Skyline Festival Finds Its Beat in LA’s Arts District [Review]

The fifth installment of Skyline Festival unfolded exactly where Angelenos would expect an underground event of this scale: an industrial, warehouse-lined pocket of the Arts District on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles. From February 28 – March 1, the fête, presented by Insomniac’s Factory 93, drew the underground’s upper echelon to Ace*Mission Studios, a sprawling production complex near the Sixth Street Viaduct. 

Across four stages – each named after a different part of LA: East Side, West Side, Downtown (hosted by Resident Advisor), and Arts District – Skyline transformed the creative campus into a gritty concrete playground celebrating rave culture in an area long associated with LA's underground dance scene. The irony? This was Skyline’s first year in what ought to be its long-term home.

Featured images: Ace*Mission Studios (Keiki Lani-Knudsen) and the East Side stage areas (Jamal Eid)

Ace*Mission Studios is the festival’s fourth venue since it debuted in 2022 at ROW DTLA, a chic mixed-use complex several blocks away. In 2023, Skyline moved to Exposition Park – an early reflection of its growing footprint following a sold-out first edition that drew more than 7,000 attendees. From 2024-2025, Skyline was held at downtown LA’s Gloria Molina Grand Park. It went on to become the park’s largest ticketed event in history before the festival pivoted to Ace*Mission Studios this year.

While relocating an event that attracts thousands each year carries operational risk, Factory 93 facilitated the transition so smoothly that first-time attendees might have believed Skyline had always taken place at its new site. Though it might not surprise anyone that Factory 93 pulled it off with apparent ease, given Insomniac’s long-standing expertise in dance/electronic event production, the seamlessness of this shift is a defining reason why many have deemed Skyline’s first year at Ace*Mission Studios a definitive success. 

With logistics that simply worked – from security, ticket scanning, and food and beverage lines that flowed, to an easily accessible rideshare area just steps from the entrance, and, most important of all, ample space to dance and meander – for many, set conflicts were the most challenging aspect of Skyline. It’s a champagne problem, yet one to be expected when a lineup reads like a “best of” house and techno list. 

"From our perspective, Skyline really stands out compared to many other festivals we've played. The lineup is incredibly diverse, which creates a unique atmosphere because every stage has its own identity and sound. You can move through completely different musical worlds within the same festival, and that keeps the energy fresh all day long," 999999999 tell Beatportal. 

The Italian duo's propulsive, acid-driven strain of hard techno has taken them to stages around the world, including Skyline's West Side stage, where they delivered Saturday's closing set. 

"Another thing that impressed us was how well the whole event was organized. The stages are spacious, the crowd can actually enjoy the music without feeling compressed, and everything flows smoothly from one area to another," they add. "That makes a huge difference for both artists and the audience. The hospitality was also amazing. You can feel that the team behind the festival really cares about the artists and the overall experience."

Spanning 68 acts – including Richie Hawtin, Joseph Capriati, KI/KI, and Beltran – Skyline brought the global power and sound of the underground to LA. But some of the festival’s strongest talent didn’t require a flight. 

As the city's flagship house and techno festival, Skyline plays a powerful role in its dance/electronic landscape, reliably bringing the scene’s best to LA while elevating its own tastemakers to a wider audience. Now in its third year, the Arts District stage sources most of its performers locally, giving residents and visitors alike the chance to discover or reacquaint themselves with some of the most influential and ascendant selectors the City of Angels has to offer. 

"The platform Skyline provides is extremely important to LA’s underground dance scene, especially for the local artists who are actively shaping the culture from the ground up," says LA native artist, dancer, and DJ Juliet Mendoza (pictured below), who's been an essential voice in the scene since the mid-90s and played the Arts District stage on Saturday. "LA has so much talent, but the reality is, a lot of artists come up without the support systems or visibility they deserve. There’s a lot of gatekeeping, and sometimes it can feel like your own city doesn’t even know who you are or what you’re building."

