A year ago yesterday, Garrett Lockhart, known to fans as i_o, tragically passed away. It’s hard to believe it’s been a full year; then again, the past 12 months have seemed like a fever dream to a lot of people. However, to those close to G, it’s been a year bereft of their best friend.
In honor of the one-year anniversary of his passing, No Mana set out on a journey to recreate the two’s iconic B2B at the parliamentARTCAR from EDC Las Vegas 2019. The set ended up more packed than either of them would have expected (story on that from No Mana below) and it’s a tribute that only No Mana could make.
summer of 2019. it’s 12:55am and i’m at edc las vegas about to drink on the job with g at the parliament art car. it happens to be so windy that the kinetic field had to close. we were that crowd’s next option as we were literally right next to it. this is the most people i’ve ever imagined at an art car. without having said a word, i signal him for a cigarette. i’m not a smoker but i sarcastically do this every show with him so he knows the drill. enter second stage of our routine: rock paper scissors. i lose to him for the hundredth time in a row. now that our totally non-plur, bad-vibes intro has finished we start actually doing the thing. i work the faders while he stands on the dj tables. he works the faders while i spill 3 beers within 10 minutes (sorry sian). the whole hour was such a vibe that besides almost losing my socks and sandals from dancing the only words said between us during the set was “holy shit” and “hey play your track move so i can drop my dumb daft punk bootleg right after”; the rest was horseplay and kandii trading. no words can describe how fun this set was for us, the best i can do is say what happened. rest in peace you idiot. no tears only techno now.
The recreation may not be entirely accurate, but at this point, that’s not important. What’s important is the thought and intent behind this moving tribute that you can now, to the best of everyone’s ability, live over and over again. Listen below.
