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iDance Festival officially over - [spin from why TO is so diff. from Europe & MTL]
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| dEsidEL |
Some of you often wonder why the TO scene is so different than MTL and Europe. Why we can't have large electronic music festivals and why the Guvernment is the only place were a major party can take place and why it always has to be so crowded and no one seems to do anything about it.
Wells the answer is that at one point in time, the TO scene was actually headed in a direction that could possibly have fostered the foundation of an evolving Electronic music scene at a much larger scale.
The parties at the Better Living Center on the CNE grounds and the iDance festival were a perfect example. Both featured events with crowds numbering over 15,000 at times and were no doubt the largest scale electronic music parties in TO ever once featuing such DJ's as Sasha, Darren Emerson, Richie Hawtin, Matt Hardwick, Paul Oakenfold, and etc. The largest event at the Guv Complex say. Labour of Love would draw approximately only about 1/3 of the number of people that were once attending these events into a smaller more densely packed area.
So then some might be wondering, okay so what happened? Why don't we have these parties anymore and why is there no iDance event for 2003 like there was for 2000 and 2001?
To find out more click here:
http://www.tribemagazine.com/board/...ce&pagenumber=1
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with the first iDance, we were fighting something very concrete and easy to see. there was a municpal by-law that prohibited raves on city-owned properties and we wanted to abolish the by-law (not only because of the by-law itself, but because it potentially opened the floodgates to other, harsher legislation). iDance 2000 was a success as it resulted in the by-law being overturned by an overwhelming majority vote of 50-3. many toronto news reporters called it one of the biggest city council "flip-flops" of all time.
with the second iDance, it was harder to see what we were fighting unless you really took the time to watch our media interviews and to read our statements leading up to the event. in the year leading up to iDance 2001, the 'powers that be' (i.e. the police and certain city officials) decided that, since they could not legally stop these events from happening (i.e. because they tried and failed), they would stop the events by other means. they tried pricing promoters out of business by requiring absolutely ridiculous numbers of pay-duty police officers. they put improper pressure on venue owners, at times threatening to revoke liquor licences, causing some owners to cancel events (eg. the docks, the liquid adrenaline at the water park, etc.). they showed up at WEMF 2001 with an injunction based entirely on "profile-type" evidence in an attempt to stop the event from happening. they even waited until the very last minute to get the injunction, claiming exigent circumstances, so that the promoters would be unable to properly dispute the injunction. ultimately, they failed to stop WEMF 2001, but certainty not for lack of trying. these are all examples of things that the authorities were doing to stop events. the actions were unconstitutional and a violation of civil rights. they did it because they thought no one would ever notice or care.
THAT is what iDance 2001 was fighting. by drawing the attention of the media, the public and certain *good* politicians to the civil rights violations being committed, we hoped to change policy. if the police knew that their actions would end up in large numbers of harsh newspaper articles, maybe they would think long and hard before doing something improper.
did we succeed? it's hard to say because, like i said, there is no concrete way to measure the success like there was in 2000. but you know what? the police never tried to get an injunction like that again. and i have not heard of a single incident of the police threatening to revoke any venue owner's liquor licence since then.
so you decide.
-Klubmasta Will (iDance co-organizer)
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I believe that one of the only ways that the scene in TO will progress to a higher level and attain the glory that it once had in numbers can only come through the aid of corporate sponsorship mainly through liquor advertising since Goldclub's contract is ending in Oct. and newer federal legislation is forcing tobacco advertising from the scene. The only problem here is that many of these liquor companies might only jump on board if the prospects seem somewhat profitable. (Many have already started wetting their feet like Heineken Music and Smirnoff Experience). The largest liquored sponsored event in TO was I believe Smirnoff Experience @ the Liberty Grande on the CNE grounds.
Whether or not any of this will come to fruition only time will tell .. |
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| trancearmada |
| that's really sad that IDance is no more, I remeber going to the 2nd one and seing Dave Clark and Dave the Drummer for the first time, it was ing insane!!! |
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| samhouse |
i think it could happen...
or im hoping :/ |
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| c0ld 0ne |
save yourself the trouble and move to europe.
politics in Toronto is way too closed minded for massive sized raves to ever happen in this city again... |
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| ryanm |
I never went to one nor have I ever heard about them until recently. After reading through the articles and peoples viewpoints, I found it really interesting that the 'underground' warehouse scene is somewhat coorelated to the current state of the economy. I guess everything is kind of this way when you think about it but I would have never related these two together.
