It started out as a joke, as a response to the explosive interview Bob Lazar did on the Joe Rogan Experience. A 20-year-old named Matty Roberts, who lives in Bakersfield, California wanted to see for himself what in the universe was inside that secret government base, Area 51, and he knew he wasn’t alone.

So, Roberts created a satirical Facebook event, “Storm Area 51 – They Can’t Stop All of Us” and subsequently, the internet exploded.

“We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry,” wrote Roberts. “If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”

Roberts at the time, surely had no idea that he was about to start a global movement, an internet dogpile that would become so widely publicized that the Air Force itself would have to issue their own grim statement:

“The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets,” an Air Force spokeswoman, said in response to the meme.

Well, now, Roberts wants to change his tune, somewhat — he wants to turn his “Storm Area 51” event into an EDM rave instead of an insurgence operation. Because, he argues, it’s way safer that way.  

“It was meant to be funny,” Roberts told EDM.com. “I want to do something cool out there, now that we have a bunch of people, but I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

Naturally, as the number of people pledging to show up steadily climbed, to 100,000, to 500,000, to 1 million and now almost 2 million people, so too did Roberts’ unease. He had kicked a stone and started a landslide, one that the government was obviously watching with trepidation.

And when two million people pledge themselves to a cause — even one as insane as bum rushing Area 51 — you have to anticipate that some of them will actually be crazy enough to show up. Even if it’s just one out of every 1000 people who clicked the “Going” button, that’s still 2000 Kyles, rock throwers and Naruto runners, present and ready for action. No matter what the government might be ready to throw at them.   

So, Roberts decided to pivot. Instead of cancelling, calling off or denouncing his movement, he’s decided to try and turn it into a music festival, out there in the desert, just outside of the infamous government alien-research base. A lot of EDM, indie rock and up-and-coming music artists have reached out to him already, he says, and like a wing-chung master, Roberts wants to take the momentum behind his meme and redirect it, directly into what will surely be, the biggest, wildest and most spontaneous party Area 51 has ever known.

Who knows? Maybe the aliens will even show up, and rave the fuck out with us.

That’s right, us — because, if the stars align for Roberts and this music festival actually works out, you can bet some sweet alien cheeks that Rooster Magazine is going to be there. An event like this, is not one that we could, in good conscience, miss — it would be a historical event, something to brag about to your great-grandkids, something like Woodstock, except with aliens and in the desert instead of with hippies on a farm.

And hell, we might even get to witness a bunch of people rolling face and tripping balls actually try and make a move on the government base when the music ends. Watching a mob of people on drugs charge a top-secret federal research facility would make the 18-hour drive from Boulder worth it, in-and-of itself.

No official announcement has been made in regards to the Storm Area 51 music festival, BUT, if you go to their official website, there is a banner at the top, that teases in bold lettering:

“SOMETHING BIG IS COMING… Stay tuned for a special announcement.”

So, we may know very soon whether or not the Storm Area 51 festival is in the stars or not. All there is to do for now, is to wait and hope and see what happens.