Freaky Deaky Festival goes back to its roots in Chicago on October 26th-28th to haunt the Aragon Ballroom once more. After another a venue change and a few other bold moves in place, will fans be too spooked to attend React’s latest event?
React’s Freaky Deaky Halloween event took a giant step forward last year, moving the event from its former home (Aragon Ballroom) west to Toyota Park. This move was a massive undertaking, turning the former 1-night event into a haunted 3-day festival featuring some of the biggest names in electronic music. Headliners included the likes of Tiesto, DJ Snake, and Disclosure among others. It provided another anchor for Midwest electronic music festivals, satiating that Midwest EDM desert between the summer and New Years Eve.
Now, with what seems like a big step back, React is Abandoning Toyota Park and moving Freaky Deaky back to Chicago with two venues: The Aragon Ballroom, and Concord Music Hall. With this change, they shirk the ‘festival’ theme to re-brand as a ‘Midwest Halloween Takeover’. So what is the give-and-take here for React’s event? Freaky Deaky is now pivoting to FOUR separate cities across the Midwest, adding Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids. While this is likely a huge disappointment to the most hardcore of festivalgoers, it positions React very well for future events. They are expanding their reach to more cities in the Midwest in order to develop bigger recognition outside of the Chicago area. Growing their footprint should open the doors to more events and bigger talent down the line.
Headliners Include:
Chicago: Kayzo, Oliver Heldens, Gorgon City, Dillon Francis,
Milwaukee: Griz, Bassnectar,
Grand Rapids: Zomboy
Ann Arbor: Cash Cash,
For those of us who live in the city, this makes the event much easier to attend. That said, it will be a much smaller occasion with a lower tier of talent across the board. On paper this is a smart move for React, but will fans respect the change? It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but we predict this will be better in the end.
Take a look, here.