If you've been to Philadelphia for a show in the last few years, the chances are that it was a dubstep event and that it was one of the heaviest events and craziest nights you've ever experienced. Lucky for bass fans inside of the city, as well as those outside the city who have found themselves traveling far miles to get a slice of the nasty pie that is Philly's scene, a central face has emerged as the promoters here to bring swamp monsters all that we crave. Unlocked Presents, previously Catharsis Collective, University EDM, and EDM Entertainment separately, have brought such concert tours such as CODE, Vicious, and Anti-Freeze boasting some of the biggest names in bass music that have come to Philadelphia since their cooperation began about 2-3 years ago.
Now, against what was perviously thought impossible, Unlocked has once again topped themselves and is throwing their biggest show to date, taking their shot in the festival circuit. High Caliber: A Battleship Experience was announced weeks ago with the promise of an event of the likes no one has seen before. Their main attraction (before the lineup release) was the fact that the show was set to take place on a f*cking Battleship. No, not a fake ship, or a stage built to look like a ship, A LITERAL BATTLESHIP. The battleship sits on the river directly across the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden, NJ an area which has practically been taken over by Philadelphia music fans.
From our inside sources, we have gathered a large amount of information about what the event will hold in store for us. For starters, there will be three stages all decked out with high quality sound systems built to give fans the ideal experience, even with a space that is not ideal for sound quality. Lighting work will be top of the line as well, and this festival will feel like any other, except for the added fact that you'll be floating on water the entire time (which is still SO COOL in our eyes). The stages will be located on the pier outside of the boat‘s entrance, the front deck of the boat, and the back deck as well.
As for performers, this lineup has something for any fan of bass music, no matter the sub genres and niches one might find themselves in. Headlining sets will be handled by longtime dubstep phenom and arguably the largest perpetuator of the underground dubstep scene 12th Planet as well as Belgian superstars Ganja White Night who over the last two years have developed one of the most dedicated and intense fan bases in the world of electronic music. Smaller, but definitely not lacking in talent acts include developers of the weirder side of bass music such as Bleep Bloop, Yheti, and Shlump as well as some of the hottest up and coming names in dubstep such as Uber, Wooli, and Bandlez. Overall, arguably (in our opinion) the most impressive and exciting booking comes in the form of UK dubstep super group Gentleman's Club who absolutely slaughtered Philly's bass fam the last time they graced our city. Made up of Coffi, 50 Carrot, and Soloman the group plays sets which contain some of the most unheard, unreleased, and savage tracks in dubplate history.
Tickets are still available, but going incredible fast for this wonderful night of debauchery. Be smart and grab yours while you still can here. Prepare yourselves for an adventure on the high seas unmatched by any other festival experience previously conceived. We can't wait to be there to help guide this ship to it's final destination somewhere in the depths of the dubverse. All aboard!
