San Diego is a small paradise. With constantly sunny weather, gorgeous beach towns, great food, and just a short car ride to LA, San Diego seemed to have it all, except for one thing. The music festival scene was nowhere to be found. Until now. Debuting this past weekend, CRSSD Festival was held at downtown’s Waterfront Park and harbored 3 stages worth of music performances over three days. The concept that an electronic music festival could be laid-back seemed absolutely foreign to many, but this weekend proved those people wrong. CRSSD essentially executed a dream festival by providing a safe venue with a gorgeous water view, enough room to walk without the fear of being trampled, accessible food and water stands, water fountains to cool down in, exceptional cell service, and of course, a lineup that focused solely on underground house music – a rarity in America’s festival scene.

Drawing in a sell-out crowd of 15,000 attendees, the open-air party featured an all- star line up. Standout acts included Lido, Empire of the Sun, Odesza, Pleasure State, Slow Magic, Tensnake, Goldroom, George Maple, Robert Delong, Bixel Boys B2B Viceroy, Jamie Jones B2B Seth Troxler, Chromeo, and James Murphy. CRSSD’s first attempt at throwing an event blew all expectations out of the water for a festival of this nature. Not many promotions companies would risk throwing a primarily underground festival in the midst of America’s most abundant region for dance music festivals, and its commendable that FNGRS CRSSD and Goldenvoice took that plunge. At the end of the day, festivals of this size need to be successful monetarily, and putting all of one’s eggs into the basket of underground house is a somewhat risky venture in a country still very much under the  spell of mainstream EDM. Never the less, the gamble paid off, and in hindsight, CRSSD has proved that a festival with no mainstream headliners can thrive in California.