Electronic dance music lovers from Gainesville’s past and present will come together tomorrow for the 12-year reunion of Neon Liger, an annual music festival at The Wooly.
“UF alumni, friends and family travel across the country to spend this weekend in Gainesville,” said Vijaya Seixas, 33, founder and event coordinator of Neon Liger. “Performers from the past are flying out from California, Chicago and New York to play this weekend.”
The six-hour event, beginning at 8 p.m., will take place at The Wooly. Three stages will be used to showcase different genres of techno music.
The Wooly’s main stage will showcase alumni DJs playing traditional EDM. A smaller stage in a different room of The Wooly will hold a silent disco featuring bass music and dubstep. The patio of the Wooly will feature newer Gainesville DJs from a group called House Hats Collective playing house music.
“I’m a little nervous to perform because I want to do my best,” said Erik Viera Jr., a 21-year-old UF business senior who will perform on the patio stage at Neon Liger for the first time Saturday. He attended the festival last year and said it was “one of the biggest parties in Gainesville.”
Neon Liger began as a weekly party in 2008 organized by Seixas and friends. Every Saturday Gainesville residents with a shared passion for techno music would gather at a club downtown called Spannk. The venue is now a French bistro.
2011 UF alumnus Dunstan Wallace, 30, who will DJ this Saturday, performed at a few weekly shows in 2008.
“Before electronic music even hit the radio, these guys [Seixas and friends] were throwing the best underground shows in Florida,” he said. Wallace has performed at the last two reunions and will perform on the main stage Saturday.
Seixas’ friends left Gainesville in 2015 and the event transformed from a weekly party to a yearly festival. Last year, he said more than 550 people attended and it was “the best one yet.” He is expecting a similar turnout this year.
Liger is usually held on the first Saturday of February. However, he had to reschedule because of Brainquility Music Festival, a festival a lot of the performers attended Feb. 8.
People who attend have to be over the age of 18. The patio is reserved for those over the age of 21. Tickets are $15 online and can be purchased through the event’s Facebook page. Entry at the door is $20. Tickets include entry to all three stages and free beer “until the bar runs out,” Seixas said.
Contact Lily Girton at lilygirton@ufl.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @lilygirton.
Saturday will be the 12-year reunion of Neon Liger.
