Nocturnal Wonderland Was Not Nocturnal, Was Wonderful

Photo by Life After Dusk

West Coast denizens of Rave-istan, many still working through the credit card debt and trimester long comedowns resulting from EDC, dusted off their furry boots and kandi masks last weekend for another installment of Insomniac's most inappropriately named event, Nocturnal Wonderland (it ends at 2AM).

The programming was back-to-basics Insomniac, favoring niche rave genres over stadium headliners and was noticeably light on Swedes. Alice's House focused on a tech-house vibe and the Queen's Ground blasted strictly bass music. The two larger stages spanned all ends of the electronic spectrum, featuring everything from big room mainstays Markus Schulz and Bingo Player(s) to drunkstep provocateurs Krewella and living trance lord Dash Berlin.

The first Nocturnal took place in 1995, making it the longest-running Insomniac event and just about as old as the youngest kandi kid in the house. This year saw a significant downsizing, with two days being cut to one and several stages nixed. That didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits and somewhere around the amnesty box I met this guy:

Photo by Leeann Edyvane THUMP: I'll get to the point. You're aware that you look very much like Steve Aoki.
I get it every day.

Is this something you go for, or just something that… happened?
I was like, who the fuck is that? I always wanted to see how I'd look with a moustache… so I grew one out and was like, "Damn, I really do look like Steve Aoki."