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Return dance floor

Envisioning Our Return to the Dance Floor

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What will happen when we return to the dance floor? 

It’s been a full year now since global lockdowns closed clubs and warehouses the world over. Safe to say, we’re all pining to reunite under the strobes and let a good sound system do its thing at releasing some of the tension we’ve all been under these last twelve months.

When that time will happen is still yet to be determined. Nightclubs in New York are slated to reopen at 33% capacity on April 3, but guest limitations and social distancing restrictions still have many event promoters waiting to open doors until they can offer a more enjoyable dance experience. If cases continue to drop as vaccinations increase, we will likely start to see small venue outdoor gatherings in most places in the US toward the end of the summer.

Meanwhile, with rapid testing and vaccinations moving along successfully in the UK and Europe, nightclubs in the UK are expected to open with no restrictions beginning June 21, and festivals like Dimensions and ADE are being planned for the fall.

While no doubt it’ll be a bummer to watch the rest of the world get back to raving while the US gets its act together, event promoters will have the opportunity to observe what works and bring those practices to their local scene when it’s time to reopen.

And when those doors do reopen, there are definitely some promising opportunities for positive change that we can look forward to

Safer spaces

In 2020 the voices of women in the electronic music industry reached critical mass. In the post-COVID era, ain’t no room for sexual harassment on the dance floor, period. Envision a place where you can let your freak flag fly, surrounded by Techno Vikings. Sounds like paradise to me.

More inclusive culture

The racial reckoning of last year expanded our collective awareness of the Black artists and communities that created this scene. The Black Lives Matter movement also brought into focus where inequities still exist in both the music industry and our cultural landscape. A more mature understanding of how we can act as better allies of the Black community ushers us towards more investment in Black DJ’s and producers and more liberating spaces to get down.

Sustainability

The record wildfires last summer also made us more acutely aware of the climate crisis, and greater emphasis on sustainability has made its way to the electronic dance scene. As clubs and parties reopen, ravers and organizers alike have a chance to advocate for more eco-friendly parties. Following the momentum of campaigns like Blond:ish’s Bye Bye Plastic or DGTL’s innovative green efforts, the rave of the future is plastic-free and earth-happy.

Creativity

We’re at the beginning of a whole new era in electronic music. Artists all over the world have been deep in the studio for the past year, with lots going on in the world sure to be reflected back in the sounds they create. What’s more, plenty of DJ’s and producers for the first time ever, have been available in a virtual mentorship capacity. With knowledge-sharing platforms, expanded software, and a rise in DIY analog hardware, electronic music has reached a far wider set of talented new creators. We’re in for nonstop live sonic novelty when we get back out there, so get ready.

Presence with each other

A year of physical distancing puts into perspective what we miss about raving: the energy of a live crowd, the bass face sideways glances at your friends, late-night outside chats with strangers, going home at sunrise. We won’t easily take for granted any of those small moments again. So when we return, maybe we won’t feel like reaching for our phone at all. Maybe we’ll close our eyes more and get lost in the sound. Maybe we’ll be nowhere else than this place we’ve waited to return to for so long, fully inside the present moment with the people beside us.

Guest post by Lydia McDowell

Cover photo: @nightmovesme

Whenever Someone Shows You Who They Really Are, Believe Them The First Time

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“Never would I have predicted we would see the U.S. Capitol attacked like that!”

“No one could have seen THIS coming!!!”

“Ok, NOW we have gone too far!”

Maya Angelou tells us “whenever someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time,” and these words are true whether you like to recognize it or not. We have all been deceived by people in our lives. We have been deceived by ex-partners, by friends who turned out to not be quite so friendly, by bosses and colleagues and, of course, by politicians, CEO of big corporations, and the media.

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Editorial: No More Crowds In The DJ Booth Please

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I remember enjoying the DJ booth life back in the day, when I was transitioning from being an avid dance floor attendee at local nightclubs and shows to working in the nightlife industry. It felt special, cool, exclusive and gave me a completely different perspective of the parties I was attending. I could meet DJs, talk to their managers and other promoters or chat with the nightclub owners and staff. At times it was just nice to get away from the crowd and to have a little more space to enjoy myself instead of having to fend off drunk patrons and raging elbows accidentally aimed at my face.

