Back for its second year, We Belong Here kicked off Friday, October 10th, for three days of EDM at the vaunted Wolman Rink in Central Park.

Featuring a dozen artists from across the electronic music scene, the Central Park installation of We Belong Here is the festival’s second iteration in New York City this year alone, with a Long Island City festival happening just a week ago (October 4-6).

Right as the doors opened on Ax.El took the stage. Being the opening act of any festival is hard. Fans have just started streaming in, they’re shaking off the work week, and no one is quite sure how they will react. With that said, opening for an EDM festival, where it’s more about the entire experience, lights, dancing, and the crowd, is even harder. That didn’t stop Ax.El from opening with a strong bass-driven set that got people on the floor and dancing.

Nicky Elisabeth, Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik

Next up was Nicky Elisabeth. Her set kicked off with a floaty and tropical aesthetic that made you feel more like you were sitting on a perfect beach rather than standing in the middle of Manhattan on the first cold weekend after the Summer. With the dance floor starting to fill up and fog machines pumping, her visual effects were strong but not overpowering.

It would be easy to focus just on Nicky’s airy rhythms that looped and mingled with soprano vocals and a light clap track – providing easily consumable songs. However, that would be ignoring the depth and almost poetic timing of her set. As the sun went down, potentially lulling the audience to sleep, her set started to build a strong bass beat. She built it so subtly, though, as to not be noticeable at first. The middle of the set is when audiences suddenly felt the bass deep in their chest. If you looked up from dancing right at that moment, you would have seen a sly smile on Nicky’s face – a knowing look for what she’s done. She kept the bass at the same level for a moment – enough that you feel it, but also want more – until suddenly she threw in a drop that you’ve been subconsciously anticipating but not thinking about because the build was so slow.

At that point, the sly smile broke free of Nicky’s face as she fist-pumped, and the crowd went wild. Then she brought the bass back down again, subtle but not quite as subtle as before, until the next drop came. The second half of her set repeated that cycle, driving audiences into a dancing frenzy.

Sultan + Shepard, Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik

As Sultan + Shepard took the stage for their two-hour DJ set, the sun finally set over the Manhattan skyline, throwing We Belong Here’s stage into stark relief against the darkened skyscrapers around it. The outline of Manhattan behind Sultan + Shepard played to their advantage as they unleashed a massive lightshow on the audience. With fog machines at full blast and the smell of ozone permeating every inch of the crowd, the duo let loose with barrage after barrage of laser light and smoke plumes.

The pair’s synth and guitar-driven DJ set was much faster than either artist before them and jumped directly into a build that sounded like it could be from Tron. The duo’s skills were on display as they seamlessly moved from 80s techno-inspired songs to a more airy modern electronic sound. Their set built with surprisingly less bass than the two acts before them, but with the dance floor packed, audiences danced raucously shoulder to shoulder in the open-air venue.