Red Bull Thre3style World DJ Championship opening night

Tuesday marked the opening night of the Red Bull Thre3style World DJ Championship. This is the first year the competition is held in Toronto and that is a big deal. Competitors from 21 countries flew into the city for the week and with them came friends, fans, and international press spanning countries of origin from Romania to Brazil.

Hello world, and welcome to Toronto!

The night started off with our own Turnstylez collective who wrapped up their set with a little two-man tandem routine which was more than enough to set the crowd on fire. By the time Shortkut hit the stage the room was filled to capacity and all of the said friends and fans were ready to cheer with all of their props ready in hand.

“What brought you here?”

“Our friend is one of the competitors, we came here from Sweden”

There is no music event in Toronto that brings this kind of crowd into the city. People do not travel from across the globe for the NXNE or CMW but this, this is an event that even Macklemore showed up to.

The first night’s competitors were Azerbaijan’s DJ Twist, DJ RayRay from Taiwan, Argentina’s Lukas Canaves, and the night’s winner, DJ Byte from Chile. The skill and musical variety that competitors brought to the table was incredibly impressive, but then you don’t make it to the World Finals on just a little enthusiasm.

Kid Koala headlined the evening with Vinyl Vaudeville 3.0. Watching the crowd, both confused and amused by the puppets and burlesque dancers on the Koala’s stage was beyond entertaining. Some people didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves especially when things started to cool down to the sounds of “Moon River,” but in San’s true fashion every song came with a little story and who doesn’t love a good story.

“You know what I hate about Toronto” complained the Swedish, “everything shuts down at 2AM.” Yes, we get that a lot in this town, but nothing is stopping you from starting the day with a “Good Morning!” glass of mimosa.

The puppets went back into the box and all of the super friendly people with various accents went on looking for their way back to the Thompson hotel for the night’s rest. Or the rest of the party.

Image courtesy of Red Bull Canada