Nashville’s annual music festival, Deep Tropics, happened this past weekend. After an outstanding lineup last year featuring Kaskade and Sofi Tukker, the festival solidified itself this year as a premiere festival with headliners such as Chris Lake and Subtronics. This year’s festival also hosted rising stars Disco Lines and Alison Wonderland at their two biggest stages- the Meru and the Lotus stages.
What Sets Deep Tropics Apart?
What has made Deep Tropics special is their commitment to sustainability. Notably, Deep Tropics offers their “Eco Bands,” which gives fans a 10% discount on merchandise and funds “the planting of 20 fruit-bearing trees.” Deep Tropics had its own sustainability organization called Deep Culture, which is also native to the Nashville area.
Deep Tropics is more than just a music festival in the Nashville area- it is also an opportunity for artists in Nashville to showcase their sound and honor Nashville’s reputation as “Music City.”
Deep Tropics hosted local names such as Miss Freq, Pardue, Cruel Mistress, Dead On, and Squuid, with the Congo stage featuring the highest volume of local talent. The B2Bs of Vangeaux x Kiana Nadine and Hotboxx x Arht allowed these local artists to rinse their own tracks to a mix of locals and fans from around the world.
Production
The festival may be small, but it holds a lot of personality. The production is comparable to those of large festivals with high-end sound systems, lighting, and special effects like pyrotechnics and visuals.
Both the Lotus and Meru stages featured large video walls and their own unique package of lights, lasers, and pyro which amplified the vibes. At the Meru stage they had a unique lighting package consisting primarily of 24 Chauvet PXL Curve 12 fixtures. Each of these have an individually programmable head that allows for each show to be curated with a great amount of detail for each artist, while minimizing the amount of installed fixtures.
This was best displayed with artists such as Disco Lines whose team created visuals that were packed with color and drenched the crowd in rainbows, and Chris Lake whose team was able to seamlessly blend the colors of the video wall and lights to perfectly match the vibes of each song. What especially stood out was when Chris Lake mixed in his 2023 song Beggin’, and the lights and visuals all displayed that deep amber that is featured on the album cover.
While they did a great job of curating the equipment, a mutual concern among attendees was the proximity of the stages to each other. Despite these concerns the technology that goes into music festivals nowadays meant that this problem turned out to be a non-issue and fans were free to enjoy the euphoric, soulful sound of Aluna or the righteous rhythm of MPH without either stage fighting each other for volume.
Food and Beverage
Attendees also spoke positively about an often-unsatisfactory aspect of music festivals- the food. A common gripe is the lack of all-inclusive food options to accommodate as vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free individuals. Deep Tropics preaches “mindfully curated our food vendors with a wide variety of options” on their website. The prices were low compared to other festivals, with a vegan smash burger from The Golden Plant ringing in at just $10.
Not only did Deep Tropics ensure accommodations for those with dietary restrictions, but made effort to cater to the sober community. Their “Zero-Proof Lounge” created a space for festival-goers who like to experience events without alcohol. The Drip Bar in the lounge offered soda, coffee, kombucha and frozen mocktails in a shaded area for attendees to relax and cool off as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees over the weekend. The frozen drinks were a relief and came in large portions to justify the $12 price tag. The lounge also featured beverages from High Rise, a beverage company specializing in CBD and THC-infused seltzers.
Location
Deep Tropics is located right off the Nashville Metropolitan area in Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, a 11-acre plot of beautifully-maintained land with monuments to Tennessee’s history that offers another layer of cultural appreciation and opportunity for festival-goers to learn about Nashville’s deep history with music.
Alongside the historic significance of Bicentennial Park, it has also turned into an ideal location considering its size and proximity to the honky tonks of downtown Nashville. The location of the park gives fans several options for transportation- with many parking in garages and lots in the downtown area and taking the short walk- less than a mile, to the festival. The options to take a taxi or rideshare are also available, but many took advantage of the electric scooters and bikes that are becoming common in many big cities. Bicentennial Park is also a brief, 6-minute drive to Cannery Hall, the official afterparty venue for Deep Tropics.
Beyond the Festival Grounds
If 11:00pm was still too early for some fans to stop dancing, many venues in the area hosted afterparties and events featuring talent from the festival and in the Nashville area. The official afterparties were hosted by Cannery Hall, a 4-stage venue located just on the opposite side of downtown Nashville. Though the concept of official afterparties is not new, the significance of Cannery Hall falls in line with the Deep Tropics mission of building history and culture. Far before Cannery was a venue for entertainment, the land homed a series of factories- flour, coffee, and canning, before becoming an entertainment space in the 1980s.
Overview
Deep Tropics has solidified itself as a premiere dance music celebration in Tennessee and in the south. With prime real estate in the Nashville area- deemed “Music City,” the event creates opportunity for local business owners and talent to come together and provide for local dance music fans who enjoy the convenience of a local festival, and for ride-or-die festival-goers with an appreciation for history and deep-rooted culture. With the festival continuing to make efforts to make attendance more affordable, more inclusive, and more immersed in Nashville, we see the festival making strides each year with the goal of reaching the top of the festival world.
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