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Editorial: Polls in Our Industry Are A Futile Exercise That No Longer Serve An Ethical Purpose

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Full disclosure: I wrote this article yesterday, on November 21st 2017, and woke up this morning to the news that Resident Advisor was no longer continuing its Poll

First of all, I have to say that DJ Mag’s poll is only good as scrap paper, or at best as the source of pre-game laughter with your crew. That is if you ever even took a look at a printed version of it. The chart is a joke (artistically), it serves no real purpose (business-speaking),  and is useless (as far as understanding the quality of DJs, its actual intended purpose). It’s talked about for months leading up to and following its results, a peculiar media that does not give a damn about the actual music but is all to do with money and pompousness. Sadly, it’s been like this for years now.

What is new though is the thin wind of dissatisfaction that is now affecting the Resident Advisor. On top of a ranking that has seen Dixon crowned unceremoniously as #1 DJ in the world for 5 years now, in recent years we have also seen the increase of election campaigns by DJs (and their management0 to win votes. What was once an organic poll from real dedicated fans once again lost its intended purpose.  Indeed, the problem was not the ranking itself: it can be challenged. It may not be in agreement with your views as far as placements or exclusions, but that is another story, or controversy for that matter. The problem, we are beginning to understand, is what it takes to end up in that ranking. Artists and their management understand it very well. It is an excuse to raise the stakes, in some cases to double or triple them, and to convince the artists to get involved with the tactics necessary to end up on the poll, and rank higher than years before.

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Editorial: The Anxieties of Being An Electronic Music Event Promoter And How To Face Them

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It’s 7:30pm on a Friday night and I am waiting for a man I have never met outside of a venue I have never heard of, nor seen, before.

I have spent the last 7 days driving all over Los Angeles scouting for venues, looking for the right location for what could be the biggest event of my career as an electronic music event promoter. My other business partners have done the same, all to no avail. We located a few gems that will be available for future use, but haven’t quite nailed down the space we so desperately need at this very moment. And the brutal honest truth is that the clock is against us.

“Relax, be patient and you’ll find the right spot!” I’ve been telling myself over and over for the last two weeks, and while I believe it, it’s hard to remain optimistic as the hours and days fade away. Our event is tomorrow night, and with just over 24 hours to go we are running out of options. To top it off, the venue owner I am supposed to meet is 30 minutes late, which is making me and the three other people with me antsy at best.

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What is the “Underground” Really?

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We often see promoters, music fans, blogs, news outlets and artists use the word “underground” in the context of electronic music, yet the meaning of the word can vary depending on the context used.

More often than not, the connotation attached to the term is that akin of a stamp of approval, signifying that the sound/music in question is pure, genuine and stands on an honest backbone of creativity that has not been marred by any type of commercialism. But in some circles the word “underground” is used to refer to music played at non-legal venues, while the same type of music by the very same artists can be found at mega-stages and parties somewhere else in the world, leading to confusion as to what truly constitutes the “underground”. On the other side of the coin, and in more commercial circles, the “underground” label can be attached to a scene that is out of touch with the rest of the world, a scene that is seen as unpolished, un-professional, dangerous and, in some cases, even “dirty.”

In this article we examine some of the positions adopted on the subject:

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CRSSD Festival – Crossing Over From The Main Stage

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Guest post by Saxe Coulson

Although many European brands have managed to curate festivals that feature all house and techno artists, it seems as if the United States is still a bit behind. Awakenings did not take place again in New York this year and Time Warp hasn’t continued past its 2014 and 2015 editions either. Woogie Weekend is also not going to be taking place again this year and neither is the smaller Freeform Festival in Pennsylvania.

Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit contains 90% house and techno acts, and has grown in size every year with more and more after-parties taking place and more brands and sponsors coming on board. This is partly due to the festival being located in Detroit, the birthplace of techno, the long-running history and quality of the festival itself and its after-parties, and the chance to see artists that normally don’t come to the United States. Detroit has been playing homage to techno since the ‘80s and Movement Festival is a highly acclaimed and widely celebrated event that draws visitors from all over the country and beyond.

