Snowball Music Festival Preview

In a few short weeks, Colorado’s largest music festival will be setting up shop at The Park at Sports Authority Field at Mile High and fans of hip hop and electric dance music (EDM) from across the globe will be heading to Denver to witness it all at Snowball 2014. With four separate concert venues in the Park itself, the stage is set for three days of constant music beginning Friday, April 4th and running through Sunday the 6th. Headlined by local favorite Pretty Lights, Aussie duo Knife Party, and upstart GRiZ, as well as over 60 artists from around the world. This year’s Snowball schedule is shaping up to be one of the best installments of the event since it began in 2011.

Hailing from just up the road in Fort Collins, Derek Vincent Smith, aka Pretty Lights, is thrilled to once again make an appearance at Snowball for what will be the third time in the program’s four-year history. “I’m super excited to let people know that I will be performing with renowned turntablist Chris Karns and hip hop drummer extraordinaire Adam Deitch!” he announced on his Facebook page Wednesday, claiming the festival will “be a journey back to my hip hop and production roots.” Smith, whose main event will begin Saturday night at 8:40 on the Snowball Main Stage, also gave fans a small taste of what they can expect from his performance in the same Facebook post, claiming that some of the tracks and remixes he has in store “will make this show super banging and incredibly unique.” In addition to his Saturday evening set, Pretty Lights will appear on stage again on Sunday night in the Groove Tent with several friends from the Pretty Lights Music record label at Snowball’s first ever PLM party.

Making their Snowball debut this year is Knife Party, a DJ tandem from Australia that has only been around since 2011, but have quickly become one of the top performers in today’s EDM scene. Snowball will mark the team’s first return to the United States for quite some time, as they have been busy performing for sold-out venues across Australia and the United Kingdom. Despite being one of the biggest names coming to Denver for the festival, the duo has remained rather quiet about the event, only posting a single tweet about having “a few days off to recoup” after their most recent Australian tour before coming to the U.S. Quiet or not, Knife Party’s extraordinary success and rise in popularity over the last few years should have fans flocking to Mile High to witness them take the main Snowball Stage at 9:30 on Friday night.

The final headliner to make an appearance at Snowball this year is Duke Silver, better known as GRiZ. Relatively new to the EDM and hip hop scene but rising fast, the 23-year old Detroit native is definitely enjoying his growing success and stated via Facebook how he is “proud to be able to headline this year’s Snowball music fest with the good homie Pretty Lights and Knife Party!!” As with most other performers and fans alike, he is thrilled for the event’s move to Mile High this year, explaining that “having a festival outside in the heart of Denver is going to be a special celebration. Can’t wait to…fill the night sky with beautiful music!” GRiZ will get to do just that on Sunday evening at 9:45 on the Snowball Stage, where he will close out 2014’s Snowball festivities with the final performance of the event.

In addition to the headliners, over 60 talented artists from around the globe will be at Snowball spreading their music and entertaining fans. Included among these are the Floozies, Mimosa, Brother Ali, Busta Rhymes, and Afroman to name just a few. Although most of these 60 artists share the genres of hip hop or EDM, the level of variety and uniqueness between each and every one is what will make Snowball 2014 a great experience for anyone who attends. With so many distinct styles of music on display all weekend long, the options are virtually limitless for how one can choose to experience and enjoy Snowball.