Mamby on The Beach: No Frills and Tech House Thrills

When it comes to music festivals in the city of Chicago, real estate is crowded. The Midwestern metropolis currently has the megalithic Lollapolooza, its younger sibling North Coast, giant indie meetup Pitchfork, and the dance-focused summer tentpole, Spring Awakening, which turns Soldier Field into an untz-opolis every June. While it wasn't a festival, last week even the Grateful Dead invaded the city as they made old hippies and historically conscious kids cry tie-dye tears for their Fare Thee Well career finale.

So if you find yourself a festival promoter scratching your neon hard hat in pondering of how to present a new event in what's already a heavily occupied live music city, you'd probably think—bigger is better, right? For Mamby on the Beach, which brought its debut to the sandy shores of Chicago's Oakwood Beach, July 11 and 12, the approach towards festival coup d'état was fueled by a very different, more humble approach.

Presented by SFX-owned React Presents, who throws Spring Awakening and operates a number of dance clubs and parties around the city, Mamby was staged on one of Chicago's many stretches of sand nestled upon Lake Michigan, a hop, skip, and jump from the city's downtown. Bike racks would flank the festival's humble main gates, and upon entry, attendees were greeted by rustic-looking wooden passageways, a couple of small henna-huts, and unfortunately steady light rain. Upon exit of the spongy grass boulevard came the beach, an actual beach with actual sand that would contain the event's three stages: the Main Stage, a simple hub for the festival's live acts, The Tent, a quite large (but infantile compared to the the wrath of an EDC or Ultra) tent structure that was a nonstop dance party, and a tucked-away "Beach House" stage, which was a little bit of both. Anyone who frequents city-sized dance festivals would immediately peg Mamby as a modestly sized, low-key event.

While the festival's Main Stage was the largest and most prominent, The Tent, with its nonstop program of DJs, was where most of the action was throughout the weekend. Most of the ensuing body gyration would be result of a plethora of endless, pumping tech house basslines, intermixed with the appearance of some native Chicago house flavor. Windy City legend Farley "Jackmaster" Funk brought some of the latter to an energetic early Day One crowd with some bass-heavy house assault amid a backdrop of bouncing beach balls in the sea of smiling faces. When the self-proclaimed "King of House Music" took to the mic to say "House music is around the world but it started here in Chicago!" the weekend felt like it was off to a good start. Like beach balls, there were definitely vibes in the air. Felix Da Housecat, another Chicago native, paid homage to the legacy of those like Farley as he opened with Marshall Jefferson's seminal "Move Your Body," before moving into a set of mostly punchy tech-house tracks.

Over on the Main Stage, LA duo Classixx helped pause the rain with enjoyable synth-to-synth melodies to delightful success. Shortly after, famed Norwegian outfit Röyksopp countered the groovy vibe of the previous hours with some grinding, distorted electro, a focused more towards their material with Robyn, versus the sunny electronica of their early years (can we get more of that?). Throughout the rest of the weekend, the stage played home to an array of other electronic-meets-pop-ish artists like Cherub, whose fanbase throughout the beach was noticeable, another summery LA live act, Goldroom, as well as headliners Empire of the Sun. Day Two headliners Passion Pit's vocal yelps layered nicely upon an overload of synths and guitars. For a dance fan, the stage felt a bit forgettable, though the wide open space, AKA beach, was a pleasure to lounge on throughout.

Back in the tent, a standout performance belonged to the inimitable James Murphy, whose all-vinyl set serenaded the crowd with everything from disco, to 4x4 house, floating balearic, and other tech-interrupting tinglers. Helping counter the CDJ assault of other selectors, it was a much needed change of pace. Semi-anonymous Angeleno ZHU probably had the most anticipated set of the weekend, locking the masses into his wormhole of slick, moody, bassified numbers which he cleverly manipulated from behind an opaque screen. While the artist's performance was enjoyed by most, especially when he rinsed a bit of Kanye, the only thing to be desired here was something new and unheard. (Steve if you're reading this, we're ready for some new music!) Still, it was fun to occasionally see his head bobbing around behind the screen; you could hear proclamations from throughout the packed crowd like "He's amazing!" Time will tell if his buzzy status will transition him into DJ booth mainstay.

Day Two helped flex why a beach festival in summer Chicago is pretty magical if the classically unpredictable weather holds. From open to close, revelers were showered with sunny skies, making lounging around the grounds a real treat. While most festivals revolve around dust, mud, or often tragically, gross pavement, there's nothing quite kicking your flip flops off and dancing in the sand for hours on end. The Tent today was once again ground zero dance fiesta with sets from the always fun-as-hell Moon Boots, jazzy deep-house charmers No Regular Play, and J.Phlip who brought a much needed female presence to the festival with her booty-dropping tech-bass IDs. Following highlights belonged 2014 scene-invader Route 94, who brought Ibiza to the crowded shelter, and the second to last DJ of the festival, Claptone, whose delightful masquerade injected gospel vocal stylings among his twangy deep house. Art Department would hold closing duties with their classically druggy techno, before bringing their talents to a nearby after party.

Compared to most first year festivals, Mamby scored a healthy number of wins, leaving only a handful of things to be desired. The no frills, low key vibes of the festival, mostly a product of the small number of stages and size of the grounds, was a breath of fresh air from the sprawling sensory overload that's characteristic of most musical festivals in 2015. In tandem with that homey ethos, which remarkably contained only one branded beverage stand, came a feeling that at times bordered towards the monotonous and overly simplistic.

The Tent stage was a lot of fun and featured some stellar talent indeed, but sometimes, one wants a change of pace in given location, especially when the programming was nearly exclusively a marathon of neverending tech house. The Beach House was a nice addition, featuring talent from some local acts like DJs Gene Ferris and Dustin Sheridan, but was a tad forgettable overall. In coming years the event could probably benefit from some more inventively programmed stages. Sound bleed was also an issue from stage to stage, an annoyance resulting in Cut Copy's bouncy disco sparing with Phantograms indietronic beats. Along with that, an overly stripped-down production throughout left the senses a bit forgotten.

Like many festivals today, the void of female talent was noticeable, with J.Phlip being the only woman DJ to occupy the dance tent. Where were the DJ Heathers? Colletes? The Black Madonnas? In a city where women have greatly contributed to its house lineage, this omission was a disappointment, especially when there was an unnecessary slew of tech-slinging dudes.

All things considered, Mamby's debut was a success. The organizers succeeded in offering some different, revolving more around its relaxing setting and chilled-out crowd (kandi and other rave knick knacks were nearly nonexistent) than the in-your-face vibe of larger events around the country. Some TLC here and there could make this not just the best beach party in Chicago, but one of the more special dance festivals in the lower 48.

Photography by Scott Kaplan
David Garber gets his thrills on Twitter.