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The weather has not been kind to headlining acts at Summerfest 2024, and on Friday night, the skies would open up once again over Henry Maier Festival Park, inconveniently around 9:45 p.m. That was a half hour before main event DJ ISOxo would step behind his turntables, and plenty of time for the Miller Lite Oasis crowd to dissipate.
Fans found shelter via the beer stands on either side of the stage, as well as the Miller Lite Brew House until things settled down, just before the San Diego DJ took the stage. Once he did, however, the crowd started to filter back into the Oasis, ready to dance the night away in the rain.
While there was plenty of rain and the occasional bolt of lightning over the course of his 75 minute set, ISOxo brought the thunder, dropping possibly just about as much bass as the Oasis sound system (and standard human hearing) can withhold. There was no shortage of intensity, as he would build up drop after drop, only to make each hit just a little harder than the last. Up front, it was enough low end to physically rattle bodies as well as the stage infrastructure.
With a cameraman operating a DSLR that projected onto the screen behind him, it was only fitting that ISOxo moved about the stage with the swagger of a viral YouTuber. He would throw his hands in the air, and cue steam cannons on beat drops at will, and all with the aura that he not only belonged, but deserved to be the night's headliner. He would later take off his shirt and parade around the front speakers of the Oasis, confidence akin to a college student that refuses to take no for an answer.
Musically, nothing was really off limits on Friday. While the night began with heavier dubstep wobbles, snippets of everything from Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” to Chief Keef's “Love Sosa” were in the mix, albeit heavily filtered when they did appear. ISO would hype up the crowd with every popular inclusion, before knocking them over the head with even more bass and wild glitchy tweaks. It feels pertinent to say that it did at least appear that he was actively mixing his set together live on Friday, as he'd go back to a pair of headphones regularly to monitor the next part of the set. While some DJs might have a prerecorded set ready to go, there was room for improvisation should he see fit.
Meanwhile, the crowd was getting dumped on with buckets of rain, unphased. Those that chose to stick around at the Oasis had a rain-soaked rager, bouncing to every beat and chanting louder than the music at some points. The downpour only added to the atmosphere, as fans were banging their heads at the rails, and even moshing near the front of the general admission section at one point, tossing water everywhere. A little weather wasn't going to ruin anyone's night.
About 50 minutes into his barrage of bass, things kicked into overdrive. That's when ISO unloaded a sprinting medley of drum and bass tracks, arguably with the most intensity of the whole night. If you weren't moving before, you had to be as he shouted along, getting fans going at a fever pitch. Hyping up the crowd did have a setback, though, as a misstep between the speakers and the stage sent him stumbling to the stage. In the spirit of his performance to this point, he shrugged it off and continued to play to the camera on stage.
Before things were over, ISOxo would make his way offstage into the center aisle of the Oasis to get up close and personal with the sopping wet crowd. He'd close on his heaviest drum and bass moments of the night, leaving the crowd chanting for one more song. In very non-EDM fashion, he'd return to the stage and fire the sound up once again. He'd also return to the center aisle for his encore, before running back onstage to call it a night, for real this time. It never seemed like he was winding things down, however. Instead, just a hard stop after a punishing set of the heaviest bass he had in stock.
EDM is fickle in the sense that it's very easy to have a good show, but it also doesn't take much for things to go into unsaveable territory quickly. For ISOxo on Friday night, he never let the rain or a diminished crowd get to him. Instead, he raged with the most loyal of EDM fans in the middle of a torrential storm. Most importantly, he did it as if there was no other way.
