Blog
This weekend
I have uploaded some photos of the festival to my Flickr account.
Click on the icon to the right to view them.
Posted: May 31 - Sun 01:03pm
Status: Musical
Listening To: Steve Bug - Collaboratory
Tomorrow morning these dog's better not wake me up. I need some extra sleep. It's hard for me to go back to sleep once I'm up, and I am not a fan of taking afternoon naps. Click on the photo icon to see the two crazy animals that keep waking me up early.
Posted: May 31 - Sun 12:03am
Status: Sleepy
Day One - Saturday
Arrived around 3:00. Had to buy tickets because I did not get pre-sales this year. I did last year and had to wait in line a ridiculously long time. Finally inside the festival and went and listened to Drumcell. He was performing a live set, but it didn't keep me entertained for long.
Decided to go check out the Real Detroit / Underground stage. Upon arriving I noticed the setup to be completely different then years passed. At first it looked interesting, but they over-killed the sound. Shaun Reeves was laying down some quality beats. Didn't stick around long due to the bass drowning out everything else.
Went over to the Beatport stage from there to check out Heidi. She was playing some good tracks, and you could tell she was very into her set. I like it when you can tell the DJ is really enjoying what they are playing.
From there we went over to check out Steve Bug. He was playing his signature tech-house. We got right up front, and I was able to get some good pictures. I then just stood back and took it all in. The sun was shining and everyone was dancing. It was a really good feeling to see that many people getting down so early on the first day.
At that point I was getting hungry so we grabbed some food. We then proceeded back over to the Beatport stage to check out Adam Beyer. Danced for a bit during his set, but it wasn't doing it for me. We then shot over to the Red Bull Stage. Ryan Elliott was coming on soon. It had been a while since we seen him.
Elliott came on at 7:30. The sun was starting to go down and it provided a nice ambiance to his set. Which ended up being very enjoyable as always. We stuck around for a majority of Elliott then headed back to the Beatport stage to catch Marco Carola.
As we arrived back at the Beatport stage we met up with some friends. Marco was laying down some hard bangin techno. Danced to him for a while then chilled on the "grassy nole"
We then went over and checked out Carl Cox. He was playing the usual high-energy techno, really playing to the crowd. It was super packed for it being the first night. We left when the festival ended and went home.
Day Two - Sunday
Sunday we arrived around 4:30. Immediately went to the main stage to catch Osunlade's set. His tracks were very enjoyable. Soulful house at it's best. The crowd wasn't too thick so we were able to get right up front again and I got some good pics.
We then went to the Underground stage to check out Jay Denham. The sound was so bad that I wasn't enjoying his set very much. So we decided to head to the Red Bull stage. Drum and Bass DJ's were coming on soon, and we thoroughly enjoy that genre.
Arriving at the Red Bull stage, Mark Moss was on, and he was laying down some jams. The MC that was performing with him wasn't too bad. I don't recall his name now. We then caught some of Neil Landstrumm's live set.
After that we headed back to the Beatport stage to check out the Wighnomy Brothers. I only heard these guys a couple times in the past. They ended up being very good, but I was feeling pretty tired. Needless to say rested on the lawn for a bit.
Anthony Rother was coming up next. Unfortunately he was playing on the Underground stage. I've never had a chance to see him though so we toughed it out and caught most of his performance. It was enjoyable for the most part. He puts on a very good live set. Quite a bit of hardware used, not just a laptop.
Closing out the fest that night was Loco Dice and Luciano. We found a spot where we could just relax and chill. We met up with some more friends and closed out the second day of the festival having a very good time.
We hit up the Beretta after-party, but only stayed for a couple hours.
Day Three - Monday
Monday we arrived around 3:30. We wanted to get down their in time to catch Adultnapper. He definitely did not disappoint. He kept me dancing the whole time. I was somewhat disappointed seeing him using CD's though. I'm not a fan of that. Stuck around for a bit to check out some of Ellen Allien, she was so so, nothing special.
Back to the Red Bull stage we went for some more Drum and Bass by Benga. He missed his flight though. Someone else filled in, and played a really good set. I do not remember his name, but I really enjoyed the Aphex Twin - Windowlicker remix he played.
We then headed back to the Underground stage to catch Seoul and T. Linder. The hometown boys played a really good set. Too bad it was on the underground stage though.
Kevin Saunderson came on at 8:00 on the main stage. We went over and heard him playing the classics and some new stuff. He put on a good performance. We hung out until it was time to head back to the underground stage to hear Audion.
We are big fans of Matthew Dear, and it had been a while since we heard him. So we decided to get right down into the sweaty pitt of the underground stage. It was packed up front, but around back there was plenty of room. It wasn't too bad. We stayed for most of his set and danced our asses off.
The final performer of the weekend was Derrick May. He put on a decent performance but nothing spectacular. I've witnessed much better closing performances in years passed.
Over-all I had a really good time this year at the festival. There were some DJ's that I wanted to see and missed (Flying Lotus, Benga, and Octave One). But the ones I caught provided good entertainment.
Now we count down until next year when we do it all over again.
Posted: May 30 - Sat 10:32pm
Status: Relaxed
Listening To: Flying Lotus
Click on the photo icon below. This is an image of the crowd at the main stage at DEMF 2009.
Posted: May 30 - Sat 12:14am
Status: Thinking
