Summer Soul Festival offers a taste of C-U’s DJ scene

The Summer Soul Festival is back on Sunday, May 25th, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tablefunk Muzic Group is collaborating once again with Pour Bros Craft Taproom and Jon’s Pipe Shop and Smoking Lounge in an effort spearheaded by Andre Gray — better known as Dj-I.c.Dre’. Summer Soul rings in the summer with a downtown party specifically catered to mature audiences.

This event will feature the skilled sounds of eight area DJs, showcasing their stuff to help Champaign celebrate Memorial Day weekend 2025. Now in its fourth year, Summer Soul Festival has grown into one of Champaign’s hottest music tickets. “To see it grow is a magnificent thing,” commented Gray.

Even though this is a let-your-hair down kind of event — one that is sure to be endless fun, guaranteed by the variety and skill of the DJ performers — it is also one where attendees can gain unique insight about the CU music scene. And more than just listen to music, “people are able to just stay in one location to eat, drink, smoke cigars, socialize, network; it’s all in one spot,” explains Gray.

For music enjoyers, this is a great fun social event and a great opportunity to get a taste of the mature side of Champaign’s nightlife from some of Champaign’s best sound connoisseurs. Gray mentioned that this will be a certified grown-folks event: “It’s a 21 and up vibe, the age group that normally attends is 26 to 60.” 

It is a ticketed fest, so be sure to bring $10 for entry, some money to enjoy some of Jon’s Pipe Shop’s Cigars, a couple dollars for drinks, and more for Rosatti’s Pizza by the slice, which is the catering partner.

When discussing the event further, Gray mentioned it being an exciting opportunity for him to give back and share his platform with some talented DJs that deserve to be heard: “Most of these guys probably never DJ’ed in front of three to five hundred people, so it’s an opportunity that I’m extending to them, since when I was coming up, nobody really did it for me.”

Performing will be: DJ Belly, DJ Nasty, DJ Rollie, DJ West Child, DJ Rico Mash, DJ Terrence Funk, Greg 2 Hype, DJ Matrix, and lead event organizer Dj-I.c.Dre. Each DJ will be spinning a variety of danceable soul music for one hour, with doors opening at 1 p.m. and music starting at 2 p.m. This festival is expected to feel like a whole-town get-together bringing out the best from these DJs, who run the gamut in terms of age, background, and artistic style. It’s the type of event that rewards you for coming and staying for the duration, but also doesn’t cheat you if you can only catch a portion.

I spoke with Denzel McCauley, who spins and curates as DJ Rollie, about the role of the DJ and the C-U music scene before the event. “As a DJ, it’s about taking people on a journey,” he opened with.

DJ Rollie has been highly active in the C-U music scene in recent years, supporting original performers, spinning for large parties, and curating successful music-based events since starting out organizing parties with K-Squared Events as a University of Illinois student. He told me that this is the kind of event, with its rotation of DJs, that will “kinda culminate ‘what is C-U’ when it comes to the nightlife industry.”

DJ Rollie explained to me — in his experience being super active in the scene for the past three years — that the art of DJing centers a DJ’s ability to balance the expression of personal style with a responsiveness to crowd tastes. Not dissimilar from rapping or singing performance artists, a good DJ is remembered more for how well they connect with an audience than for how much raw skill they may display. This audience-focused connection ethic is one that Rollie has observed as culturally consistent among C-U DJs. “We try to make everyone feel visible whenever they show up to any event of ours,” he said.

Since its conception in the mid 20th century, soul — as a music genre — has shared crossover identities with nearly every other quintessential American music genre: rock, R&B, blues, house, disco, and hip hop. Consequently, Summer Soul Festival invites unrestrained genre-bending, unleashing the creative genius and stylistic flair from the eight DJs. It is sure to be a recipe for musical enjoyment from start to finish. Come out and experience what’s sure to be an exciting gathering, featuring the grooves that connect us all.

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.