Shaun White’s Air+ Style festival rolled into Los Angeles on Saturday, March 3rd and created an invigorating weekend of music and sport. Air + Style is unlike any other festival. Now in its fourth year in Los Angeles, globe-trotting event founded by White, blends world-class snowboarding and skateboarding competitions with live musical performances from the hottest acts, bringing together some of the biggest names from both worlds.
It became a truly unique destination for fans of both music and sports, and a chance to not only hear their favorite artists live, but also meet incredible athletes (and this year some of them came straight from Olympics in South Korea flaunting some well-deserved new hardware, like the gold-medal winning host and snowboarding icon Shaun White himself, as well as silver medalist Kyle Mack).
From the second the doors opened, the festival was filled with action – athletes catching air, musicians delivering energetic sets, artists showcasing their work. And the changing LA weather became a special effect of its own: from clear blue skies, to fiery sunset to rain (and thousands of people dancing in the rain): it was glorious!
For snowboarding, competitors included Francis Jobin, Frank Bourgeois, Zak Hale, Anto Chamberland, Dylan Alito, Darcy Sharpe, Jill Perkins, Ozzy Henning, Nate Haust, Drayden Gardner, Brandon Davis, Kyle Mack, Johnny O’Connor, Desiree Melancon and Jordan Morse. Skateboarding competition was added for the first time this year and featured some of the most dynamic athletes (Greyson Fletcher, Raven Tershy, Tom Schaar, Alex Sorgente, Karl Berglind, Cory Juneau, CJ Collins, Nora Vasconcellos, Lizzie Armanto, Chis Russell, Heimana Reynolds, Sky Siljeg, Keegan Palmer, Patrick Ryan, Willy Lara ) competing at the festival.
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One of the biggest music highlights of the weekend was watching Mura Masa. Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist delivered a hypnotizing set that included his hits “love$ick”, “Firefly” “what if i go?” from his debut self-titled LP. Mura Masa appeared on stage surrounded by instruments (synth pad, acoustic and electronic drum sets & keyboard and more) and switched between them with ease, playing each one and creating flawless sound live. Mura Masa is someone who truly encapsulates what it means to be an artist.
Headliner and one of the most talented producers and writers in the game, Zedd, brought the house down with his high energy set and jaw-dropping visuals, and created an immersive experience. Zedd kept delivering hit after hit all night and there is absolutely no doubt why he achieved the level of recognition he has: he is quintessence of true talent and a total genius when it comes to producing and performing.
Other notable shows included Cashmere Cat and Dram as well as Gucci Mane, Phantogram, Tinashe and Phoenix that performed on Sunday.
Overall, Air + Style 2018 was a absolutely epic. See you there next year!
Recap by Irina Liakh
Photos courtesy of Air+Style
