America’s economy limps along and our leaders bicker on, so how refreshing that Sir Richard Branson for the third consecutive year offered recession-battered music lovers another world-class music festival for free, only requesting the good karma be paid forward with a small donation to benefit homeless youth.

Deadmau5 made history as the first electronic dance music act to close the festival on a stage previously played only by bands and hip-hop acts. Anyone new to deadmau5 definitely left schooled as the multi-genre Canadian producer, with a spectacular full-stage theatrical LED lighting extravaganza, struck a zillion-watt milestone toward becoming a hau5-hold name. Mau5 fans in mau5 gear, many carrying homemade replicas of Joel Zimmerman’s ingenius trademark giant smiling mouse-head were everywhere.

Deluged by heavy rain the week before and the day after the festival, Columbia was remarkably dry the day of. Though many came prepared in boots, only a few raindrops plopped from the cloud-filled sky as the weather gods bestowed sunny warmth and occasional breezes. The majority throngs of youth were joined by some families with young children and scattered older music fans.

Hyper-encyclopedic live music and video mixing Eclectic Method, represented by Jonny Wilson, launches the Dance Forest stage with a dizzying cornucopia of cultural references (in the space of minutes, for example, Family Guy TV show, John Lennon, Beavis and Butthead, the Jackson Five, the Sex Pistols, Mariah Carey) covering last century to present and genres from country & western to punk rock to electro to hip-hop to drum ‘n’ bass to dubstep. Wilson, who also played the 9:30 Club pre-party, climaxes with drum ‘n’ bass and Marty McFly’s prophetic words from Back to the Future: “Guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it.”

Up next, 19-year old North Carolinian phenom Porter Robinson has the crowd rocking out to a high energy set of electro house, moombahton, trance and dubstep from his new Spitfire EP on Skrillex’s OWSLA label. Closing he teases with “One” by Swedish House Mafia then drops Avicii’s “Seek Bromance” remix to the crowd’s delight.

Renee Forrester at the booth for Sasha Bruce Youthwork (“DC’s only emergency shelter for at risk and homeless youth”) says of her day so far, “It’s been amazing! This year our F.A.M.E. (Forgiving All My Enemies) go-go band just performed, so we’re on this high because it was so great to see some of our youth play. I was there for the whole set!”

People trekking to the West stage are greeted by a county fair-ish aroma of manure. Dane Hopkins of Charm City Hospitality explains, “It was really muddy this morning so we put out straw mixed with manure to soak up the water. Sorry!”

Oblivious, the crowd for Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club leaps around joyfully, singing along to “What You Know.” Sean Barletta, a Rockville, Maryland fan, says, “They played a new song which was really great. Everyone loved it, but when they’ve played their known songs, everyone has been going crazy!” At the end of their final song, “I Can Talk,” lead singer Alex Trimble calls out, “Thank you so much! See you next time! Cheers!”

Austin indie rockers Okkervil River fill the Pavilion with a raucous rendition of “Sloop John B” followed by “A Girl in Port” and other songs spiked with exquisite trombone, violin, steel guitar, or bugle interludes. “I’m really happy they’re here,” smiles Heather Williams, a fan from Wilmington, Delaware. They end with “Unless It’s Kicks,” lead singer Will Sheff playing his acoustic guitar lying beside it onstage. Through a wall of distortion he shouts, “Thank you! We’re Okkervil River! Have a wonderful day!”

On the West stage, Detroit Def Jam rapper Big Sean wraps up, “My album’s out and shit but whatever. The most important thing I want to leave you all with is make sure you do what the fuck you want to do in this life, man. Don’t let the motherfuckers tell you shit. You can’t listen to nobody but yourself. You never want to look back on life wishing you woulda, coulda, shoulda did anything and that’s the realist fucking shit in the world. If you can feel that shit make some noise.” The crowd cheers and he closes with “My Last.”

Calvin Harris, sleek in a black dress shirt and trousers, arms in the air or sometimes jumping in time has drawn a dense sea of bobbing heads which morphs into a mosh pit as the crowd sings along to Swedish House Mafia’s “Save The World.” Everywhere within earshot spontaneous dancing ignites. Harris takes the mic and says, “My name is Calvin Harris! It’s a pleasure to be here! Thank you for having me! If you’re feeling good I want to see your hands in the air right now!” Thousands of hands fly up and start clapping in time.

At the Whooznxt Book the Band stage local Ellicott City alternative band Clear for Takeoff throttles excited fans. One singer says, “This is probably the best show of our lives. Thank you, Virgin Mobile, and this bee flying around me, and all you guys who voted for us! It’s absolutely amazing! We’re going to play a new song we’re recording in New Jersey. It’s about hate and how hate sucks! This is a battle against hate, are you with me? Let’s battle hate together right now!”

At the Pavilion, Grace Potter in a little black dress whips about her long straight blonde hair and wails gut-wrenching Robert Plant-esque blues rock with spine-tingling high-pitched screams a la David Lee Roth, a life-sized stuffed white tiger looking on. Introducing “Nothing But the Water,” she says, “I wrote a song a long time ago about what water can do. Sometimes there’s destruction. Sometimes there’s rebirth.” Strutting like Tina Turner and briefly attacking the drums, Potter belts out “Medicine,” the crowd goes wild, and the drummer throws her sticks to the crowd.