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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: An Open Letter To Festival Promoters & Organizers

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Dear festival promoters and organizers,

I have had it.

I have had it with deaths at music festivals. I have had it with three-hour long entry lines in 90 degree heat. I have had it with exorbitant water prices. I have had it with the countless hours stuck in parking lots waiting to leave the grounds. I have had it with festivals that still won’t provide free water refills. I have had it with inadequate medical staff. I have it with lack of proper medical equipment. I have had it with festivals that worry more about the size of their stage set-up and production than the welfare of their attendees. I have had it with promoters that care more about profits than the lives of those who spend their hard-earned earnings at a festival of their choice. I have had it.

Yesterday, the entire electronic music community (and beyond) learned of the three young souls who lost their lives at HARD Summer in Southern California. Our scene also learned, through personal accounts from tens of music fans that attended the festival over the weekend, that the medical set-up to handle emergencies was not only simply inadequate, but at best a lazy excuse for doing the minimum required without regard for the sanctity of human life

And to think that this year HARD Summer moved from the Fairplex in Pomona to the Auto Club Speedway near Fontana following the death of two people in 2015. Despite the recent lesson in history, we now know that festival organizers simply failed to go above and beyond in ensuring medical personnel was present in adequate numbers and with necessary equipment to administer assistance should the need have arisen. In an interview to the LA Times, a 22-year-old by the name Angel Ghaemi described trying to perform CPR to one of the victims to no avail, waiting for up to 15 minutes for an ambulance and defibrillator to arrive. According to eye-witness accounts, thousands of festival attendees were stuck inside the Speedway’s parking lots for up to three hours – the result of poor logistics and traffic control that ultimately slowed first-responders and possibly prevented a life from being saved.

An EMT who provided medical services for this year’s edition of EDC Las Vegas and attended HARD Summer last weekend took his thoughts to Reddit, highlighting the oversights of HARD Summer’s medical plan:

“All medics and EMTs carried a jump bag with supplies, and drugs. For instance, a drug called Versed can stop seizures (something that I saw quite often this weekend). NONE of the staff walking around had any drug boxes on them, as told to me by one of the medics who assessed a friend of mine. Also, at EDC we had 3 medical tents: Main medical, right medical, and left medical. Each place, had IV supplies, TONS of bags of fluid for us to give IVs and drugs, and other necessities. I would have people walk in to me, I would give them an IV, they feel better, and walk out and go enjoy the show. HARD ONLY had supplies at main medical, making the other medical tents virtually useless.”

Enough is enough. There is absolutely no doubt that festival-goers need to be safe with regard to drug usage, but that should never in any way take away the duty and responsibility from festival promoters in ensuring crowd and individual safety are the first priority of any event, large or small. It goes far beyond a few well-wished tweets asking people to remain hydrated during a hot weekend. It goes far beyond some free water bottles passed out to those waiting two to three hours in line to enter a festival under the scorching California sun. It goes beyond hard pat-downs and security scare-tactics at festivals gates. And it definitely goes beyond pointing the finger to attendees and drug usage, all the while raking in millions of dollars that could and should have been spent to ensure logistics and medical emergency set-up were of the highest quality through the weekend.

There is probably no single solution to save every individual life, as ultimately you can only control so much. But you, the promoters and organizers of massives, raves and festivals need to always treat safety logistics and emergency plans with the top priority they deserve, and not merely as an burdening expense.  Festival entry and exiting needs to be smooth and not the type of inhumane sardine box scenario that people have been experiencing at events such as EDC Las Vegas, HARD or the recent Time Warp in Argentina where five people lost their lives. Hydration needs to be provided for free or at a minimal cost, and never as a means of revenue. Emergency and medical locations need to be easy to find and reach, well-stocked and manned with top-tier trained personnel.

No one should ever lose their life at a festival simply because they couldn’t receive the adequate medical help they were in need of.

Enough is enough.