\n\n\n\n
10. Cercle’s 2020 Lineup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cercle<\/a>\u2019s video production has carried its own distinctive style, which has become almost instantly recognizable. Their projects are built upon a common goal of sharing remarkable electronic music in unique, breathtaking locations reaching all corners of the world. In 2020, Cercle showcased their most ambitious projects yet, including Lee Burridge<\/a> off the shores of Bali, ZHU<\/a> in Japan\u2019s snow-capped mountains, Ben B\u00f6hmer <\/a>floating through the Turkish skies in a hot air balloon and most recently, S\u00e9bastien L\u00e9ger<\/a> in front of Egypt\u2019s Great Pyramids. Cercle\u2019s sleek and explorative work has shined exceptionally this year, becoming one of the most sought-after mediums to capture an artist’s creative vision and amplify it to the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shout out to SOFI TUKKER, who have masterfully championed the livestream game this year. Since the first lockdown in early April, the bubbly dance-pop duo joined Twitch and started playing daily hour-long sets for their dedicated “Freak Fam,” and haven\u2019t stopped since. By the end of the year, they\u2019ll be approaching one of their most unique milestones, capping in at more than a staggering 300 livestreams to round out 2020. Among the duo’s numerous releases this year was their chart-topping collaboration \u201cHouse Arrest\u201d with Gorgon City<\/a>, remixes for friends like Dillon Francis and their first-ever live, interactive e-concert experience, bringing an unparalleled virtual aspect to their live music production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As one of this genre’s foremost cultural tastemakers, Kaskade<\/a> has always been one to set the bar\u2014and set it high. In typical Kaskade fashion, his once-in-a-lifetime livestream event for Coca-Cola’s 60 Days of Music certainly followed suit. As the first artist ever to station at the Grand Canyon’s Skywalk West, the esteemed producer was tracked by multiple cameras, bestowing fans with a full view of the immaculate landscape of one of the Wonders of the World. Ushering forth enticing and ethereal house beats during the height of the pandemic, Kaskade brought life to millions of viewers worldwide with this top-notch performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michelle Obama at your music festivals? Sign us up. Lollapalooza has always hosted a wide array of nonmusical experiences in addition to a variety of musical genres at their annual event. This has differentiated the festival brand for years, and their 2020 virtual rendition was no exception. The festival curated a stellar lineup of artists to perform live in addition to featuring reruns of artist performances from years past. Lolla2020 also invited a variety of tastemakers ranging from Ms. Obama to Charles Reagan, giving a completely new dynamic to live streamed musical events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Normally we look to festival giant Insomniac for events the world over throughout the entire year. As dance music’s most formidable events lynchpin, all eyes were on Pasquale Rotella and company to help guide us through a gutted events calendar, and Insomniac more than delivered. With consistent weekly programming, digitized renditions of existing major events properties, a trove of recorded performances, park ‘n rave events, and a hopeful outlook for 2021 with the announcement of new upcoming (hopefully) in-person events, Insomniac kept us raving in our living rooms all year, earning a deserved spot on this list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If there’s one thing virtual concerts did this year, it’s raising global awareness of the “Metaverse”\u2014a virtual world where people connect via avatars. In a way, it’s always existed within online gaming, however, 2020 brought this universe into the spotlight and the music industry quickly moved in. Early on, Travis Scott’s 2020 Fortnite performance<\/a> proved to a historic event for the virtual landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concert, titled “Astronomical” as an ode to 2018’s ASTROWORLD<\/em>, reeled in over 12 million concurrent Fortnite players who were mesmerized by Scott transforming into a cyborg, submerging the stage under water, and bringing out Kid Cudi<\/a> for a surprise debut of their new project “THE SCOTTS.” Scott uploaded the full concert<\/a> to his YouTube channel, which has more than 114 million views to date. This was a record-breaking event for Epic Games, and planted the seed for follow up performances from Diplo<\/a>, Deadmau5<\/a>, Anderson .Paak<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fact: Dillon Francis<\/a> really doesn\u2019t give a f*ck or shit. So much so that when COVID-19 cancelled this year\u2019s festival season, he took things into his own hands. Francis hit the drawing board and invited Dancing Astronaut<\/em> to co-host his three-day IDGAFOS<\/a> Weekend livestream festival. Held over the Memorial Day weekend, viewers were privy to sets from top-tier talent like Diplo, Aluna<\/a>, SOFI TUKKER<\/a>, and Party Favor<\/a>, crafty cool-down vinyl sessions hosted by Billy Zane, and a rare performance from Francis\u2019 long-time confidante Gerald. