SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Plans are underway to bring an electronic dance music festival back to San Jose.
Due to city restrictions, it was a daytime rave that organizers held from noon to 9 p.m. this past Saturday.
Anthony Gomez, founder of the popular Instagram page San Jose Foos, was one of the lead promoters along with 15Utah and DJ Dials.
“San Jose brought an energy that you don’t always see,” Gomez said.
VIDEO: Skrillex and Fred Again draw thousands to SF Civic Center for sold-out rave
Skrillex and Fred Again sold out to 25,000 attendees at a surprise San Francisco Civic Center rave.
Gomez said they were able to fill Discovery Meadow with over 5,000 tickets sold.
“A lot of people driving up from Los Angeles or driving down from Sac or Redding or Vegas even,” Gomez said.
Since the weekend event was such a success – organizers announced they will be putting together a music festival series.
“We are definitely going to do more we have some dates locked in already but we want to make sure we do it right,” Gomez said.
The focus will be booking EDM and house artists but they’re open to expanding.
“Most artists- big- they only go to B-level cities which we are to collect a check, we’re not trying to do that. We actually want to create real experiences where these larger artists are like- when they go on tour they’re like we need to stop in San Jose,” Gomez said.
VIDEO: How a Palestinian Bay Area DJ is drawing attention to the crisis in Gaza through music
Self-taught DJ Zaheer Suboh, who performs under the moniker DJ Subeaux, is using music to draw attention to the worsening situation in Gaza.
When it comes to nightlife, Alex Stettinksi, CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association, said the city has exceeded pre-covid numbers.
“There’s so many entities that come up with ideas to create vibrancy and some interesting entertainment, Foos is one of them- I think the rave was awesome, very respectful it was over at nine o’clock,” Stettinksi said.
San Jose Foos has a following of nearly 230,000 people on Instagram.
“Providing a positive, fun experience is what I get the most fulfillment out of,” Gomez said.
Gomez hopes future events will showcase how great the city is.
“I think we need to wow people in order to get them outside especially markets like San Francisco doing really big events it’s only an hour away – if we can bring that here- solves a lot of problems,” Gomez said.
Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
