10/14/2024
I have just returned to Whistler from Europe, an event which now marks the end of the summer for me. My summer was fantastic and I was able to contribute to a couple of nice raves.
Last summer I broke my entire body when I fell off my bike which, during the winter, gave me a very genuine feeling that I would never ride mountainbikes ever again. I had already suffered so many traumas in the past that this quintuple bone fracture and lung puncturing crash truly gave me the feeling I would have to search for other passions to pursue during the summer months. Fortunately, I am a raver! This had thus created the expectation that I would be have some more time to invest in my Quantum Breakfast alter ego.
But perhaps even more fortunate, I am not done with mountainbiking just yet. I don't want to deviate too far from the music though I am very proud of my performance on the bike this summer. Once I changed the mindset with which I had approached that sport up until that crash, I understood there was no need for me to stop riding.
Nevertheless, I had planned to visit a few festivals and to organize a few raves myself as well. So here we go.
1st Rave of the summer.
In early June I heard of a rave in Squamish. This was organized by a friend I new from my time back in the ski shop. Therefor, I really wanted to go and check it out. And I was actually surprised by how high quality this production was. Not that I had thought it would not have been, but that it was even better than I expected. Nice location by the river, elegant lighting on big poles circling the dancefloor, a chill out in the back, and a first aid booth. Very professional! I had brought my dab rig for w**d smoking purposes so I set up shop in the chill out. Who knows, the legendary front left rave spot will soon be joined by the legendary back right dab corner.
6th Dimension Festival.
Through my interest in Goa I came across a psytrance festival organized in Coalmont late June. I don't like psytrance so I wanted to go and check it out on my own. With the idea that if the festival is decent, I could try and invite friends to come along for the next edition. A week prior to the festival the engine in my car blew up so I had to hitchhike. I found no one else from Whistler was going so I hitched to Vancouver and found a ride to the festival there. It turned out the person who was picking me up in Vancouver was a shaman who was going to volunteer at the first aid corner of the festival. We picked up one more person and drove 3 hours west from Vancouver to the festival.
As I would have expected, musically, it wasn't really my thing. As a Belgian I am spoiled and I set a high standard. But organizationally, these people really did their best and the production was very solid. Good sound and 3D mapping on the mainstage during the nighttime. The atmosphere felt somewhat familiar but unfortunately there was almost nobody. I was really sad to see this because the location and party has great potential. I was thinking to myself, 3 hours driving from Vancouver, a city with a major airport. That is similar to the 3 hours driving from Lissabon airport to ZNA. A Goa festival that attracts thousands of ravers from all over the world. I myself once visited ZNA straight from my home in Whistler, flying from Vancouver to Lissabon.
But the potential did not materialize and I cruised very steadily through the 3 days. I hope the organization will give me an opportunity to contribute in the future. Being there in the crowd and seeing how the people responded to the music, I believe very strongly a bit more diversification in the psytrance genres could start to attract more people.
Like always, I turn my cellphone off when I am at a festival. So, I snagged a quick video right at the end during the last DJ set just as my shaman was gonna drive me back to Vancouver. From there, I would have to hitch further back to Whistler.
Dance 2 Dawn
Right before my departure to Europe, together with a crew of fellow humans, I organized a rave near Whistler. These “bush doofs” have become quite notorious and our first edition with this group was a massive pumper. I had done quite a bit of scouting in the weeks prior to the rave but when the push came to shove, we decided to go to perhaps the most notorious Whistler rave location of all. Turned out this was a great decision because a large amount of people showed up. I estimate around 300. During the night it started to rain which led to some nervousness due to the many electrical devices that are hooked up. But we covered the danger spots under tarp and the crowd was loving it. Our area had suffered quite a bit of drought up until that point. So, this was the first rain we saw in many weeks. We powered the whole thing from an EV, which frankly, I did not think was gonna work. But the batteries they put in these machines are no joke. At the end of 16 hours of music, the battery was drained 20%. Having proof that this EV concept works, offers a lot of opportunities in the future to organize raves at cool spots in the mountains or forests.
Shmeirvossenparade
I am not going to say much about the rave I organize in Belgium, Shmeirvossenparade. Everyone knows this is the best rave in the whole wide world. Being able to go back to my roots and be absorbed into this fine rave, comforts me in a way that is difficult to describe. Music truly is the language that transcends all borders.
Now I will catch up on some music library administration, including the work on some of the recordings made during the raves just described. In the next posts I will share the music I played at Dance 2 Dawn and Shmeirvossenparade.
