The “FreeBurn” was so needed! To celebrate life - we needed to reflect, dance, laugh, cry, and let go - in the place we call home.
I was a bit nervous playing music this year - I had not DJ'd on the bus for four years after parking myself on “a bench” because of hearing issues. So when I found out I was going to play a small “opening of the bus” set I was stoked to get reacquainted before my scheduled Friday sunrise set. I started with my favorite chill track at the moment. The rest were selected because they gave me a dusty vibe, and I wanted to hear them on the bus system. Some were given to me by close friends - So it was a dusty family affair of sorts. The last track of that set has the vocal “Fade out again” - those lyrics gave me the idea to fade the set into my sunrise set. It was unplanned that these two sets would live together. Or even work together - I only planned my bus opening track and my sunrise moment.
This leads me to my sunrise set. Where to begin? - how to honor Geo - celebrate the sun - tip my hat to the night - take the crowd on a bit of a journey - share sounds that speak to me - spread some love. I knew I wanted to have a special moment for Geo, but it did not hit me until I was on the plane headed out west. It was sunset and the sun was hitting my eyes through the plane window - and that was the moment it clicked. I was lucky to have WiFi on the pane and searched on all our group chats for a sound bite of Geo that would make sense with the track I had in mind. It took me a few hours, but I found a video with one. It was perfect - very subtle and very Geo. I did a quick edit in Ableton and thought WOW indeed. Big thank you to Brian Cid for taking the edit to the next level and to Jean for delivering the track to me before my set.
We designed a Geo tattoo this year - I placed one on each forearm - facing opposite directions a few hours before I was to play. Energy in, energy out - That was my “mantra” for my set. I could feel so much love around me, in front of me, and above me in the heart - then the Drone show appeared and blew my mind. Thank you Studio Drift for the beautifully concepted and executed tribute.
It was hard to judge the sun this year - as there was so much smoke, but in the end, all was perfect. Feeling all the emotions, I just looked directly at the sun and had a little chat with Geo, expressed gratitude and shed some tears of my own.
One of my favorite all time sunrise Djs was to play after me - it was surreal. Looking back now, I can see Lee Burridge showing up at sunset and surprising us all was part of Geo’s doing. Geo always called me Dilly Dill. So to have a DillLeeDill morning still has me smiling. Ironically this was the ten year mark where Lee and I first truly connected on the bus with a random morning 5 hour b2b set that started our friendship :)
Lee had to leave early and there was only going to be an hour left till we were originally scheduled to close the morning. We had asked Holmar if he wanted to play the next day after Diplo (so he could have a long set) and I would just go back on after Lee. Somehow this one hour turned into almost three hours. And I was playing music from folders that were dusty themselves. This set is a whole other story!
Thank you for listening! And to my dusty family and friends from that sunrise/morning thank you I’m still in awe ✨☀️
To the dreamers and doers who put in the extra effort to make this year happen on and off the playa and to my Robot Heart family for the continued love and support - THANK YOU ❤️
I feel blessed to have been able to express myself musically on our magical bus after such a long break. Let’s see what’s next.
PSA - wear earplugs my friends!
Much love,
Dill, aka "Dusty Pickle"
JOHN DILL SOCIALS
https://www.soundcloud.com/johndill
https://www.instagram.com/sliceofdill
https://www.facebook.com/sliceofdill
https://www.sliceofdill.com
Photo Credits: Christian Lamb, John Dill
