Mamby on the Beach Review – The Best Beach Party of the Summer

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Chicago has numerous festivals to attend in the summer, but none are set-up as well as Mamby on the Beach.  Imagine going to a beach party.  Now image that beach party is the coolest beach party you’ve ever been too.  Now multiple that by a factor of about one thousand, and you have Mamby on the Beach.

The goal of Mamby on the Beach is to reflect the unparalleled experience that is “Summertime Chi” and to showcase Chicago’s standing as the home of house music.  And boy does it deliver.

Mamby’s great idea was to combined the two:   placing the hottest artists directly on Chicago’s beach, which rival the best beaches in the world, with the backdrop of Chicago’s skyline and Lake Michigan’s sparkling waters.  Act’s like Miike Snow, MGMT, Flying Lotus, Thunder Cat and Green Velvet brought lively music, while the fans danced barefoot in the sand.

With so much going on, it was hard to catch it all.  The best performances of the two days were:

Miike Snow: a veteran performer who put on a highly artistic show.  The music pulsed and the crowded couldn’t stop bouncing.

STRFKR:  put on an exceptional show filled with costumes, massive energy, crowd interaction which included floaties.

Todd Terje: was a wild dance party that made the crowd go bonkers.

Flying Lotus: had a beautiful performance with sweet visuals and tons of great catchy hooks.

Cut Copy:  if there was a band that encapsulates what it is like to be at a beach party, Cut Copy was it.  They perfectly captured the setting.

Whew.  Need a break from all the great music?  Unsure why you’d want it, but there was more than music at Mamby.  What else do you do at a great beach party?  Water balloon fight?  That happened at Mamby:

Beach Yoga?  Mamby had that:

Delicious Food?  Mamby had that too.  You could have gone to Mamby on the Beach and had a blast even if you didn’t listen to the music.

But let’s get back the music.  The two main stages, the Beach Stage and the Park Stage, hosted some of the biggest names in music.  However, the third area, the electronic dance music The MixMag Tent, was where most of the action was. It was always crowded and the music (and thus the dancing) never stopped.   Two memorable sets were from Justin Jay on Saturday and Green Velvet on Sunday.  Green Velvet, who refuses to age, had an intense, head-bobbing set.  The crowd absolutely went crazy he played “Flash”.  The MixMag tent was the spot that had the best beach vibe of the two days:  It was right next to the lake, everyone was dancing, the hunks had no shirts, the babes were in bikinis and everyone was having the time of their lives.

The ideal way to celebrate summertime is getting to the beach.  Having a party there is even better.  Mamby on the Beach cannot be beat as the best beach party of the summer.

Photos provided by Mamby on the Beach and K. Joseph Fotos.

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