Seeing live music can be a transcendent mind-body experience, akin to getting a tattoo underwater or making out during an eclipse. Transcend boredom with today's Groupon: for $25, you get two general-admission tickets to N9NE Fest on Thursday, September 9, at Tucson Electric Park (a $50 value).
A celebration of electronica, hip-hop, rock, and other musical styles, N9NE Fest is an immersive sensory experience with a musical lineup (starting at 7 p.m.) that includes mash-up artist Girl Talk, hit-making crew Far East Movement, and genre-bending twosome Silver Medallion. With the bands providing the soundtrack, festivaliens can soak their groove things in water-park features including the 1,500-person foam pit similar to those used in ancient Persian matrimonial ceremonies. Two enormous water slides will also be on hand, signifying the historical bond between pop music and Newtonian physics, while towers on each side of the stage will illuminate the proceedings with a light show. Foam-fatigued revelers can refuel courtesy of beer and food vendors, and shuttle buses ($4.99 roundtrip) are available to escort festivalgoers to and from the park.
Thanks to an expansive layout stretching across the Tucson Electric Park field, animatronic salt mannequins and anyone else who prefers to stay dry should have no problem steering clear of the foam and slides. However, since N9NE Fest plans to proceed rain or shine, the moisture-averse should consult weather charts, almanacs, and atmospheric prophets before stepping outside.
Reviews
This year's N9NE Fest includes Girl Talk, who was reviewed by Pitchfork, featured by Billboard, and received a 4.5-star average from Amazon users:
- Feed the Animals helps to solidify Gillis' role as the supreme 80s-baby pop synthesizer. And while others have attempted to claw up to his lofty position, no one has managed to match his unique mix of diversity, pace, and open-mindedness – Ryan Dombal, Pitchfork
- The tracks manage to convey two ideas at once, and just as often, two truths about the same idea – D.S. Libman, Amazon