Photos by Daniel Lopez
With summer steadily approaching, I (and likely many others in the Midwest) were on the edge of my seat waiting on the news of Chicagoland music festival, Spring Awakening. Earlier this year, many people noticed that Star Events added Spring Awakening to its website, although new dates for 2020 were not included on its page. Following this addition, many people wondered what was to come with the festival and what React Presents’s role was with it.
On February 7, news broke that LiveXLive had acquired React Presents for a purchase price of “$2.0 million funded with subordinated convertible note with a two-year term, 8% interest rate, and conversion price of $4.50 per share,” per the report. For those more unfamiliar with LiveXLive, it is a Los Angeles-based digital media company that specializes in its music streaming platform. With the rising popularity of virtual festivals via video games and live-streaming via social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, LiveXLive lists itself as the first live social music network. With this acquisition of React Presents, LiveXLive adds to its diverse roster, as it features festivals outside of the realm of electronic music.
Along with all of that jazz, LiveXLive provides exclusives through artist exclusives and industry interviews. Personally, hearing this news is the first time I heard of LiveXLive, but following the acquisition of such as big player within the Midwest, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of these guys around.
Now that we have all of that business talk out of the way, let’s talk about Spring Awakening. Last year, the initial lineup was released around mid-March with six massive headliners that included DJ Snake, ZEDD, Martin Garrix, REZZ, GRiZ and Illenium. Despite taking the festival into the suburbs last year, the production was still as top notch as it was within the city. They even made a stage that paid homage to the Chicago skyline; it was absolutely magnificent. After React Presents announced that it was taking the festival to the suburbs, it was met with a lot of initial concern. However, almost everyone who attended agreed that they did an amazing job with the space. Although the location of the festival is not 100% set in stone, it is likely that it will stay in Hoffman Estates.
Because of this big news, it is likely that lineup announcement will be slightly delayed this year from when it was released last year; however, let’s just be relieved that there’s hope Spring Awakening might be back for another year.