I've seen firsthand how powerful it is when platforms like Skyline create space for local voices. It gives artists who have been grinding in the underground for years a chance to be seen, heard, and respected on a larger stage. Platforms like Skyline help bridge that gap between the underground and the wider community. They give local artists the shine they’ve earned while also showing the world the depth of talent coming out of Los Angeles. — Juliet Mendoza

This platform is especially critical for the continuity it brings to LA's famously fragmented dance music landscape, where events are spread across areas like downtown, Hollywood, East LA, and Silverlake, rather than clustered in a single district.

"LA’s underground dance scene is thriving right now with so many new parties and artists coming up. However, we’re often overlooked on an international level due to our lack of permanent club institutions that other cities like New York, London, Berlin, etc. have," says fun2bjane, who performed on the Arts District stage last year and appeared this year on the Downtown stage. "Skyline’s platform is important because it helps to shine a light on our scene by putting LA artists on and creating a space where local talent can play alongside top-tier international artists."

Importantly, Factory 93 approaches its local programming with intentionality, she adds, noting that the dedicated stage "gives local artists the opportunity to play later time slots rather than just opening slots on the other stages."

Featured images: Juliet Mendoza (Brandon Densley)

In addition to Mendoza and fun2bjane, the Arts District stage featured hours of music from fellow local tastemakers, such as Alex Casillas, Star Eyes, and Gay Felony. Each brought a distinctive sound and personality to Skyline's sole indoor stage, embodying the idiosyncrasy and flair inherent to LA's underground scene. 

This was the first year that Factory 93 presented the stage warehouse-style – a creative choice that added a symbolic layer to a festival that functioned like an homage to underground music's history and culture. Between minimal but tasteful production and a fog machine that felt indispensable, the Arts District stage kept the focus squarely on the music at a time when many dance/electronic events prioritize spectacle. Judging by the respectful, attentive silence of those spread across its shadowy floor, it was clear that the crowd understood the underground has always been about more than its quintessential black garb.

Beyond offering a different experience compared to the more stylized outdoor East Side, West Side, and Downtown stages, the Arts District's new indoor format also changed how crowds moved through the festival, says fun2bjane:

Since the Arts District stage was indoors this year, during the hotter hours of the day, a lot of people gravitated there and were likely introduced to local artists they might not have discovered otherwise. It was so sick to see friends playing to full crowds all day.

Featured images: The Arts District stage (Scott Hutchinson) followed by the Downtown stage (Jamal Eid)

While the Arts District leaned into the different flavors shaping LA's local scene, across its East Side, West Side, and Downtown stages, Skyline captured a broader continuum of electronic sounds. Featuring sets from Beltran, DJ Gigola, The Blessed Madonna b2b HAAi, and Marco Carola b2b Chris Stussy, the East Side stage hosted a hybrid of minimal and groove-guided styles, with flashes of high-velocity techno in between.

Meanwhile, the West Side stage spiked adrenaline with charged-up performances from selectors working across tech house and underground, industrial, and hard strains of techno, like CHASEWEST, VTSS, and Fumi. The Downtown stage was where all of these sounds – and a few outliers – converged in lively, experimental sets from artists like Etari, Ben UFO, and Fundido, bringing all the energy and no rules.

Featured images: The East Side stage (Jamal Eid; Brandon Densley)

In contrast to the minimalism of the Arts District stage, Skyline's three other stages brought clean, cool designs to the grounds that drew inspiration from the area's urban infrastructure. The West Side stage, modeled after steel transmission towers and situated opposite the Fourth Street Bridge, was a standout installation that further reinforced the idea that the music and Skyline's setting were so naturally aligned it was hard to tell which belonged to which.

"The vibe was incredible from start to finish," 999999999 say of the West Side stage. "We played the closing set, and even at the very end, the crowd was still fully locked in, with crazy energy on the dance floor. When you see people still dancing like that after a full day of music, you know the festival has something special."

Among the country's growing roster of house and techno festivals, Skyline has carved out its niche through its scale, a clear commitment to the underground's industrial warehouse roots, and a bill of cross-continental caliber. Indeed, it possesses something special – and something irreplicable too: the heart, spirit, and soul of LA.

Featured image: The West Side stage (Jamal Eid)

See each of Skyline's stages live in action below: