After the success of ‘Hardstyle in the Park,’ Hardstyle Chicago Family returns this fall with another major event. Get ready for ‘Masquerade of Shadows,’ an indoor Halloween-themed party featuring hard dance music and costumes!
Hardstyle Chicago Family began as a Facebook group in 2018, offering a space for hard dance fans in the Chicago area to connect and share their passion for genres like hardstyle, rawstyle, and hardcore. Today, it’s grown to include Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook pages. The person behind it all is Linda, known as ‘Adnilreh Vee‘ on Facebook and ‘chicitygirl015‘ on Instagram. With the support of friends, she organized the successful free outdoor event ‘Hardstyle in the Park,’ made possible by donations. Now, with a new group of amazing friends, she’s gearing up for ‘Masquerade of Shadows.’
Since the Chicago scene rarely has hardstyle events, especially Halloween-related ones, and Linda had gotten tired of traveling around Halloween (Freaky Deaky in Texas or Escape Halloween in California), she decided to create her own Halloween-themed event that included all the hard dance genres that she loves. “If Chicago does not have what I want, why not create my own event just the way I want it?” she said.
Masquerade of Shadows is a little different than your typical show, however. There will be some snacks, appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks available (alcohol can be purchased at the bar) as well. How many times do you go to a show and get food and drinks included with your ticket!? For the price that you’re paying here, you truly are getting a great deal. You are also highly encouraged to wear a costume. Those who wear one will be entered into a raffle to win cool prizes. Masquerade of Shadows promises to bring a spooky dark setting full of decorations for all guests to enjoy. There will be great opportunities for pictures! The event is also from 6pm to midnight, which is a little earlier than your typical night time show. Come party on a Friday evening and then you can choose to go to bed early (yay!) or continue the party after it (there is always something to do in Chicago!).
All the artists will be playing some sort of hard dance music. Although, not every set will be 100% Halloween-related songs, overall it promises a dark eerie vibe. There are many talented artists on this lineup that should not be missed. All these artists are local artists with the exception of one coming all the way from San Diego! Let’s learn a little about each one.
d@TU
This is d@TU’s first year in the scene. Starting off strong as co-founder of a J-Core show called MEGAPULSE, along with DJ Y0bi and DJ movzx, they promise to share the love of J-Core and hard dance music as far as they are able to. “My biggest inspirations as a DJ and performer are Audiofreq and Lil Texas. But for my hardcore sound I listen to a lot of Ophidian, False Idol, Miss K8, N-Vitral, Tha Playah, and RoughSketch,” d@TU tells us.
For Masquerade of Shadows, we are promised a haunting, horrifying and spooky hardcore and uptempo set. From millennial nu-gabber to industrial hardcore to Japanese hardcore tracks!
DJ INST!NCT
DJ INST!NCT has been in the scene for 15 years, but is new to the DJ world. His sound normally includes “a vibrant mix of classic, euphoric, and raw hardstyle sounds to the decks,” while adding some spontaneous hard techno tracks in the mix. Recently he played his first out-of-state performance in Charleston, MA at The Homie Collective Campout, which was an exciting stepping stone into his career.
For MoS, he will play anything from classics, euphoric hardstyle, hard techno, rawstyle, and with a touch of spooky sounds.
PARTI
PARTI has been DJing and producing for about 6 years. From progressive house to melodic dubstep, and now hardstyle. This is the sound that is now his passion! PARTI has been playing at many events, raves, and shows. One of the highlights of his career was opening for Lil Texas. PARTI has definitely been on the rise in the Chicago hard dance scene and he is one of the few artists who is actually producing hard dance tracks!
For MoS, PARTI will of course play many of his original tracks. It’ll be a euphoric set with some rawstyle and possible hard techno.
Hard Psyder & Spooky BEX Present: Project One Tribute
Hard Psyder started DJing in 2016 after discovering hardstyle at EDC Las Vegas. The return of Headhunterz back to hardstyle, inspired Hard Psyder to continue DJing and continue being a part of the hardstyle scene. He has played in Illinois and Wisconsin. One exciting moment in his DJ career was opening for Audiofreq at Euphoria V. He has been to Defqon.1, Wasteland at EDC LV, and will go to the last edition of Qlimax this fall.
Spooky BEX fell in love with the art of DJing after learning about rave culture in 2018. She tells us, “to me, constructing a set is like creating one VERY long song, and I love doing it!”
For MoS, both Hard Psyder and Spooky BEX will play an exciting Project One tribute set with it’s euphoric sound. It will also include spooky, eerie twists. We can expect a lot of edits and mashups either by things they heard and tweaked and some that are their original and their own.
RAAKMO
RAAKMO is a name that is well known in the Chicago EDM scene. He has been around for about 8 years now playing at major events like Spring Awakening Music Festival. From big room and hard house to hard trap where he got support from many big names including Tiesto, The Chainsmokers, Excision, and others. Hardstyle elements were always included in his tracks, but he really got into the genre the past few years. RAAKMO has many successful collaborations with VINAI, has won remix competitions for Lit Lords as well as Junkie Kid’s Harsh Records. He was even featured in Defqon.1’s 2023 Spotify playlist!
For MoS, RAAKMO tells us that his set will be a “good blend of melodic and hard hitting sounds” as well as hard trap tracks and unreleased music! He will also add some spooky vibes for the Halloween season.
Thomas Kelly
Thomas Kelly is well known in the underground EDM Chicago scene. He started raving in Los Angeles in 1999 and has been a hard-working DJ and promoter for over 15 years. His love for trance music pushes him to keep it alive within the scene. He has played at major Chicago EDM festivals including Spring Awakening Music Festival and North Coast Music Festival. He has also opened and closed for big names including Paul Van Dyk, ATB, Vini Vici, and more.
For MoS, Thomas Kelly will play a hard techno set for us. He is the only artist who will be playing a full hard techno set.
Hardstyle Chicago Family hopes that YOU will be at Masquerade of Shadows. This is only the beginning for Linda and Hardstyle Chicago Family events. Your support will help tremendously.
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1 Comment
Super excited for this!!!