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Festival Fever: Digital Dreams Music Festival

May 3, 2012

Digital Dreams Music Festival
　

Welcome back to Festival Fever, your weekly stop featuring Canada’s best and some of the world’s biggest electronic music festivals. This week we are back in Toronto, Ont. to present you the inaugural edition of Digital Dreams Music Festival powered by Rogers. Yet another testament to the growth of EDM in Canada, fans lucky enough to be in attendance will experience the very first multi-day electronic music festival to take place in downtown Toronto.

This elaborate production is put together by Electronic Nation Canada in association with a team of reputable companies such as Live Nation, Uniq Lifestyle Entertainment Group, Capture, Balance, Destiny Events and Rogers. Taking place within the fully adaptable grounds of The Flats at M.C.A, formerly known as Ontario Place, this extravagant party will feature an impressive selection of international artists and promises to create a memorable Canada day weekend.

The Flats at M.C.A is a beautiful property that boasts ample space for the crowds to fit comfortably and dance the evenings away. The entire property known as Ontario Place has partially been shut down due to a revitalization project, therefore only certain features within the complex will remain in operation for the duration of 2012.

Overall, Digital Dreams will feature three extensive stages and multiple viewing areas including 19+ VIP sections with full amenities, raised viewing platforms and a separate dedicated main gate. The capacity of the festival is 20,000 each day and with close to half the tickets already sold, it clearly will be a busy weekend. Echo Beach, located smack dab in the center of the action, is Toronto’s hottest new outdoor concert venue with a capacity for 5,000 fans and will draw a good percentage of the afternoon traffic seeing as it features a real sand beach and will be hosting different beach parties each day from 12 until 6 p.m. This beach front venue offers guests a spectacular view of the downtown Toronto skyline and is the perfect location for the Echo Beach Stage which will be setup at Digital Dreams. The main Dreams Stage and the Canada Stage will also be full blown productions and will each be setup at opposite ends of the property. A substantial amount of walking space and the vast property will provide an uplifting open-air atmosphere. Here is a look at the festival layout.

With an experienced team of EDM veterans heading up offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, Electronic Nation is bringing dance music to whole new level in Canada. This has been clearly evident since they began producing events and they continue to impress with the phase one line up announcement for Digital Dreams. Although the line up for the Canada Stage is yet to be announced, fans can count on another stream of fan favourites to be on the poster once the phase two announcement hits the website.

On Saturday the Dreams Stage will be busy with the sounds of Autoerotique, A-Trak, R3HAB, Chuckie, Duck Sauce and Afrojack, a superb line up to kick off the festivities with a bang. Many of these megastars are fresh off performances at Ultra in Miami and ready for festival season to kick into high gear. We actually caught up with Afrojack in Miami, check out the video here. This Dutch house mega star, currently ranked seventh in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll consistently lights up the crowd with excitement.

The party planned for Echo Beach Stage on Saturday is The Hed Kandi Carte Blanche All White Beach Party with two of Hed Kandi’s very own international residents Sarah Louise and Andy Warburton on the decks. Later in the day this stage will be busy with the likes of Guy Gerber, Steve Lawler and Canada’s very own Richie Hawtin blowing the fans away with their raw sounds. Richie Hawtin is best known for his abstract, minimal works under the alias Plastikman, which he still uses today, although through the years he has produced music under at least dozen different aliases. He has been a leader in the minimal techno world since the mid 90’s and has produced over 10 albums, Plastikman is quite simply one of Canada’s most influential electronic dance music artists. If you are in Toronto during Canada day weekend, we strongly suggest you don’t miss this entire evening of performances.

On Sunday, the selection of international talent taking the stage will leave the crowds in awe. The Dreams Stage will host performances by up and coming Designer Drugs, Swedish progressive house superstar Alesso and Kaskade who is currently ranked 30th in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs Poll and was voted America’s No.1 DJ by DJ Times Magazine last year. All three of these artists possess unbelievable stage presence and combine for a wealth of experience, be sure to catch the fascinating performances at the Dreams Stage on Canada Day. The Echo Beach Stage will be hosting a beach party on Sunday, the Art Department – Canada Day Beach Party and will be featuring yet another all-star cast. Carlo Lio, Boris, U.K legend Mark Knight, Toronto native Nic Fanciulli and techno superstar Dubfire will each have a turn to wow the crowd with their captivating styles. With all these big names already announced, the buzz throughout eastern Canada has already begun and tickets for this new electronic music festival are selling fast.

With a robust line up full of international headliners, a professional production such as this will surely attain success on the first try. A highly dedicated team of sponsors and associates helped streamline all the processes and raise the level of detail put into this breakthrough festival. Digital Dreams Music Festival is a hot ticket right now, get yours here before its too late and stay up to date on up coming announcements on the website.

Next week we head into Ottawa, the capital will also be hosting an extravagant Canada Day Weekend Festival this summer. Thanks to DNA Presents the EDM fans in Ottawa will finally experience a true two-day electronic music festival. DNA has released the phase one line up for Escapade and it leaves nothing for the imagination, a number of international favourites will be making the trip. Come back next week to hear all about it.

If you know of any Canadian or International electronic music festivals we should be covering, please email Stef at festivals@djmag.ca.

See you next week!

Stef Abrek