Steve Aoki to Headline Global Dance Festival at Tempe Beach Park

On the heels of last Friday's wild Mad Decent Block Party, Phoenix electronic dance music promoters Relentless Beats announced another huge EDM concert coming to Phoenix: Global Dance Festival. The Arizona iteration of the party is scheduled for Friday, November 21, at Tempe Beach Park...

By David Accomazzo

September 16, 2014

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On the heels of last Friday's wild Mad Decent Block Party, Phoenix electronic dance music promoters Relentless Beats announced another huge EDM concert coming to Phoenix: Global Dance Festival.

The Arizona iteration of the party is scheduled for Friday, November 21, at Tempe Beach Park.

Details are scant so far (the link from the official Global Dance Festival website currently just links to Relentless Beats' Facebook page). But organizers do at least have a headliner ready to announce, which is good, considering the festival is a scant two months away. Steve Aoki is the first and only performer announced so far for the concert.

This is the first time Global Dance Festival (GDF) has stopped in Arizona, but the concert itself has been around for a decade and a half. In 1999, the first event that would become GDF happened in Colorado, under the name Rave on the Rocks. The event was one of the first EDM parties to take place at Colorado's gorgeous Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The event ballooned to a multi-day event, and then eventually became a tour of sorts. This year, the Tempe stop will mark the third city GDF will visit.

Again, while Aoki is the only confirmed performer, artists at this year's Colorado edition include Adventure Club, Carnage, Bro Safari, Brillz, Infected Mushroom, Odesza, Waka Flocka Flame, Borgeous, Zedd, Wolfgang Gartner, Madeon, and more.

"GDF Arizona has been a long time coming," says Ryan Auhl of Relentless Beats. "After our success with Zedd, Crush, and most recently [Mad Decent Block Party], we knew it's finally time to bring some real festivals to the valley. We've had a great relationship with [GDF organizer] Ha Hau over the years, and he's been really supportive of our business here. For us, it was an easy choice."

Find any show in Metro Phoenix via our extensive online concert calendar.

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