shores of the reservoir, every detail at the festival was considered. From the location to the art installations, to the wellness, to the sound, the playground catered from all corners.
The camp was constructed at the lakeside and beyond, donned by seasoned veterans of comfort spread across RVs, bell tents, foiled domes, and fairy-lit canopies. Unsurprisingly there was a distinct feel of Burning Man, typical of the long association between Burridge and Robot Heart. And the people were as pretty as the temporary quarters they had assembled. Finely crafted costumes would dance their way around the festival grounds, between Cloud Nine, The Circus, Lenticular Live, and The Dome.
Having only a handful of stages each with a specific purpose meant planning was made easy when it came to devising a dancing schedule that would suit. Lenticular Live, as the name would suggest, made center stage for the live acts. Electronic met acoustic, with label regulars the likes of Pippi Ciez, Slow Hearts, and Double Touch working their own setups across the weekend under the orange lantern-led structure. Bands brought bigger setups, with the final day dedicated to the headliners. Poolside would help close out the festival with sweet phonic sounds, their own ‘Harvest Moon’ drifting additional warmth over an already hot summer’s day before Little Dragon wrapped it up.
For the Friday and Saturday nights, The Circus made for continuation through ‘til sunrise, featuring the likes of Guy Gerber, YokoO, Lauren Ritter, Zone+, and Matthew Dekay across the weekend. A great space for the dance, but a little tinny on the sound. That being said, it was a welcome haven for those with energy to boot. The Dome on the other hand offered the opposite vibe, a weird and wonderful igloo featuring ambiance and the unusual, until the early hours.
Where it was all really happening was at Cloud Nine, which took day into night – an alluring temple, an ADID shrine featuring a whole host of affiliates and names known to the label. On Friday, Double Touch covered the sunset with graceful transitions between bongos, keys, and the Pioneer, before Layla Benitez led to Roy Rosenfeld closing the stage with a medley all of his own.
Musically the artists had free reign and for good reason. The crowds were clearly avid followers of the ADID label and the producers which have evolved around it. This was the first-ever time Rosenfeld performed strictly all his own tracks in one set, from ‘Balabamba’ to ‘The Biggest Heart’, to ‘Cherry On Top’ and ‘Honey’. Powerful build-ups, rhythmic percussion, and dedicated artistry, all in front of a beautiful bright-lit structure of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The magic continued into the Saturday. Perfect programming meant at least eleven hours of unwavering sound – for us it began at Lee Burridge in the afternoon, followed by Facundo Mohr, Lost Desert, Tim Green, and Sebastien Leger. A musical journey that couldn’t and wouldn’t falter from start to finish.
Lee made through an expert blend of club classics, deep delights like Rodriguez Jr.’s Deep In The Playa remix of ‘What Is Real’, and a bunch of the best ADID beats, from Fulltone through to his own. Mohr ramped up the energy further with a Latin infusion, packed full of percussion and a driving, rolling bassline that saw in another epic sunset before Lost Desert brought a deeper meaning to the evening. Luscious lashings of tribal met smooth remixes, as a re-energizing crowd danced blissfully under the moonlight to Mari Kvien Brunvoll’s serene sounds of ‘Everywhere You Go’ and the recent Lost Desert collab with Lee Burridge, ‘The Wildcard Rhapsody’.
Next up, Tim Green followed suit similar to Roy the night before, serving up around 90% of his own music across a two-hour stint – also a rare direction to his usual performance. Deeper unreleased grooves sporting soulful vocals and killer hooks led the way. A breezy re-work of Underworld’s ‘Two Months Off’ spoke softly before the power of the imminently released ‘Duel’ collab with Sebastien Leger, which they celebrated as one behind the booth. Leger stepped up to close, thrashing through his own Lost Miracle sounds, a supercharged performance of electric vibes. Arms strayed poised in the air through his remix of Isolee’s ‘Beau Mot Plage’, flowing rhythms and fast, winding synths, before calling it to a close with his own epic contribution to ADID – ‘Ashes In The Wind’.
Sunday however did make for the grandest finale – Jim Rider made for a special sunset, sifting through energetic builders before a softer trip, as the sun sank for the final time to Justin Martin’s remix of Mushrooms and the percussive prowess of Guti’s ‘Every Cow Has A Bird’.
Before long, Burridge was back on and Matthew Dekay was joining him for what was an epic four-hour fusion, a myriad of momentous tracks that were beautifully crafted as one. Melodies of course formed the backbone, but the blend varied. Deep, grinding undertones added mystery to ruthless groove. Atmospheric speech called out to the dreamers in front and while the whomping basslines of Afrilounge’s ‘Lux Dementia’ and Andre Lodemann’s ‘Where Are You Now’ made things juicy and mellow, the ever-fixed loop of one of Tim Green’s unreleased through to Raze’s ‘Break 4 Love’ injected a healthy dose of class. All under the red, rosy shine of a magical, pleasantly timed lunar eclipse above. The crowd was transfixed, the dreamers fully committed and when the inevitable happened, the pledge was made to return again as the temple gates closed.
This was the first festival of a much loved, much-respected label that has now been celebrated at the highest level. Artists and attendees alike haven’t been able to speak highly enough of the experience, which has been respectfully gifted by one label alone. It takes determination and dedication to take a leap, hosting an event of this size centered solely around one platform – Lee Burridge, Matthew Dekay, and the ADID family have done it with over 2000 in attendance and you can bet they’ll be back again for the next one. And the rest…
