Lights! Aliens! Lasers! Wait, is that how the saying goes? At least in the extraterrestrial winter wonderland of Countdown Festival 2023 it is. The yearly festival’s interstellar production and decor attracted seas of humans and aliens alike, transporting them into outer space and worlds beyond.

The festival contained nostalgic yet transcendental attractions such as the Ferris Wheels, swing ride, and bumper cars, and 5 different stages: The Mothership, Area 51, Nebula, Twilight Zone, and Galactik Gate. These stages spanned several different genres from house to techno to dubstep, but leaned more heavily toward bass music.

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Three of these stages were hosted by well-known labels and their respective artists – Area 51 was hosted by Bassrush and featured sets like Ray Volpe b2b Crankdat, Space Laces, Zingara, and more. The Twilight Zone stage was an indoor warehouse-like hangar hosted by Factory93 and Insomniac Records that offered techno and house acts such as Eli Brown, Noise b2b Joshua, Matt Sassari, and more. Finally, the Galactik Gate stage was hosted by Space Yacht and Lost In Dreams, and featured fiery, asteroid-like objects. The stage featured artists like Klaxx, Audien, Pauline Herr, Yetep, Sabai, Synymata, and more.

The Mothership was the MainStage with giants like Porter Robinson and Deadmau5, and Nebula featured an assortment of genres, from Seven Lions to FrostTop. We ourselves also got a chance to sit down and chat with Sabai, Syence, EGZOD, Manila Killa, and Grabbitz.

The yearly theme is “Alien Invasion: Attack of the Laser Rays”, and surely enough, we were astral projected out of this world. As we walked through festival security, we were greeted by alien voices over loudspeakers and strange alien writings on park entrance signs. Once we got past security, we were enveloped in the warmth and joy of the sparkling trees bedazzled with fairy, blue, and green lights, various space and alien-themed decorations, greeted by celestial entertainers, and even threatened by hostile alien warning signs.

Some of these alien signs read “If You See Me, Take Me to Your LEADER” and “WARNING This Invasion is in Full Effect,” which further immersed us into the otherworldly intrigue of the festival. The weather on both nights was pretty nippy – we could see our breaths in the air and there were crowds of attendees huddled by the “ring of fire” – where there were flaming torches whose flames danced to the beat of the music. Many of the attendees were also very into the spirit of the festival, coming dressed in outfits ranging from laced rave fits to grey and clam-skinned aliens.

The production and stage design was stellar, to say the least. The Mothership, Area 51 and Nebula Stages were within Airplane-hanger-like buildings, and each one sported countless captivating lights and lasers that flashed and changed colors to the beat of the music (which is very on-brand with their theme). The stage structure provided attendees with pleasant acoustics that carried the music cleanly across the stretch of the space-time continuum. The Twilight Zone also had airplane-hanger-meets-warehouse vibes but it was completely indoor and, as the name suggests, it featured a darker vibe with thicker fog.

Finally, the Galactik Gate Stage had smoldering flames from the DJ decks to the meteorite-like objects scattered throughout the crowd area. At the turn of the year, Ray Volpe threw down an meteorite-sized bangers along with longtime friend Crankdat at the Area 51 Stage, while Porter Robinson brought all the feels on The Mothership stage as confetti was falling from above.

All in all, if you’ve never gone to Countdown, you’ve likely been living under a rock (on Earth). Countdown promises to take you on a journey through time and space and transport you to a cosmic sound and space-scape. If you’re looking for a breathtaking (or rather breath-thinning way in Space) way to ring in the New Year, look no further! Hope to see you all on the planet next doors for 2024!

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