Body Language Festival at Downtown Tempe

Genre(s): House, Techno

Venue: 5th St. & Maple Ave, Downtown Tempe, Phoenix, AZ

Date: March 4-6 2022

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Venue

Body Language was initially planned to be located at Rawhide in Phoenix, AZ, but was relocated to a street near ASU and Sunbar in downtown Phoenix. The natural street lights interfered with the lighting from the stages, which slightly ruined the experience. The temperature outside was somewhat chilly and dampened the experience. However, the size of the venue was large enough to hold enough people to keep warm.

The Artists

I was excited to see my favorite musician among the line-up, Patrick Topping. He played a perfect house set and his biggest hit, “Be Sharp Say Nowt,” as his encore song. However, playing at the smaller stage (Labyrinth) surprised me, and I still think he should have got the main stage.

Malaa’s set was inspiring and wonderful. His house style is more mainstream and popular. Malaa always wears a full-face mask that leaves fans in mystery. After experiencing his live set, the mystery of the mask and the cigarette lighting make his show more exciting and fun. Compared to other DJs played that day, he has a unique and memorable persona thanks to his extraordinary music, mysterious mask, and needing to smoke cigarettes.

Kaskade headlined Friday night and was spectacular. The other stages closed early to direct attention towards the main stage. Kaskade’s music was not as energetic as I expected for the headliner. Kaskade was a thriving DJ when the progressive house was famous ten years ago. He has been trying to adapt to the current trend of house music but is not quite there yet.

Reviewer Name: Soo Kim, Branden Gosse