We made it out alive again this year. It was harder for me this time, mostly because I had spent a week in New York right before but it was so worth it! Here’s a list of my festival highlights…or at least what I can remember of it…
Friday night:
After a night of wandering around, seeing Delano Smith playing outdoor at TV bar and getting really silly due to the excess amount of gin in our body; we decided it was time to head to our hotel suite and get some rest. On our way we heard pumping techno music coming from the last floor of a fifteen story building. It was enough to convince us to get up there to check what was going on. We discovered this ridiculous party where the bartender was not serving your typical vodka fix but rather balloon infused with dentist’s laughing gas. I’ll let you imagine the rest…
Saturday:
It wasn’t easy to wake up but I couldn’t say no to a trip to Submerge, the mystical vinyl shop. An hour later and a couple of hundreds less in my bank account; I arrived to Movement festival right on time to catch Greg Wilson’s disco infused set. I then checked out Benoit & Sergio on the Beatport stage. They won the crowd’s heart with their song Principles. They delivered a great live set that was made all the more enjoyable by a sunny afternoon. Luckily for the Montreal crowd, they’ll be at Piknik Electronik this Sunday. You’ll have to thank Mutek for that one. Todd Terje doing a tribute to Donna Summer hit the right spot. Dj set, remixes and original tracks; there’s nothing the Scandinavian can do wrong. This festivals first day ended with la crème de la crème of Detroit techno. Andres, Marcellus Pittman, Kyle Hall, Jay Daniel and Mike Huckaby all proved that guys from Detroit have more soul and skills than anybody out there. It was then afterparty time. Once again, the place to be on Saturday was 1515 Broadway where Kai Alce and Marcellus Pittman were in charge of keeping the party going. It’s a café, so no alcohol was sold. Thank god for our lost souls, you could go upstairs near the dj booth where the locals were nice enough to give some us vodka, rum and whiskey. We then got invited to a twisted Jacuzzi party…but it wouldn’t be proper to talk about it here.
Sunday:
Getting woken up by an Indian wedding in a paradisiacal hotel next to the river was a promising start to the day. The RedBull stage won my heart on Sunday. With back to back performance from Tiger and Woods, Wolf + Lamb and Lindstrom; it was definitely the place to be. Seeing the Soul Clap dude wasted and pulling off in-synch moves with another guy was a nice addition to the scene. The surprise of the day came from Piranahead who delivered an impressive performance. Bonus point for having invited a live singer to join him. At this point I was due for a power nap but when I was about to leave I heard “I feel love”. Donna Summer’s hit made me run to the Made in Detroit stage where Rick Wilhite mixed it with Giorgio Moroder’s “The Chase”. Needless to say I never returned to my hotel for a power nap… It was then afterparty time! We headed to Kms party celebrating 25 years of Detroit techno music. With a line-up including Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Eddie Folwkes, Stacey Pullen, Terrence Parker, and many more, it was like a dream come true. I got to see Inner City live that night and I’ll never forget it. We were having big fun indeed! All good things must come to an end so at 4am we ended up at 1515 Broadway again. NYC’s Bunker crew were there to keep us dancing. I decided it was time to head back to the hotel around 6am because we all knew how busy a day Monday would be.
Monday:
Waking up at 9:30 am all shaking and feeling awful, I jumped in the shower nonetheless, put on sunglasses, got myself an apple, grabbed my vodka bottle and headed up to Old Miami. When the taxi driver saw in what state I was I didn’t even have to tell him where I was going. For a second time, I must say this dive bar with a giant backyard was a highlight of the festival. Opening at 7am, this party is the place to be to see dancing zombies and wasted djs. Got to see Montreal’s own Footprintz, Benoit & Sergio and the quite boring Maya Jane Coles (sorry lady). Late afternoon I went back to the festival to enjoy the last moment. Cheers to DJ Godfather who reminded me how good booty music can sometimes be. Jeff Mills closed up the festival with all the classic techno tracks one can only hope to hear once in their lifetime.
So long Detroit, I’ll see you next year! Now it’s Mutek time. And fortunately there are many amazing people met over in Detroit that are making the Montreal trip. I won’t be the only tired out of mind dancer!