Shaquille O’Neal adds another career milestone by hosting first ever festival with Shaq’s Bass All Stars Festival: [Full Recap]

Shaquille O’Neal has added a huge career achievement to the Diesel name as he hosted his first major scale festival this past weekend with the first edition of Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival.

It seems like just yesterday that one of the most famous basketball players to ever live, Shaquille O’Neal, crashed TomorrowWorld in 2014 and became forever changed as it ignited a passion for electronic dance music that has carried on to this day. Now, fast forward a decade later, and the same man is one of the most loved and respected artists in the industry under the name, Diesel, and is just coming off a career milestone as this past weekend he hosted his first ever major scale festival with Shaq’s Bass All-Stars at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth, Texas.

Leading up to the event, the hype surrounding the 1st edition of this festival was through the roof. With getting a highly reputable promoter in Disco Donnie Presents, the curation of an incredibly stacked lineup set from the opening of the gates to close, the ticket sales, the known madness that takes place at O’Neal’s Diesel and Shaq’s Bass All-Stars shows, attendees had high expectations coming into Saturday, and rightfully so. However, it took all but about ten minutes from when the gates opened and the first DJs began to play that those expectations were not only met but completely exceeded as Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival presented a world-class experience, unlike anything we have seen this year in the genre.

When you are recognized as “The World’s Biggest DJ,” there is only one way your first festival can go… huge. Not only was everything about Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival big time, but you could say it was even “Shaq-sized.” This weekend was a moment that O’Neal could ultimately plant his flag in the middle of the bass music scene as a true force to be reckoned with as Diesel, and that’s exactly what happened. The entire day was a celebration for bass music and its fans, and if you ever once questioned O’Neal’s love and passion for the genre, you certainly didn’t after Saturday night.

As a large portion of attendees lined up hours in advance of the 4 p.m. opening, you could tell that the day would be special. Once the gates finally opened, people made their way to the two stages set to feature 16 unbelievable bass acts over the next eight hours. Conflicts and tough decisions among fans definitely ensued as both stages held a highly impressive slate all day long. Between Malware, Leotrix, Grant Curtis B2B Known, Sharlitz Web, Aalioura B2B Cromatik and Kozmoz, the early portion of the event was already off to a tremendous bang. On top of just the music, those who wanted to take a break from the stages had plenty of options for other entertainment. With multiple food trucks, a Ferris wheel, art vendors, and even long-shot basketball, there was more than enough to keep you occupied until you were ready to head back to the music.

As the afternoon and nightcaps began to set in, the energy and stage production rose to a higher level. With huge shows from Crankdat, Kai Wachi, NAZAAR B2B VRG and Ruvlo B2B CELO it was hard to imagine the night could get better, but then came the moment for Diesel to hit the stage. For 60 minutes, the main stage was electric. O’Neal had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and it was impressive to see how far he has come as a performer and a DJ. In a set filled with fireworks and a plethora of mosh pits throughout the crowd, you could make an argument it was the best Diesel performance to date. On the other end of the grounds, Hairitage and Emorfik were delivering massive shows of their own, and if you chose to watch them, you would have not been disappointed.

One thing that showed the character and the high amount of love and respect Shaquille O’Neal has for the genre and his fellow bass producers was that he was willing to let others close out his own festival. Instead of choosing to be the headliner for the night, he played the third to last slot. Following him was an incredible rock-influenced set from Sullivan King that was the perfect follow-up to what Diesel had just done. Then, it was the moment for the headliners. Across the grounds at the Trenches stage, LAYZ hit a milestone of her own as she closed out a festival for the first time in her career. She showed why she is one of the fastest-rising dubstep artists in the industry as she delivered a dubstep set that packed a heavy punch. Back on the main stage, Alison Wonderland put on arguably the show of the day as she delivered a heavy-hitting set that seemed to stop all time and even unexpectedly played a new ID for her alias,Whyte Fang.

There have not been very many events this year that contained the energy at such a high level throughout its duration as Shaq’s Bass All Stars Festival did. What Shaquille O’Neal accomplished in his first go around is truly impressive and a goal many aspire to reach but do not get close to. There is no question that this should be an event that happens annually and possibly one day, even expand to two days. Well done, Shaq.

Featured Image Credit: Acre Media