FOUR WHEELS AND A BEAT
Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Kimberly Chou
A few days before his set with labelmate Ryan Elliott, Matthew Dear explained the Detroit Electronic Music Festival's je ne sais quoi. “The good thing about [DEMF] is that it's got that local feel but it encompasses the whole world of electronic music,” says Dear, who played his third DEMF with the festivities this past Memorial Day weekend. “You go into the corner store to buy a bottle of water, and you don't know who [you'll run into]. It's like techno everywhere. How can that not be fun?”
Fun it was for tens of thousands of revelers who stuck through early rain for several memorable performances in Hart Plaza, including Booka Shade's first Detroit appearance and a solid outing by native son Model 500/Juan Atkins. Not to mention Richie Hawtin's blistering Beatport stage set that made the crowd swoon and champagne corks pop. Dear and Elliott looked to be having a good time themselves Sunday, dancing as they traded off for two hours in the steamy Real Detroit tent. And techno's thin white duke, Hawtin, was spotted backstage at the Ghostly duo's set.
The weather wasn't nearly as sultry as it was at last year's event, but with scores of hot performances, the hard-dancing festival goers generated their own heat.
Although DEMF promoter Paxahau eliminated the “underground” stage, there was still enough music to go around, or maybe too much for one Toronto-based fan, who was supposed to leave after Claude Von Stroke's Saturday closer, but couldn't pass up Steve Bug on Sunday and even Hawtin's performance on Monday.
The eighth annual DEMF closed fittingly with Jeff Mills, who first made his name in Detroit as WJLB radio's the Wizard. “Detroit is the only place in the world that has heard me most as a DJ,” Mills said before his set. “Basically, the people of Detroit taught me, so I'm quite excited about playing things for them that I've learned in other parts of the world.”
Detroit responded in kind. Mills' famously fleet fingers left his audience — packed from the stage to the rim of the Hart Plaza bowl — breathless…when they weren't busy cheering. You could feel the music throbbing through the concrete, the crowd barriers and the bodies themselves.
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