After attending Mad Decent Block Party Ft. Lauderdale 2014, i promised myself i would never attend again. The problems they had last year were near unbearable…

Let me begin by saying that Mad Decent threw an OUTSTANDING Block Party this year. The late afternoon/evening involved Jack U, JAUZ, Major Lazer, Thomas Jack, Yellow Claw, Ricky Remedy, Zeds Dead and TWRK. To my surprise the staff was friendlier, the music was louder and the crowd was more mature. Also, FREE WATER? A perfect addition to a Block Party plagued by Florida’s mid summer heat.

At first glance of this years event i was hasty to come to a conclusion that the party would be another nightmare having the stage not being set up upon arrival. I undoubtably began to predict they would skip certain artists from performing to make up for the time. Contrary to my belief, the Block party decided to move some of the artists to the local stage inside Revolution Live to make up the time while considering all the artists set to perform. This made me very happy as i was able to see all of the artists i wanted to.

Now that brings me to the lineup. The MDBP lineup for Ft. Lauderdale this year was STACKED. I mean seriously, who has Jack U and Major Lazer both on a lineup thats not for a big time festival!

The set that i took away the most from this years Block Party was Jauz. Having tweeted that his MDBP set would be a test for his Hard Summer set the following day, his performance was primed to create an explosion in the crowd. Filthy grimy bass music filled a very trap oriented event and it blended in flawlessly.

Following Jauz was Jack U. This was my first time seeing Skrillex and Diplo in their collaboration together and id have to say i was remarkably disappointed. I expected their set to rip through the crowd creating mayhem across the Block Party, but instead experienced a weak set that in my opinion could have been a lot better and really stole the show.

To my surprise, the set that really stole the show was Diplo's other collaboration, Major Lazer. This was also my first time seeing Major Lazer and quite honestly, i expected their set to consist of mostly mainstream, generic and crowd pleasing music. Instead i was blessed with a high energy set that made the crowd (and myself) fiend for more after it was over. Filled with new and surprising music some of which i haven't even heard before.

The worst performance of this years Block Party had to be Thomas Jack. Now don’t get me wrong, i LOVE Thomas Jack and his tropical house vibes, but his music felt out of place. This type of crowd was a Trap and Bass crowd and many just stood around during his set. Having no response from the crowd i felt Thomas Jack didn't put much effort into his very lackluster set. Nothing compared to his stellar performance at Sunset Music Festival previously this summer.

Conclusively, Mad Decent Block Party 2015 in Ft. Lauderdale was a huge step up from last years very problematic event. I see a prosperous future for the Block party and look forward to attend the record labels' event next year.

Written by: Taylor Criscenzo
Photos by: Kyle Seago