7 Acts Not To Miss at Reaction New Year's Eve

Well Chicago, it looks like Winter is finally showing is ugly face in Chicago…just in time for you to be able to dance off the cold. Starting January 30th and going all the way to about 1:30 am on New year’s Day is Chicago’s premiere NYE celebration with Reaction. What started as a two day event last year at The Aragon Ballroom has turned into a mini-music festival of sorts. Again, spanning two days but taking over a much bigger venue in the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. To make a long story short – New Year’s Eve + great music + you = a hell of a great time. There’s so many good acts playing over the next two days, I wanted to take the time to highlight some of my favorite acts. Have fun and be safe guys, hope to see some of you out there!

Full schedule below!

Wednesday, January 30th

Rezz

The Hall – 6:25 – 7:25

After scouring through Rezz’s Soundcloud it was no mystery to me why Flux Pavillion spoke so highly of her and even compared her to Gesaffelstein. Her dark take on dance music will be the perfect way to kick off Reaction. It’s an incredible combination of genres into one free-flowing monster of a set that will make you want to wear nothing but all black clothing for the next few days.

ProbCause

The Warehouse – 7:00 – 8:00

ProbCause is the hottest rapper you might not have heard of yet. His masterful lyricism combined with top notch productions by the likes of GRiZ, Gramatik, and Exmag quickly put him on many’s radars. His music is a fantastic blend of soulful dance-able beats with silky lyrics that is both accessible but deserves a handful of listens to really understand each bar.

Deadmau5

The Warehouse – 12:00 – 1:30 am

Deadmau5 has not played a large full scale show in Chicago since he took over The Aragon Ballroom for a two night run October of 2011 so it’s needless to say that Chicago is salivating for a performance from the Mau5. Although he admitted on twitter that the weather is causing trouble for his full production to come through, I have no doubt that he will make up for it. He sporadically uploads snippets of new songs to Soundcloud, so it’s clear that he’s been busy in the studio, maybe we get to hear some new stuff on New Year’s Eve Eve, eh?

Thursday, December 31st

Cofresi

The Hall – 6:30 – 7:20

It’s day two and you know you have a lot of partying to do left. Why not kick it off with one of Chicago’s very own multi-faceted and very talented producer. If you catch both Cofresi and Probcause’s sets then you will get a double dose of this young talent. Cofresi shares in producing credit in some ProbCause songs along with being a live drummer for the rapper. His solo sets are something else though, and you will not leave disappointed when you can see what he can do with a few pads on stage.

Autograf

The Warehouse – 8:15 – 9:05

Autograf was born from Chicago’s very own Midnight Conspiracy and it gave the producers an outlet to showcase a different style of music. They were recently named as DJ Mag’s #1 artist to watch in 2016 and well deservedly. Their productions combine the best aspects of tropical house along with these gorgeous future-house inspired vibes that makes each song sound like it’s own different day of Summer. Might be the warmest show you see until Spring pops back up.

Chance The Rapper

The Warehouse – 10:55 – 11:55

If you happened to be at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015 then you caught one of my favorite sets of the summer when Chance closed out a hometown festival with absolute authority. That set included everything from motivational speeches, about 4 costume changes, a full choir and a backing band that created a whole new dimension to the performer’s already empowering charisma. Chance has always been proud of his hometown and every time he plays a hometown show it seems to be better than the last, will this New Year’s Eve set top it? Only one way to find out.

Skrillex

The Warehouse – 12:00 – 1:30 am

Well, you made it to 2016. Congratulations – what better way to ring in 2016 then with arguably the hottest producer of the last few years, Skrillex. Skrillex has been hard at work in 2015. When he wasn’t working on his party-starting collaboration project, Jack U, with Diplo he was busy helping Justin Bieber re-create his image and invaded the radio airwaves all over the world with “Sorry” and “Where Are U Now.” His huge catalog and variety of music makes every set a little bit different. We will just have to wait and see what the first 1.5 hours of music in 2016 Skrillex gives us.