Dancing Astronaut’s Official Sunburn Goa Photo JournalSNBRN15 Goa India AJRphotos 479 12 28 15

Dancing Astronaut’s Official Sunburn Goa Photo Journal

Sunburn Goa: Dancing Astronaut's Official Photo Journal

Sunburn has become the crown jewel of dance culture in India. The hillside spectactle draws in record-setting crowds year after year – a testament to what is quite possibly the most booming market for electronic dance music in the world. The 9th edition featured over 120 artists from December 27-30. We’ve captured all the magic of four days spent at Vagator, Goa with our official Photo Journal.

Photos by Andrew J. Rauner / Words by Emilie Futterman 

The main stage at Sunburn Goa was called Empire of the Sun, and featured a woman with long flowing locks looking down upon the DJs and the crowd, which, at times, grew to 25,000 attendees.

2015 marked a big turning point for Headhunterz: he broke away from the Hardstyle genre that made him famous and began experimenting with different sounds and styles. His stylistic shift was reflected in his Day 1 set, which featured one only Hardstyle track and instead was a sporadic amalgamation of many different genres.

Sam Feldt came on the main stage just at the sun was setting on Day 1, setting the mood with a set that started out with very chill melodic house vibes and then built up energy as darkness fell.

The crowd at the main stage almost doubled for Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike’s closing set on Day 1.

If you didn’t leave with confetti in your hair, shirt, and shoes, you were doing it wrong.

Felix Jaehn performed on the same stage as David Guetta, one of his early inspirations.

Jaehn, who had a massive 2015 both in the studio and on the road, hinted that his fans can expect a steady stream of singles and collaborations in 2016, a new YouTube project where he’ll be directly interacting with fans by answering questions and reliving his favorite moments, and perhaps even an EP by the end of the year. 

Dyro’s aggressive, high energy sound on Day 2 was matched only by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Martin Garrix stopped by for a second to say hi to the fellow Dutch DJ.

Julian Jordan’s first time in Goa blew him away: “I had to give all of my energy because they were giving it all to me,” he told us.

Bassjacker’s favorite moment of 2015? Making the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list for the first time, at #39.

Seth Troxler’s mantra for 2016 is “you can always be better,” which has inspired him to take a couple months off, go to the jungle to do Ayahuasca, and come back a better person.

KSHMR celebrated his first show in India by inviting his grandfather to join him up in the booth. As Dadaji waved, the crowd yelled and danced and cheered in approval. But the best part of the moment was when KSHMR turned to his dadaji and said “Grandpa, do you remember this song?” before playing “Kajaraare,” a well-known song from a popular Bollywood film.

KSHMR’s set was paired with incredible graphic-novel-esque visuals, which told a story of a journey to Kashmir. As the set unfolded, the real story became KSHMR’s own journey to find his new identity as a beloved hero of the Indian electronic scene.

Shaan, one of Sunburn’s resident artists and a fan favorite, had two killer, packed sets over the course of the weekend, at main stage and at the Gionee Arena stage.

The Empire of the Sun stage was a massive party all weekend.

Thank you, Sunburn, for an amazing and memorable festival. See you next year! 

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