With a festival the size of Spring Awakening-a three-day EDM blowout at Soldier Field, returning Friday through Sunday-it's understandable that people get overwhelmed. Between the beer lines, the bathroom situation and people randomly hula-hooping all over the place, when is a respectable young Chicagoan supposed to get some quality dancing time in? Lucky for you, we've scheduled out the optimum Spring Awakening 2014 schedule for maximum raging, whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours to move it.
5 minutes: DJ Snake (5:30 p.m. Friday at Bud Light Platinum stage)
Consider this your pre-game to a night of madness. Make no mistake; we are here for "Turn Down for What" and "Turn Down for What" only. Yes, the super popular hit isn't a Lil Jon song. It was actually a creation of this French DJ.
30 minutes: Destroid (7 p.m. Friday at Equinox stage)
A live dubstep band that makes music that sounds like cyborgs gargling aluminum foil in outfits that resemble the final boss from a video game that only exists in your nightmares? Come for the visual spectacle of the group, but be ready to move along shortly afterward for your own sanity.
1 hour: Diplo (9 p.m. Saturday at Equinox stage)
This guy is ubiquitous at major festivals, EDM-focused or not. Hang for a bit to hear his remixes of whatever popular songs are out now and his work as a member of DJ collective Major Lazer.
2 hours: A-Trak (8:30 p.m. Friday at the Hangar, 5:15 p.m. Saturday at Bud Light Platinum stage)
Split your time up for two full hours of A-Trak goodness. Expect a ton of Duck Sauce material (he's one-half of the DJ duo) and tunes from his Fool's Gold Records family (including Danny Brown, Flosstradamus, Run the Jewels).
5 hours: 2:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hangar stage
You might want to stretch before undertaking a 5-hour dance party. Saturday afternoon you'll have a dynamite soundtrack provided by a local house music legend (Derrick Carter, 5:30 p.m.), a BBC Radio 1 hosts (Pete Tong, 6:30 p.m.) and one of the hardest working DJs in Chicago right now, regardless of style (Zebo, 3:30 p.m.)
All night: Sunday night
It's the last night of the fest, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook for party duty. Start with Moombahton pioneer Dillon Francis (7:30 p.m. at Equinox stage), head to see the unpredictable Steve Aoki (8:30 p.m. at Bud Light Platinum stage) and end the night with some progressive house from Kaskade (9:30 p.m. at Bud Light Platinum stage).
All weekend:
Do you seriously need a suggestion? If your main goal for the weekend is to twerk yourself into oblivion, put on some neon, stay hydrated and have a great time!
Spring Awakening Music Festival, 3 p.m. Fri., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. at Soldier Field. $95 per day; 3-day passes sold out.
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