React Presents’ Halloween party Freaky Deaky has been growing steadily since its inception years ago. The former one day, then two day event has blossomed to a full 3 day Halloween themed music festival this year and with that expansion come new challenges and exciting opportunities.  The location for the festival would be Bridgeview’s Toyota Park, Home of the Chicago Fire, whose season wrapped up only a few weeks prior.

Located 12 miles southwest of Downtown Chicago, Freaky Deaky was not far from the city in terms of distance, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to get to it by car, especially Friday.  Harlem and Cumberland/1^st Ave were jam packed due to ongoing construction. Parking also seemed to be unorganized on our way in Friday.  I’m glad to report this was not an issue the rest of the weekend and leaving was an absolute breeze all 3 nights, which was nice when trying to get to the after parties.

The lineup was mainstream EDM heavy, sprinkled with some Hip/Hop and one stage (The Crypt) acting as the curated stage all weekend long to provide variety. Friday it hosted the Trance Arena, Saturday Beatport took over and Sunday Underground artists filled out the roster. This brought out different crowds each day. The stage was set in the middle of the other two (The Big Top and Shrine) and was significantly smaller, but that made the inside a nice spot to warm up as the temperatures were in the 40’s at night.

For the first time in a long while I felt like most of the artists I chose to see threw down great sets. Each of my top 5 acts to see (follow the link for the post HERE) lived up to my expectations if not blew them away, especially Bassnectar and Benny Benassi. Though I’m not a huge fan of Bassnectar at festivals because his sound is never set up right, it’s like listening to music being recorded on a phone too close to a speaker. At Freaky Deaky his sound was more balanced and therefore made his set enjoyable.  Benny Benassi blew everyone away not only with his lasers and boy was there lasers, but also his mix of old and new that got everyone in the mood.

React should really be commended for their production efforts at Freaky Deaky. The stages we’re all unique but matched the Halloween theme, pillars with statues in the center of the festival grounds would shoot out flames to the pleasure of attendees seeking heat, flame poi spinning performers turned open spaces into their stages. React also had numerous performers and dancers walking around the festival dressed up from clowns, to circus fold to even sexy Disney character (I saw you Maleficent). A few carnival rides were available for those brave enough to endure the weather conditions, the plethora of food options (all tasty by the way) were waiting for your order when you got hungry, carnival games were on hand for a change of page (I’m not so great at throwing darts) and there were NEVER lines to the port-a-potties.