Need last minute New Years’ plans? If you’re from a Chicago suburb and a high school reunion party isn’t your thing, be sure to check out the Reaction New Year’s Eve. Hosted at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, Reaction NYE is a two-day music festival on December 30th and 31st, just a 25-minute drive from the Loop and a stone’s throw from suburbia. And with two-day and single-day passes as low as $130 and $89, it’s a heck of a value. WGRE is here to breakdown what artists the festival has to offer.
The lineup features EDM headliners Deadmau5 and Skrillex along with several WGRE favorites like Chance the Rapper, Run the Jewels, and Thundercat, capping off a killer 2015 for all three artists.
Chance the Rapper and his band The Social Experiment dropped Surf back in May, the fusion- hip-hop feel-good record that pleased both critics and fans. The Chicagoan is also coming off a historic Saturday Night Live performance the last week as the first artist to perform on the show unsigned. Run The Jewels released Meow the Jewels in October via Kickstarter, a cat remix (that is, in fact, correct nomenclature) of their critically acclaimed album Run The Jewels 2. The supergroup rapper Killer Mike has had quite the politically active year as well, appearing on multiple late night talk shows and interviewing Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders last month. And bass god Thundercat, in-between ripping bass lines for Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Kamasi Washington’s The Epic, dropped The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam in June, a heady R&B record produced by Flying Lotus full of psych grooves and funk jams.
Along with Reaction’s bigger names, WGRE also recommends lesser-known acts like BadBadNotGood, the jazz trio from Toronto. BadBadNotGood got its start at Humber College’s jazz program in 2010, but has since made waves throughout the hip-hop industry for their experimental sound. In 2011 their YouTube cover of “Lemonade” by Gucci Mane caught the attention of Odd Future rapper Tyler, The Creator, who recorded a live session with the trio later that year. Fans of Earl Sweatshirt might also recall their production on “Hoarse” from Earl’s studio debut Doris. In 2015, the group collaborated with prominent Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah to make Sour Soul, a rugged hip-hop album infused with jazz accents.
In any event, whether you crave Cashmere Cat’s silky beats, Chance the Rapper’s sing-alongs, or Skrillex’s classic bangers, Reaction NYE has something for everybody. There may not be mistletoe, but there were surely be enough tasty tunes to keep you dancing into the New Year.