On the West stage Australia’s Cut Copy conjure a happy sing-along dancing frenzy with “Hearts on Fire.”

At the dance stage dance-punk band !!!’s (chk chk chk) singer Nic Offer prances and poses like a gawky curly-haired young Mick Jagger in a blue plaid short-sleeve shirt, navy shorts and loafers, sometimes doing something like the macarena, sometimes leaping atop a bank of speakers windmilling his arms.

At the Pavilion, godmother of punk and poet/activist Patti Smith walks on stage and takes a photo of the crowd with a large black box camera and calls, “Hello, everybody!” before opening with “Redondo Beach.” A red-haired pony-tailed young woman in a rainbow-colored tutu at the top of the lawn screams along lyrics with heartfelt devotion. Before “We Shall Live Again,” Smith says, “The most beautiful thing about any festival is that it’s a gathering. We’re all together, celebrating life, celebrating our love, and celebrating our freedom — which we will not let anyone take away under any pretense!”

Smith is booed as well as cheered commemorating the loss of lives and freedoms surrounding 9/11. “Rise up, people! Don’t be afraid! Use! Your! Voice!” On lighter notes she dedicates “Pissing in a River” to the memory of Amy Winehouse, brings the house together with “Because the Night,” and ends with “Gloria,” shouting “G L O R I A!” She smiles broadly, waves good-bye, blows a kiss, and saunters off the stage. Love her or hate her, a memorable presence.

James Murphy of the late LCD Soundsystem DJ’s on tables set up at the edge of the dance stage plays soulful retro disco house and later a mellow downtempo groove. At 7:35 p.m., he picks up the mic and notes, “It’s almost dark, two more minutes and we’ll have sunset,” as the Bee Gees sing “Dancin’ – yeah!”

Sir Richard Branson has been spotted getting into a golf cart after guest-serving drinks near the West stage but we’ve lost him. Cee Lo in a white tee and black pants (in stark contrast to his 2006 Virgin Fest appearance in Roman gladiator regalia with Gnarls Barkley) hits a sweet spot with the crowd when he sings “F#@& You!” which they shout along with him and dance around merrily. “We’re working on a new album right now that is going to blow your fucking mind, I promise! Real hip-hop is on its way back. This I can promise you,” he says to cheers.

“Amazing audience, and a nice loving hippie-vibe over the whole thing. We’d love to come back! Cheers, Sir Richard!”

TV on the Radio’s “Staring at the Sun” sounds muddy at the top of the Pavilion lawn but fans frantically dance to it on the dark grassy hill anyway.

Sweden’s Teddybears make a dramatic entrance on a pitch black stage with a massive mirrored teddy bear head with bright red lit eyes staring out from the base of the DJ booth where two DJ’s and a percussionist with teddy bear heads and suits suddenly appear. One of bears shouts, “Columbia! Baltimore! How are you doing tonight?” before the first song’s hook drops: “Better watch out for that Devil’s Music!” from their latest album.

At the Pavilion Akron blues duo the Black Keys play “Girl Is on My Mind” to a rapt crowd, and at the Dance Forest, Ghostland Observatory is killing it with Rage Against the Machine force, but for serious dance music fans it’s time to gather at the West stage to see what all the excitement over deadmau5 is about.

Wherever one stands, deadmau5’s stage is literally a brilliant sight to behold. The stunningly, massively better-built and envisioned mau5-trap, this state-of-the-art theatrical lighting system that fills the entire stage elicits ooohs and ahhhs from the wide-eyed crowd as giant Rubik’s Cube squares turn, or new light patterns ripple or blossom or fan across the stage in infinite variations, with strobes, lasers, rotating spotlights and fog also deployed for maximum effect.

At the helm high above the stage floor stands deadmau5 with his LED-wired mau5-head — which changes facial expressions — orchestrating New World electronic soundscapes encompassing electro-house to soaring epic dramatic techno flights to meditative trance to neo-classical to soul-quivering dubstep, including an enchanting showstopper track with the ethereal voice of SOFI. Awe-inspiring beyond what any band or electronic act has yet presented, deadmau5’s dream stage ends like maybe a peek into the future should: with wonder and appreciation for magnificence possible. Thank goodness Hurricane Irene and her power outages were well behind us.

Zimmerman climbs down from his tower looking oddly small in his red baseball cap and tee shirt, walks to the edge of the stage, lifts his arms raising a triumphant cheer, bows low to the crowd, and walks off with a big smile and a wave.

A day of historic “I was there” music memories in the depths of a great recession. How amazing is that?

From New York, Teddybears (Patrik Arve, Joakim Åhlund, Klas Åhlund) sum up the day nicely: “It was lovely! A lot of cool other acts. We saw Patti Smith, who was awesome! Black Keys, James Murphy, !!!, Cee Lo, etc. Amazing audience, and a nice loving hippie-vibe over the whole thing. We’d love to come back! Cheers, Sir Richard!”

Review by Mary Ishimoto Morris

Images by Kathy Vitkus

Additional reporting by Kathy Vitkus, Emily Dye and Linda Morris