By the students, for the students of Central Washington University

The Observer

By the students, for the students of Central Washington University

The Observer

By the students, for the students of Central Washington University

The Observer

Scene: Black Out Tour hosted by Craze Entertainment kicks off in Ellensburg

BY EVAN THOMPSONOnline Editor

Jan. 17 was a colder night than most, but inclement weather wasn’t about to stop the rave from going down.

Craze Entertainment rolled through Central Washington University last Friday for its first stop on their “Black Out Tour,” an electronic music dance party featuring local Washington DJ’s.

The event was held at the Kittitas Valley Event Center from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Experienced ravers, first-time attendees and anyone left in between entered for a night packed full of pounding bass and thumping hearts.

“I had a really good time just dancing around and just going with whatever (the DJ’s) would play,” junior clinical physiology major, Alex Kim, said. “It would have been nice if the night had been warmer, but hey, it is January, and I still want to rave here and there.”

All attention was driven to the colorful LED lasers and lights and 30,000 watts of bass, which dominated the event center with shakes and rumbles. Go-go dancers surrounded the DJ stand on both sides, located at the far end of the room.

Johnny Monsoon, best-known for filling opening slots at large festivals such as Paradiso and FreakNight, was the main attraction of the night.

DJ PowerUp, Seattle-based duo BL3R and Ellensburg local DJ Zeekenex rounded out the night, all performing in their own signature styles.

“Craze Entertainment was very professional, promotion could have been better,” said Toby Froelich, also known as Zeekenex. “I performed great and felt like the whole event was a true test of my abilities as a DJ.”

Monsoon, who recently headlined in front of thousands at USC Event’s Resolution 2014, played a two hour set.

“I was pretty excited to see Monsoon because I’d seen him put on a good show at Resolution filling in for A&B” junior political science major Kyle James said. “Even though I was getting pretty tired near the end, he made it worth my legs being dead tired.”

Monsoon, whose real name is Johnny Reinyns, attended Eastside Catholic High School in Seattle. Monsoon kept true to his reputation for playing trance music, but also threw in some hard-hitting electro house tracks that kept the dance floor rhythm pumping.

“I’m actually hoping more events like this will be thrown in Ellensburg,” James said. “I think the EDM scene is definitely rising in Ellensburg.”

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