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On May 9, more than 4 million people around the world tuned into Porter Robinson\u2019s<\/a> Secret Sky<\/a> experience. The digital event, which served as the follow-up to the festival\u2019s 2019 in-person debut<\/a>, spanned over a total of 14 hours of music from 19 unique acts whose talents were put on display and helped amass more than $100,000 in donations in support of the MusiCares Relief Fund<\/a>. Virtually equipped with a fully automated performance auditorium, attendees were able to digitally interact with their festival surroundings, including merchandise booths, a main stage, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, Robinson opened the event with a throwback electro-house style performance under the moniker of DJ Potaro, for 30 minutes fans were able to reminisce upon the sound which originally emerged the artist back in the early 2010s. The artist showcase proceeded to be filled in by the likes of Madeon<\/a>, Jai Wolf<\/a>, Shadient<\/a>, San Holo<\/a>, GRRL<\/a>, WAVEDASH<\/a> and G Jones<\/a> among others. The event\u2019s most anticipated performance from Porter Robinson set social media ablaze throughout his 72-minute performance as it hosted 250,000 concurrent viewers while Porter went everywhere from a \u201cSomething Comforting\u201d versus \u201cSad Machine\u201d mashup<\/a> to a Lil B personal freestyle<\/a> to an Avril Lavigne vs. \u201cLanguage\u201d edit<\/a> to an unreleased single<\/a> from Nurture<\/em><\/a>. Relive Porter Robinson\u2019s historic Secret Sky virtual festival here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While certainly not downplaying any of the virtual events that had taken place in the weeks preceding Digital Mirage<\/a>, the electronic music world, and the industry music at large, had next to zero inclination as to what the future held for live entertainment at the end of March. Deciding to take the digital leap and test the airwaves, Proximity<\/a> partnered up alongside Brownies & Lemonade<\/a> to round up an A-list registry of names of everyone from Kaskade<\/a> to Alison Wonderland<\/a> for three back-to-back days of dance music. With the world quarantining at home as details surrounding an uncertain pandemic came in by the hour, it felt like everyone was watching, and considering how many times Digital Mirage or a performing artist was trending on Twitter, everyone was. Digital Mirage had no festival-grade production setups or world-class visual effects, artists simply found a way to set up a stream from the comfort of their homes and brought electronic music back to its roots. Although there were certainly a fair share of virtual events that had their moments, nothing seemed to eclipse the emotions felt during the first Digital Mirage, which ended up raising more than $300,000 for Sweet Relief Musicians Fund<\/a>. Eight months and three Digital Mirage iterations later, it\u2019s clear that without Proximity and Brownies & Lemonade firmly establishing the online tone for what live entertainment would become in the months that would follow, virtual festivals may not have filled the gap as well as they did during 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether it is the size, the production quality, or the lineup of artists, Tomorrowland<\/a> is for the most part, unmatched year after year. When the festival made the decision to go online, the brand could have chosen to match the production quality that had become a relative industry standard for virtual events, or they could redefine what those standards were. In true Tomorrowland fashion, organizers opted for “larger than life” and got to work. The Tomorrowland masterminds created the virtual world of P\u0101pili\u014dnem that hosted performances by over 60 artists across eight stages. Viewers were immersed into an entirely new world that took a combination of four separate studios, 38 digital cameras, and over 300 terabytes of raw footage to piece together into its final production. Dimitri Vegas<\/a> sums up Tomorrowland Around The World<\/a> when he says, \u201cThis is not a livestream. It\u2019s something totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Featured image: Jamie Mccarthy \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Events were forced to go digital this year, but that doesn’t mean they had to sacrifice an ounce of quality. ","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":369213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12203,9],"tags":[28010,41277,49481,46532,35251,290,94,34440,2835,133,4625,35385,35244,46852,37732,195,17637,46931,13104],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/maxresdefault-700x394.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n9. Sofi Tucker’s consistent livestreams<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
8. Kaskade’s 60 Days of Music performance at the Grand Canyon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/EYF0PXLWsAA8zMC-700x538.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n7. Lollapalooza’s Lolla2020<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
6. Insomniac’s digital programming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
5. Astronomical by Travis Scott in Fortnite<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/travis-scott-fortnite-700x467.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n4. Dillon Francis Presents: IDGAFOS Weekend <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/DrCnzI6VYAETkbu-700x467.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n3. Porter Robinson’s Secret Sky<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-17-at-11.00.50-AM-700x393.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n2. Digital Mirage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Tomorrowland Around The World <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dancing](\"https:\/\/dancingastronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/4qlvfze44mgbfrrcuhmb2q-1-1-700x394.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n