UK’s most awarded festival took over a large area near the Hanlan Point beach on the Toronto Island with five stages and a multitude of play and food areas. The island was transformed into a Bollywood-inspired carnival lacking only a Ferris Wheel but I highly doubt anyone missed it. The amount of decor, attention to detail and overall festivities came has out-staged even the Corona’s Sunset party in 2014, that alone has already made the weekend a memorable one.

The musical line up was broken up into stages by genre similarities with the biggest acts  performing on the Main Stage and the rest thematically divided across the park. The big hit with Toronto was undoubtedly the Big Top tent tucked away at the far end of the grounds.

Shaun Frank was one of the early performers in the Big Top. Though it seemed a little early in the day for fast pace EDM Frank found a way to make the slim crowd dance and even do handstands. Dropping his heavy hitter remixes like Zeds Dead and Twin Shadow “Lost You” and recent originals Frank played an energetic set embellished by his strong showmanship, undoubtedly something he brings from his days in The Envy.

By the time Jamie XX hit the stage small rays of sunshine begun to come through the dark clouds. Jamie Smith, London-based music producer and some would argue the better half of The XX played an hour-and-a-half-long DJ set on vinyl. Situated deep into the Bollywood stage Smith opened up with  “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” which seemed like a great way to get people moving. Continually mixing in some 90s classics like Ol’ Dirty Bastard feat. Kelis “Got Your Money” with other tracks from In Colour  Smith kept on expertly flipping records, there may have even been a remanence of a smile on his face halfway through during “Girl.”

On the other side of the park Robert DeLong was lighting up the Main Stage crowd with “Long Way Down” while Big Top was beginning to fill up to the sounds of Grandtheft. A skilled DJ and turntablist Aaron Waisglass is pretty much a regular at Red Bull Thre3Style. With a wealth of celebrity collaborations behind his belt Grandtheft as always delivered a trap heavy EDM set. The tent was starting to become the warmest place on the island.

A selection of local originals were performing in the Perrier Greenhouse. An area opened only to a portion of attendees the Greenhouse hosted local talent and on Friday we had a chance to see a small crew from The Kount (trumpet and a turntable), who opened for Bonobo a couple weeks ago, and a lively performance by Smalltown DJs. For the day Pete Emes was representing the Smalltown duo. Inspired by old school hip hop beats the duo begun their career on the wavelength similar to Grandtheft and have recently evolved into more dancy area of the genre with tracks like “See Thru” which made Emes a great fit for the chill and well lubricated crowd at the Greenhouse.

After a smooth performance by SBTRKT the crowd begun to divide between the Main stage for Clean Bandit in preparation for Florence and The Machine and Big Top tent for Flosstradamus and Flume.

Flosstradamus delivered a high energy interactive show to a full room, to say it was energetic though would be a large understatement. The tent walls were shaking while J2K and Autobot in matching white outfits with white snow masks and what looked like bulletproof vests were hyping up the crowd with remixes and tracks from Soundclash EP jumping on and off the turntables with a mic.

The highlight of the evening was a highly anticipated Flume set. Born Harley Edward Streten, this Australian DJ has taken the world by storm since the release of his debut self-titled album. This wasn’t Streten’s first visit to Canada so many knew what they were in for first hand. Not many people left after Flosstradamus and even more flooded into the tent for Flume’s hour-long set. He seemed tired, but who wouldn’t with the two years he’s been having. Despite the possible exhaustion Streten delivered a strong live set smoothly transitioning between his solo tracks and some of the more famous remixes like Lorde’s “Tennis Court” and Disclosure’s “You & Me.”

No one was going to leave a Flume set early, not after waiting a year for his return. While the main stage half of the park cleared out after an epic Florence and the Machine set the crowd leaving the Big Top was wondering around looking for an exit. An epic conclusion of that night was a two-plus hour wait for the ferry but we’re working on forgetting that part.

photos by Erik Shaw

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With an early performance by Thugli (Pat Drastik and Tom Wrecks) the night was off to a great start. Drastik and Wrecks played a nearly full hour set filled with dirty trap beats smoothly transitioning from one track to another. Regardless of the fact that it was not even eleven yet the crowd was bouncing up and down. A group of hardcore dancing fans made the area in front of the stage home and were enthusiastically showing off their moves to no one in particular.

