Tree0ninE Fest, June 28 and 29

Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29

The Rust Belt, 533 12^th Avenue, East Moline IL

Boasting two days' worth of amazing music, food, and vendors, the inaugural Tree0ninE Festival will be presented by the Yabba Dabbas House of Glass collaboration at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the June 28 and 29 event designed to celebrate, educate, and advocate for local tree culture through a smoking lineup of national touring artists alongside favorite local and regional musicians.

Performing on June 28 at 9:45 p.m., festival headliner Girl Talk (aka Pittsburgh's Gregg Gillis) has been constructing meticulous sample-based music since 2000. His early work was known for its raw experimental nature, but by the release of his 2006 album, Night Ripper, that style evolved into genre-smashing, breakneck-paced party jams. Night Ripper consisted of over 300 songs, from wildly disparate Top 40 genres and eras, mashed up and layered together into one cohesive collage. It received critical acclaim, and the attention resulted in a rapidly growing fan base. Gillis ended up quitting his biomedical engineering day job one year later.

Girl Talk continued to develop his signature style with the release of Feed the Animals in 2008 and All Day in 2010. Each album grew increasingly detailed and complex. He steadily toured over the following years, bringing his renowned confetti-covered and sweat-soaked performances to venues ranging from house party basements to major festivals. By 2014, Gillis began focusing on collaborative work producing hip hop for some of his favorite rap artists. That same year, he released Broken Ankles, an EP with Freeway. Since Broken Ankles, Gillis has steadily earned an impressive list of production credits and collaborations with his artistic contemporaries including, but not limited to, Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain, Tory Lanez, Young Nudy, Bas, Cozz, Erick The Architect (from Flatbush Zombies), Smoke DZA, and Don Q.

Born Juaquin James Malphurs, the Tree0ninE Festival's 8 p.m. performer on June 29 is global icon and rapper more commonly known as Waka Flocka Flame. Waka is known for putting trap back on the map, dropping the first volume of his street classic Salute Me or Shoot Me that caught fire with songs “We On The Way, “Dreads N Gold,” and his breakout single “O Let’s Do it.” The mixtape’s buzz allowed Waka to release his proper debut Flockaveli, which peaked at number two on the Billboard 100. With many platinum signature hit records including “No hands” and “Wild Boy,” there’s a high chance Waka’s music will be played at your party. His epic touring and performance style are some of the reasons he’s earned the nickname “Turn Up God.” A style that translates into the EDM world Waka also calls his second home now, he fell in the love with the genre during a tour in Europe a few years ago. "Music is like anger management,” he says. “It’s fun. You get to express yourself.”

Following Waka Flocka Flame's performance, Saturday's 10 p.m. headliners are the DJ set of Chromeo, the Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. As the artists state: "'Adult' is a loaded thing to call someone in this day and age, since adults have basically wrecked our planet. But for Chromeo, to be an adult doesn't mean being a cog in the square world's machinery. Rather, it signifies evolution, sophistication, and nuance. Aging like wine or cheese, not like fruit or milk. While we do so, how much of our groove do we actually choose to hold on to? Chromeo says: 'all of it.' As you already know (unless you've been living in a vibes vacuum since the early 2000s), Chromeo is the paramount funk band of our time. Friends since childhood, Dave and Pee have built an empire of soigné, danceable, and intelligent music over the course of two decades. Few duos can claim this kind of psychic togetherness and evergreen staying power. Really, who else? One must venture into the stratosphere to find precedents. And now that Dave's double-breasted suits are popping and Pee's turtlenecks are in effect mode, it's safe to say that we can rely on Chromeo to stick around for years to come."

Joining these gifted artists for two days of spectacular Tree0ninE Festival performances are: Tropidelic; Jon Wayne & the Pain; Pimps of Joytime; Sir Woman; the Kris Lager Band; Ryan Jeter's Mind at Large; The Dawn; Rude Punch; The Wontu Trees; The Tripp Brothers; DJ Buddha; The Crew; and Flabbergastor.

Terrace Cannabis the official dispensary of the 2024 Tree0ninE Festival, with the event's sponsors including: Peaceful Pines Hemp Farm; White Rhino Products; Glasslab303; Herbn Street by Kalvva Apparel Inc.; Club13 Herbals; Rifbar Vapes; Reyes Law Group P.C.; Rexroat Sound; Lobo’s Salsa; the Haller Company; and the Quad City Electric Company.

Tree0ninE Festival events at the Rust Belt will take place on June 28 from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. and on June 29 from 2:30 to 11:30 p.m. Admission is $20-120, patrons must be ages 21 and older, and more information and tickets are available by visiting Tree0ninE.com.