Great viewpoints for sure. Definitely worth reading, especially if you're bored at work |
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| crazedcanuck |
What's the big deal about "massive's" anyway??
I remember trying to get into 3 different events @ the Better Living Centre back in 2000, and all I saw was poor orginzation, and tons of kids lined up aroud the building a whole 3 hours after gates opened.
Each time I bought advance tickets, and each time the promoters would just jam everyone into the same line like cattle in a paddock, not to mention the venue is hardly that big to begin with.. probably around the same space as the entire Guv/Drink/Koolhaus/Skybar etc complex. Every massive I ended up selling my tickets to kids inline and going to Industry to actually hear the music from INSIDE the venue..
Bottom line is the events might have been decent, but giant events are hardly that great, and not to mention the addition of large number of kids 14yrs old and up hardly make it someplace I want to be. (nothin like seeing the kids convulse on whatever they were doing, then read about it the next day.. go positive press!!)
To each their own, but 15,000 + parties hardly are the answer to getting the Toronto scene on track.. if it even is offtrack in the firstplace.. |
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| discojoe |
| quote: | Originally posted by crazedcanuck
To each their own, but 15,000 + parties hardly are the answer to getting the Toronto scene on track.. if it even is offtrack in the firstplace.. |
you may have a point. but its a different feeling. there something so energizing about big crowds. about being a part of something big. going to intimate parties is great but i still love a big bash everyonce in a while. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by crazedcanuck
What's the big deal about "massive's" anyway??
I remember trying to get into 3 different events @ the Better Living Centre back in 2000, and all I saw was poor orginzation, and tons of kids lined up aroud the building a whole 3 hours after gates opened.
Each time I bought advance tickets, and each time the promoters would just jam everyone into the same line like cattle in a paddock, not to mention the venue is hardly that big to begin with.. probably around the same space as the entire Guv/Drink/Koolhaus/Skybar etc complex. Every massive I ended up selling my tickets to kids inline and going to Industry to actually hear the music from INSIDE the venue..
Bottom line is the events might have been decent, but giant events are hardly that great, and not to mention the addition of large number of kids 14yrs old and up hardly make it someplace I want to be. (nothin like seeing the kids convulse on whatever they were doing, then read about it the next day.. go positive press!!)
To each their own, but 15,000 + parties hardly are the answer to getting the Toronto scene on track.. if it even is offtrack in the firstplace.. |
the BLC holds more ppl than the Guv complex .. |
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| bucky |
| quote: | Originally posted by crazedcanuck
What's the big deal about "massive's" anyway??
To each their own, but 15,000 + parties hardly are the answer to getting the Toronto scene on track.. if it even is offtrack in the firstplace.. |
I disagree.... massives ARE great in that help to bring out more people who'll eventually start checking out smaller things. If everything is just in small clubs, people get bored with that easily and end up moving on - theres no growth there. |
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| crazedcanuck |
| quote: | Originally posted by bucky
I disagree.... massives ARE great in that help to bring out more people who'll eventually start checking out smaller things. If everything is just in small clubs, people get bored with that easily and end up moving on - theres no growth there. |
The only "new blood" exposed to that level of talent @ events like that tend to be on the younger side, so the addition of sketchy kids hardly leads to a blow-up and growth of a healthy scene. Those 19 and up who end up there as a first time would have eventually been dragged out by the same passionate friends to another event, not just a "massive".
Our scene isn't like other entertainment events that appeal to a large diverse market, thus pick up large number of stragglers who decide to expand deeper into the local scene after a large multinational event. Certainly they are there, but are usually brought by a friend already passionate about the scene, so the event is hardly that much of a cataclyst for trickle down growth. |
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| E2EK1EL |
BRING THOSE MASSIVE PARTIES BACK!
Those were the dayz ... I love runing away from my friends back then. (Always report back to homebase though LOL)
It was like a total different world in there! Nothing can compaire to that ... so many different type of ppl made the parties so much fun!
I know for a fact that UK scene has a better vibe then Holland. A few of my friends went to Holland and they said "it's worse then the GUV on a SAT night"
Who knows ... I'll have to see for myself. I might have to knock out some Amsterdam dudes if it's really like that. A massive "POW" to the HEAD! TOTA STYLE BITCH! |
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| Mosaic |
| we should have our own SARS-stock @ Downsview park :) |
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