Five takeaways from the first Jawbreaker Festival
The promoters of the inaugural Jawbreaker Festival in Milwaukee this weekend probably had to break the bank to lock up this lineup.
The ambitious two-day EDM bash at the Wisconsin Center boasted Zedd, one of the pre-eminent pop-crossover producers, as its big name Saturday, rounding out the bill with established EDM stars Griz and Louis the Child on night one.
It was enough for Billboard to spotlight the fest as one of America’s top Halloween weekend bashes.
That’s a solid place to start for a first-year festival, and with what looked to be between 5,000 and 7,000 largely satisfied customers Saturday night, Jawbreaker set down a pretty strong foundation for a potential year two.
(It also may have persuaded some festgoers to come back to the Wisconsin Center New Year’s Eve for another major new EDM party, Radiance, featuring Excision and Zed’s Dead.)
Here are five takeaways from night one. (Night two, Sunday, had a scheduled lineup including Odesza plus RL Grime and Slumberjack.)
An unconventional venue: The convention center is a sterile, formal setting for something like this. But the promoters were prepared, with probably twice as many security lines as they needed, keeping the crowd flowing smoothly and allowing plenty of time for thorough checks.
And inside the main venue, they did a bang-up job, with seven video screens, an arsenal of lights, a thumping sound system, and a stark warehouse feel. Right outside, there was some live art and a second stage with its own trippy video production.
The crowd completed the vibe with their costumes, including superheroes, unicorns, and several bros dressed like Rick and Morty, the stars of the cult cartoon series co-created by Milwaukee native Dan Harmon.
Zedd pops: More than most EDM Alisters, Zedd’s got a great ear for a hook, evident by his recurring appearances on the Billboard Hot 100.
So pop songs were naturally a cornerstone of his set, although the results weren’t always so inspired.
Often, he merely dropped familiar lyrics or riffs — the opening lines to “The Time of My Life,” Jack White’s immortal guitar riff for “Seven Nation Army” — triggering waves of nostalgia ahead of basic bass drops.
Other times, he let whole songs or large sections of songs play with minimal reinterpretation, including Daft Punk’s “One More Time,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” and his own “The Middle.”
But whatever the effort, Zedd consistently got the same result — a nonstop 75-minute dance party, where at times even the floor underneath the jumping masses bounced to the beat.
Child’s play: This was a Halloween fest, but Louis the Child was the only act Saturday that dressed up for the occasion, with each half of the duo making up one half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Like a PBJ, the DJs went well together, but their set Saturday was far more exotic and flavorful than their costumes would suggest. Compared to Zedd, Louis the Child carved out more breathing space for unexpected textures, whether it was the bubbling animalistic beats best likened to an intergalactic jungle, or the way vibrating bass lines reverberated over a deconstructed remix of Chance the Rapper’s “All Night.”
Yet for all the creative touches, Louis the Child still put on a show, dancing atop the mixing station and surfing over the crowd.
Griz returns: The Wisconsin Center also hosted an EDM festival last Halloween weekend, Freaky Deaky, at which one of the headliners was Griz. (Freaky Deaky’s also in town this weekend, but at the Rave.)
On Saturday, Griz was back at the Wisconsin Center, this time to play the final Jawbreaker slot. Featuring live sax, it was a warm-up of sorts for Odesza on Sunday, who are admired for having a drum line and horn section at their shows. But while Odesza uses live instruments to enhance their cinematic sound, Griz’s smooth sax bursts Saturday served as a fresh contrast to his thumping electronic funk.
Local love: To kick things off Saturday, the Jawbreaker team turned to EDM acts in our own backyard — Crystal Knives and duo RCKT PWR — who proved they could stand tall alongside the more established, better-known acts on the bill.
Not that either Milwaukee act are amateurs: Crystal Knives has several tracks on Spotify with streams in the six digits, and RCKT PWR has headlined scores of shows at the Miramar Theatre and other local venues. But both acts relished getting to play a large-scale event.