FORT WORTH – Fans of electronic dance music are in for a new festival headed to North Texas this September. The creator of the event might come as a surprise to many. The EDM community will recognize him as DJ Diesel aka the “Dubstep Dad” but most fans know him as Shaquille O’Neal.
The basketball hall of famer announced Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival will kick off Sept. 16 at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth.
“Let me explain to you why I DJ,” O’Neal in a CBS interview. “From 13-40, three times a week, for an hour and a half, my adrenaline was people yelling at me. Whether it was cheers, whether it was boos, whether it was obscenities, I lived through that adrenaline rush. When I stopped playing, it was gone … When I went to a bass festival one time and watched the DJ perform for hours, it was the same feeling as the LA Lakers vs. the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 — Western Conference Finals.” O’Neal said.
The festival will feature 15 acts on two stages including Alison Wonderland, Kai Wachi, Sullivan King, Crankdat and showrunner DJ Diesel himself.
Organizers say the festival will host more than 10,000 fans at the venue and will feature some of O’Neal’s favorite food trucks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Ticket sales began on June 23.