Kaskade’s Sun Soaked Festival Ready For OC Beachside Smash, With A Little Help From The Ryans

Live events are built on community, and some are more obvious than others. One grassroots organization has swept the nation and gone from feel-good meme to full marketing juggernaut, bringing thousands of people together across the country to raise awareness of their cause, fund raise and — OK, it’s really just for fun.

“Kaskade, Ryan Raddon, saw the Ryan Meetup on Instagram, and the first interaction was him commenting on one of their posts,” says Jodi Nelson, media director for Kaskade, who in April played closing sets at Coachella’s Sahara Stage. “He saw there was a Ryan Meetup happening at Coachella saw it and was like, ‘Hey, make sure, if I have time, I would love to do this.’”

The not-for-profit Ryan Meetup simply invites anyone named Ryan to join in on the fun with other people named Ryan, with themed parties at sporting events and other destinations such as a Mall of American takeover that included hundreds of Ryans simultaneously riding a rollercoaster in an attempt to break a world record.

With the only true rule being “Absolutely No Bryans” — for obvious reason — the Ryan Meetup has struck a chord, with more than 100,000 Instagram followers and local chapters across the country. The Ryan movement was primed for what may have been its biggest moment yet at the iconic SoCal music festival, to be therefore known as “Rychella.”

“He had such a good time,” Nelson said. “It was the second-most-talked about thing that came from his Coachella experience. His performance being the first, of course, but the Ryan meetup was a good second.”

Nelson explains that Kaskade “really rolls deep” in the Ryan cause, with some of his closest team also being Ryans, including manager Ryan Henderson at BLK Matter and tour manager Ryan “Bubba” Ginnetty. “We have no Bryans.”

That goodwill and belonging led to an official collaboration for Kaskade’s annual Sun Soaked festival, an event curated and overseen by Ryan himself, in partnership with Insomniac Events and taking place Sept. 12 at Huntington State Beach. On the bill this year are two sets by Kaskade, including a b2b with BUNT., as well as Cassian, D.O.D., Lavern, Matroda and more. It’s the festival’s second year with Insomniac as a production partner, and this year features a new performance stage as well as improved footprint. Kaskade is represented by UTA.

They’re expecting their usual 25,000 fans — and, now, a bunch of Ryans.

The official Sun Soaked Ryan Meetup is to include a VIP hangout called Ryan Meetup HQ — proper rydentifcation required, with free T-shirts for the first 250 Ryans that show up as well as some “prestigious Ryan awards” to be presented. There’s even official Ryan merch and a hotel block.

“We already have Ryans that have bought extra tickets and are giving them away to Ryans, so more Ryans can attend,” says Ryan Beene, one of six directors at Ryan Meetup. “I always talk about the Ryans and say it’s just so beautiful and inclusive because there’s no qualifier except that your name’s Ryan, right? I think Kaskade is such a big part of that because his shows are so welcoming and inclusive and loving. It’s very similar vibes with the Ryans.”

Beene says the hotel block was nearly full and there’s at least 120 Ryans RSVP’d to attend, but that has a way of swelling up at the end when the event gets closer and more Ryans get wind.

However, Sun Soaked itself is nearly sold out, so Ryans and non-Ryans will need to act fast.

“Our RSVPs on Partiful run pretty low,” Beene says. “In Minnesota, we had 900 RSVP and 1,400 came, so we’ll see day of, you know?

“Our favorite thing is to find a Ryan in the crowd, someone who didn’t know it was happening. You can still hang with us even if your name’s not Ryan, but you don’t get the name tag.”