Excision Presents' Thunderdome comes booming back to the Pacific North West

After a nearly 2 -year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, Excision Presents brought back a weekend of ground-rattling bass music to the Seattle area with the iconic "Thunderdome" event. While notably smaller than the producer's world-class festivals like Lost Lands and Bass Canyon, the two-night show did not fail to impress as the Excision team’s mind-blowing audio-visual production quite literally blew the night away! Crowds of headbangers from all over the US West and beyond gathered in the Tacoma Dome to let loose as renowned artists like Liquid Stranger, Kompany, Bear Grillz and Excision himself flooded the venue with rumbling bass and hard-hitting beats on February 4th and 5th.

I’ll admit I don’t consider myself a devout headbanger by nature. As a genre floater, I may otherwise skip over bass-heavy lineups in favor of a more diverse scene when scouting upcoming festivals; nonetheless, the Thunderdome experience ultimately showed me what keeps me coming back to Excision Presents' productions again and again. Bass music is an immersive experience…this genre is all about feeling and expressing energy that taps into a deeply primal place within. As such, the best way to really appreciate it is live, in a crowd, with a production capable of stimulating all of one’s senses. These elements all came together in perfect unison under the roof of the Tacoma Dome, and let me tell you, it's an experience very well worth embracing!

Music

The 2 -day lineup featured many heavy-hitters in the bass scene. Night one delivered high energy sets from Jeanie, Calcium who played back-to-back with Yookie, Bear Grills, 12th Planet and of course Excision himself. Scheduled lineup artist Riot Ten was unable to perform his b2b set with Blunts & Blondes due to a flight delay, but Blunts & Blondes nonetheless delivered a saucy solo set featuring funky reggae- inspired vibes and plenty of grimy drops. With much anticipation, the crowd cheered as Excision brought on his signature dazzling laser light show and heavy beats to close out the night. As if to make a statement, the bass itself cut out about 30 minutes into the set, right as the beat dropped during the famed “Gold” track featuring Illenium. At this point, I couldn't help but laugh— leave it to Excision to literally blow out the bass! Despite the mishap, crews were thankfully able to get the show back on track before the end of the night.

The night two lineup featured producers Frances Derelle, Ray Volpe, Hesh, who played b2b with Bommer, Dion Timer who played b2b with Kompany, ATliens, Wakaan label founder Liquid Stranger and Excision for the closing set. Saturday delivered my personal favorite highlights from the festival: ATliens performed unreleased music which featured some experimental liquid-bass style sounds. Liquid Stranger threw down with downtempo beats and debuted some unreleased tracks by Ravenscoon & G Rex , and Tvboo also appeared as a special guest to perform he and Liquid’s new song collab with Subtronics. Paired with the set, Liquid Stranger’s psychedelic on-screen visuals created an out-of-this-world vibe! Excision again closed out the night with almost 90 minutes of eye-dazzling laser light shows and signature bone rattling beats.

On the Dance Floor

The boom of the bass music scene in the Pacific Northwest and beyond was evident as ever at Thunderdome. While the event drew in a significant hometown following, I encountered people who traveled across the country from the likes of New Orleans, New York and Canada to attend the event. Being a single-stage event, moving around and finding space was relatively easy amidst the high turn-out crowd . Although I heard a few mentions of encounters with rude people, my general experience in the crowd was positive: I didn’t witness excessive pushing & shoving, “excuse me, please and thank you” could be heard throughout crowded spaces, spirits were high and people just seemed eager to soak up the music (definitely understandable after almost 2 years of hibernating!) While I personally didn't make any kandi trades (which is a blasphemy for me), I caught a glimpse of some kandi-crafting masterpieces including several totem-sized perlers! A minor criticism I would mention is a lack of “chillout” spaces to retreat to if you needed to take a break from the noise, however the bleacher seating provided a nice space to kick back and get off your feet while enjoying a great view of the stage.

Production and the Venue

As far as production goes, the Tacoma dome provided a great space for the event. Aside from the bass briefly cutting out during Excision’s set on Friday night, you could enjoy great sound quality throughout the venue, and the dome’s circular open-space layout ensured that you could catch a good view of the stage from just about anywhere. Merch stands and refreshments could be found near the bleacher area towards the back of the dancefloor, and the venue also featured a care stand where you could stock up on free water bottles, ear plugs, and other necessities. Supplies began to run low by the end of Saturday night, but my crew and I were thankfully able to find everything we needed throughout the night. If you wanted to grab a boozy drink, you had to contend with quite a wait as the line to the bar area got pretty long. Patrons were also required to stay within a roped-off space to finish their drinks before being permitted to re-enter the crowd.

The Tacoma Dome maintains rather strict security guidelines, which means attendees had to work with a long list of banned items. As a flow artist, I personally felt disappointed when I learned that flow toys and LED props would not be allowed in the venue. Nonetheless, I did spot a few flow props in the crowd once inside despite this. The Dome also did not allow hydration packs inside, which made bottled water the main hydration option besides a small drinking fountain near the bathrooms. This created quite a bit of congestion near the bathroom lines, which also got pretty lengthy.

Overall

Despite a few logistical inconveniences, I came away with a positive impression of the event overall. For me, the selling point of the experience came down to production. As far as indoor shows go, Thunderdome really does deliver— Excision Presents has really stepped up their game in recent years, and for all you laser junkies out there, I’d say the light shows make this one worth putting on your list!

I would say Thunderdome sits comfortably in the middle of my “would return-to” list of events. Being located near a big city, the show proved fairly easy to plan for and travel to, which makes it a great option for single-night attendees, solo ravers or anyone looking to travel light. Additionally, what’s great about the event taking place in February is that it provides a nice treat during the winter slow season. It gets pretty gloomy here in the PNW during the cold months, so a local “getaway'' during this time is a huge pick-me-up!

I’m definitely curious to see what’s to come of the event in the future. See you there!

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