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Movement 2009 (Detroit Electronic Music Festival)
By: Josh Shanahan
(taken from http://scenestermag.com/review_demf-movement-09.html
Richie Hawtin is playing on the main stage at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF). It’s Monday, May 29, 2000 and tens of thousands of people crowd into Detroit’s Hart Plaza as the festival draws to an end of a very successful first year.
2009 marked the 10th anniversary of the festival, which has seen its ups and downs. During the initial few years’ attendance continued to rise peaking at an estimated 1.7 million people in 2002. The years that followed saw the festival run into financial trouble. Despite positive reviews from many of the attendees and performers, organizer after organizer was unable to find a way to make the festival a financial success. It wasn’t until the current organizer Paxahau took over, and began charging cover charge that the financial troubles ended. The festival was no longer free, but was anything but expensive. This year an early bird ticket for the entire weekend cost a meager $40.
Once the festival began charging the number of attendees dropped. This wasn’t a bad thing. Rather than having 1.7 million people who weren’t sure what they were attending or why they had come, now there were 50,000 music fans who knew exactly why they were there. The music.
This year the lineup of talent had some of the biggest names in electronic music from many different genres. The festival still celebrated Detroit’s history as the birthplace of Techno by having a heavy stream of Techno’s big names, such as Carl Cox who headlined Saturday on the main stage, and Luciano and Loco Dice who headlined on the Sunday, but it also featured Benny Benassi and Bad Boy Bill catering to a more main stream crowd. The finale of the festival had two of the originators of Detroit Techno Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson who both received a hometown hero’s welcome as they closed the main stage.
This festival gives artists great exposure to people like me, who are electronic music fans but who might not follow Techno as closely other genres like Progressive or House. I have attended the festival each of the 10 years since it started. The one thing I notice every year is I’m always excited to see the headliners on the bill that I already know, but every year the best part ends up being seeing DJs who I’ve never seen before or sometimes never even heard of.
This year was no different. Going into the festival I was looking forward to seeing Nic Fanciulli and Carl Cox, but by the end of the weekend the highlights were Marco Carola and The Wighnomy Brothers, both of whom helped create the electric atmosphere at the Beatport Stage, which was the place to be all weekend.
One of the best parts about the festival is the value I received for the money I spent to go to Detroit. $40 dollars gave me three days of access to dozens of great artists from main stage headliners to up and coming talents across many different genres. It’s easy to spend more than $40 for cover at some nightclub parties! Between the value, the music, and the amazingly entertaining crowd who attends the festival, Movement is an experience that will not disappoint. I’ve gone 10 years in a row, and next year I will make it number 11
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Check out more of my ramblings at:
http://thedailyuniverse.blogspot.com/
Where Are The Tunes?
Good things happen to good people
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