Love This City at Movement Detroit 2014
Love This City TV headed down to Movement Festival this past Memorial Day long weekend and when we rolled down the window at the border heading into Detroit all we could hear from the homeland of Techno were the sounds of some vibrating bass-lines just waiting for us to get closer. Within minutes we were among 100,000+ festival goers flocking to Detroit’s Hart Plaza. Five stages, over 120 of the world’s hottest DJs and the most passionate and eccentric electronic music fans anyone could ask to surround themselves with.
The three day festival was blessed with perfect weather and the air was filled with a deep passion for the music that everyone was in tune with. When asking some fellow Canadian DJs who represented us at Movement, as well as festival guest’s we spoke to over the weekend, picking a favourite among the collection of world class talent was a hard answer to come up with, let alone choosing one of the many after parties held at staple Detroit venues such as Old Miami, Bleu, City, TV, The Works, St. Andrews Hall, and the list goes on. Hand’s down witnessing Loco Dice go back-to-back with Carl Cox closing the main stage Monday night was a show that will go down as a 2014 favourite moment, and Detroit homegrown’s Kevin Saunderson and Seth Troxler were definitely a pairing that won’t be forgotten. Richie Hawtin, Marco Carola and John Digweed were favourites of the Redbull Academy Main Stage and for good reason remain the DJs that DJs love. Techno quality at it’s finest.
The Made in Detroit Stage to no surprise threw down some serious homegrown talent. Closing the stage Saturday, Stacey Pullen had one of hottest shows of the festival and headlined one of the most talked about after parties of the weekend at TV Lounge. It seemed that the whole festival was ecstatic about the DBX live show and Kevin Saunderson’s son Dantiez showed that talent definitely run’s through his blood as well as his Detroit roots.
The Underground Stage packed a serious collection of talent like Oscar Mulero, Robert Hood, Luis Flores, Function, Chris Liebing and Jeff Mills only to name a few.
Facing the Detroit Riverfront, The Beatport Stage was continuous back to back heavy weights like Claude VonStroke, Pete Tong, and Lee Foss. Maceo Plex had one the most anticipated shows of the festival showcasing his sinister deep sound with the sunset perfectly timed in the background- let’s just say that was a set that definitely didn’t disappoint.
When you move over to Moog stage a heavy-party mixture of trap, hip-hop and dubstep like the sounds of Bauer and Flosstradamus put the dynamic crowd into a twerking and energy packed spectacle. Fellow Canadian, MC Flipside who was definitely a favourite on the Moog Stage told Love This City TV about his experience performing this year: “I was very happy to be part of the Movement Festival in Detroit. Legend DJ Godfather approached me on twitter to work on music so we made a few songs; You so Flexible, Juicy Fruit, and a few more in the works. Zebo a Chicago producer and DJ is also part of the Dirty Knock family so we decided to throw in Detroit Booty House vocalist Good Money and some twerkers to join us on stage to rip up the dance!!! For me the stand out sets were Marco Carola, Bauer, Hawtin and ours. To be honest I thought Claude VonStroke ripped it hard especially when he dropped the track called ‘Sunshine’ by Mark Starr which is on my tech house label DBR. Toronto is world class…always has been…always will be!”. It seemed no matter where everyone was from, they were well aware of the talent and passionate fans coming out of the North.
The Silent Disco stage was a new addition to the festival this year where the audience had to listen to the shows with provided headphones. Interesting and something the Movement crowd was totally into. “The Silent Disco Stage was a great, intimate and interactive experience” Justin James shared with us, who was hands down a crowd favourite and has been making his name well known in the techno world. We asked him what was his favourite moment at the festival was and he described the overall vibe very simply; “There are too many favourite moments to list. The most important experience is the actual Movement experience…and that is many individuals celebrating music, with little, if no, major incidences.
The only down falls were some sound issues at the main stage and sound bleeding from the Moog Stage. Besides that the only other noted problem was too many big names at once…Maceo Plex, Marco Carola, Bauer and Robert Hood all had the same set times…talk about a hard decision. Luckily the stages were all a minute away from each other and the entertainment from the crowd of people was more than enough to keep us all smiling along the way.
To pick a favourite moment or even a handful is a question that could be led into so many different directions. Quality upon quality. Detroit will always be the mother land of Techno and the DJ’s and partiers that return to Movement year after year prove why Movement will always remain as a festival filled with endless passion and the deepest kind of love for the music.
