This Weekend: Middlelands Mashes Up Knights, Lasers, Wenches, & Bass Drops

As noted previously, we’ve got a crap-ton of festivals coming up in and around the Houston area — seriously, there’s like a festival almost every other weekend for the next couple of months.

And this weekend, Friday, May 5th, through Sunday, May 7th, what has to be the weirdest damn music festival I’ve ever heard of makes its debut out in beautiful Todd Mission, Texas. If that location sounds familiar to you, well, that’s because it’s actually the Texas Renaissance Festival grounds where fairies, knights, orcs, barbarians, and all kinds of other quasi-fantasy-themed people roam in the fall months.

This time, though, the first-ever Middlelands EDM/hip-hop festival will be taking place amidst the trees and faux-old-timey pubs and cobblestone streets. Speaking of that, it’s not just the location that Middlelands will be, um, borrowing, but also some of the performers.

Yes, that means that while bass drops and beats and lasers and toilet-paper cannons blast through the leafy greenery, people dressed like fairies, witches, etc., will be roaming amongst the backpack-wearing, glowstick-wielding EDM kids. It’s gonna be a weird, weird, weird scene.

And yet, okay, I kinda like it. I mean, c’mon, why not? I’ll admit that I don’t truly get the thinking behind the mishmash going on here, since it doesn’t seem like there’s a huge crossover between cosplaying RenFesters and dance-happy dubsteppers, but it sure as hell sounds like it’ll be entertaining as hell.

The lineup, by the way, is pretty badass, even for a relative EDM outsider like me. I seriously like Kaskade (who was excellent at Day for Night, to my admitted surprise), Galantis, and Major Lazer, and I also like what I’ve heard, at least, from Datsik, AC Slater, and Bassnectar, among others. And hey, I always love local boy Fat Tony, so I’m psyched to see him playing alongside big-name out-of-town folks like these.

Beyond that, The Kid — who has become essentially my in-house resource for info on anything EDM-related — is a huge fan of a whole lot of other names in the list, particularly Getter, Marshmello, and What So Not, and the first three acts above. Hell, I actually first learned about Middlelands from her, which I’ll admit left me a bit floored. What can I say? It’s just not my area. (The full lineup’s over here, btw.)

Still, I like what I’m seeing of this, and the bizarro-ness of it appeals to me; check out the promo below, and you might agree:

Oh, and yes, Hodor will indeed be there. No, seriously; Kristian Nairn, the gentle giant’s real-life, non-TV, DJ alter ego, will be performing.

So there you go. The whole thing kicks off today, so get your ass out of the house (er, assuming you’re not at work or in school) and drive on up to Todd Mission.

Actually, one thing I should mention: Middlelands is, sadly, 18+ only, much to the teeth-gnashing chagrin of The Kid, who regularly complains about the inherent unfairness and stupidity of non-kid-friendly EDM shows and festivals. It’s an issue that’s bigger than Middlelands, admittedly, but in this case it’s stopped me from being able to take her to the festival, which is a damn shame.

Anyway. Get on out and party down with the fairies and goblins, y’all.