CRSSD Proper NYE/NYD: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There was a lot of hype surrounding Proper NYE/NYD this year. I’ve heard only great things about this festival and 2024 seemed like a perfect year to go considering just how great the lineup was. Unfortunately, the positives of this festival did not outweigh the negatives.

Let’s start with the good. Make no mistake, Proper absolutely crushed it with this year’s lineup. The best set of the entire festival was Kaskade (Redux). Despite being a few minutes late to this set, Kaskade made the most of the hour he was given and had the crowd completely sucked in. Every single person around me was dancing and he ended on such a high note leading into Dom Dolla’s closing set. Other sets that stood out to me were Layton Giordani’s set on night 1 and Lane 8 & Sultan + Shepard on night 2.

While this festival had many flaws, the greatest issue it faced was stage layout. Getting from stage to stage was nearly impossible and at times, was very dangerous. They had people cutting through narrow hallways, having to squeeze through lots of people to get through. The Field, which was the main stage, was at capacity for the majority of the festival. People were hopping over the fences to get onto the main stage, often getting tackled by security. It felt like I was at 18 again at Rolling Loud. I didn’t get to explore the festival nearly as much as I wanted to as my group feared that we wouldn’t be able to get back to the Field. Another major issue with this festival was the line to get in. I waited over an hour on the first day and nearly 2.5 hours on the second day, missing sets that I really wanted to see.

The Proper afters did not disappoint, with Boys Noize and Patrick Topping blowing the roof off of an intimate San Diego club the first night, and with Dom Dolla joining Cassian for a surprise B2B on the second night. The energy in the crowd when Dom Dolla came on stage was infectious. It was an incredible experience and the set was nearly perfect, with Dom Dolla saying that this was his “first back to back with Cassian in over 10 years”.

Overall, despite its great moments, Proper NYE/NYD was nothing to write home about. The disastrous stage layout makes it hard for me to want to return next year. This year’s lineup was the festival’s saving grace, but I don’t recommend going to this festival unless some serious logistical changes are made before NYE 2025.

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