Goldrush turned up the HEAT

Gold Rush Music Festival took place at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, AZ on October 7th-8th, 2023. Overcoming a collapsed stage just a month prior, the Relentless Beats team were able to create a whole new main stage for their fall events just in time for the festival to start, an impressive feat. Artists bringing the heat to the already scorching desert included Zeds Dead, Madeon, Zhu, Louis the Child, ATLiens and more.

There were five stages at this year’s Gold Rush which allowed the showcase of talented artists across all genres. Paradise Prairie was this year’s main stage, which was built in just a few weeks after a September dust/thunder storm had collapsed the megastructure planned to be used for this event. Moonrise Mountain, located on the other side of the festival, was sponsored by Beatbox and considered to be the second main stage, or the bass stage, depending on who you talked to. Coyote Cove was a barn-like structure located indoors, in between Paradise Prairie and Moonrise Mountain. Coyote Cover had air conditioning and lasers that made it feel like its own nightclub, hosting some major house and techno talent for the weekend. Across from Coyote Cove was the aerīz Sound Cabin art car and the flav Cowboy Corral silent disco. Sound Cabin included up and coming talent and the Cowboy Corral hosted some heavy hitting local talent.

The music had the crowd going both nights with Gold Rush’s stacked line up. Night 1 proved hot girls love house music because Nostalgix delivered a bumping bass house set to set the tone for what the rest of the night would bring. Kayzo also played an Unleased set, bringing his normally bass heavy set to life with a full band. Will Clarke also brought the house down in Coyote Cove, bringing the groovy beats to the barn. Louis the Child brought back their Playground set to the mainstage which had everyone in their feels. Tiesto, ATLiens and Cloonee all closed out the night, and each brought the heat to the desert (depending on how you wanted to end the night, we caught a little bit of each and loved the end of Day 1).

Day 2 had many music juggernauts, including a fastly emerging Hamdi to bring his multi genre sound to main stage. Madeon played one of his last Good Faith shows for the foreseeable future and was one of the best sets of the whole weekend. Zeds Dead and Ben Bohmer playing at the same time was criminal, but going to both allowed for the ultimate house and bass mix we needed. Zhu closed out the festival with his sexy deeper house sound which was a great way to end the festival.

Besides the music there were a lot of great sponsors and merch booths. Placed directly in the middle of the festival, the merch booths sure had us entertained. One of our friends bought her first ever pashmina at the Moon Lvnding, Kandi’s World had a body painting booth and festival essentials to last the whole weekend (and more). We really enjoyed Beat Box to keep us going throughout the weekend and Terpy Tea, a hibiscus tea you could choose to spike if you were over 21 years of age. You could roller skate in the middle of the festival and there were beautiful photo op displays all around the venue.

This festival felt like a space cowboy’s dream. It was quite hot, even being in October, so it felt like a true western movie. Getting there early each day allowed for minimal traffic, but with only two entrances there was a bit of traffic leaving each night. We felt welcome in the AZ crowd and loved the music we did get to see. Overall, Gold Rush did feel a little small, but we felt right at home and would go back again next year!