Shortly after eleven, the DJ battle begun with Ottawa’s DJ Acro followed by a Tom Fleming from Halifax. The two DJs could not have had more opposing personalities. Acro seemed quiet and humble while Fleming maintained a cocky smirk throughout his entire set. Attitude aside, however, the two opening DJs were the least surprising of the bunch. During the previous years each competitor had to include at least 3 different genres into their original mix, this year that rule was taken off the shelf and the DJs were aloud to play “whatever the crowd wants.”

While that might not seem like a big deal the three-genre rule made each competitor’s set that much more creative and surprising. As the night went on some participants gave homage to the rule while Acro and Fleming did so very loosely with weak transitions and rather unoriginal selection of tracks. But the younger crowd was clearly enjoying Fleming’s set who no doubt had entered the room with a strong fan-base and contagious energy.

One of the first three to represent Toronto was DJ D-Smooth. The portentous Torontonian in me crossed her fingers: if our hometown DJ’s don’t do better than Ottawa and Halifax I will have to move to America. Or to Shintaro’s home-base in Tokyo. The audience divided into cheering and booing crowds, let’s be honest, we are not Canada’s favorite city but DJ D-Smooth immediately raised the bar. Playing a healthy selection of genres with clean transitions Smooth was the first one to noticeably incorporate scratching into his set.

DJ PLAEBOI and DJ IV from Halifax were the next two to take the stage scratching their way through trap, hip hop, rock with other dashes of randomness adding interesting layers to their sets. Montreal based dubstep DJ/producer Henward dropped a few ratchet old school tracks – Bang Bang! – while Toronto’s Intrinity played a mix of dub and pop EDM. DJ Dijon, Toronto, was the last one to compete. At this point the audience had already divided into two extremes, high on life and high on substances, so the energy at the club was shooting up through the ceiling. Dijon came on strong with some of the year’s hottest tracks mixed in with some of the history’s best beats. His mixing, however was choppy, each expert either nearly ended or ran head on into the next sample.

While the judges left the room to deliberate Grandtheft took the stage. Set in front of dizzying visuals and flashing “Grandtheft” signs, Aaron Waisglass kept the party going chatting up the audience and playing a combinaiton of his original tracks and various remixes. The crowd was thinning out, some people’s lubrication prevented them from getting back into the club after smoke breaks while the rest were throwing shapes and finishing up their drinks.

Throughout the night the competitors were judged on originality of track selection, creativity and technicality of mixing, stage presence and crowd response. After a brief deliberation the three finalists were announced during a quick break from Grandtheft’s set. DJ D-Smooth took the fist place, Tom Fleming second and PLAEBOI third. The trio will proceed to the National Finals in Vancouver on July 26 where they will battle the best of the West for a chance to move on to the World Finals in Baku.

While music isn’t nearly the same as sports, there are no team uniforms or scarves Red Bull Thre3Style championship are the DJ Olympics. So pick your favorite and watch him grow, from here on the competition gets a lot more interesting and technically challenging.

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Without a doubt, this week must have been a challenging one for the judges. Some sets were more prone to a dance off than other but all of them illustrated some type of a ridiculous skill. We’ve heard it all, all of the genres and, quite possibly, at least a beat from every good track that came out since 1965.

Unlike the rest of the week, Friday night did not start up with a two block line up, though that might have something to do with an 8pm door. The early arrivers got right into the action to Thugli’s trap remixes blended in with some slowed down beats. Immediately after Grandtheft, one of the week’s judges, set an example for how it’s done playing his own tracks in combination with a good friends of friends mix.

Keys N Krates’ live, bigger than life, set riled up the sweaty crowd for the finale championship. With only 15 minutes to showcase their talents the six finalists (including two wild cards) of the Thre3style World Championships were DJ Shintaro, DJ Byte, Eskei83, Bazooka, Trentino, and Marquinos Espinosa. Each finalist brought their everything to the table, video game soundtracks, classic electronic tunes from the ‘70s, the new and the old school hip hop, some jungle, some drum ‘n bass, your favorite movie dialogues, acrobatic DJ tricks and a whack of attitude. But the ultimate championship title with all the sleek and shiny trophies and eternal glory went to Japan’s DJ Shintaro.

From the first beat to the last Shintaro brought it! Regardless of it being still early in the night the entire Kool Haus was raising up the heat, every track was welcomed by a finger snap or an “Oh no he didn’t!”

The audience had already thinned out by the time the judges announce the winner. With so many DJs swapping throughout the night and radical headline set by A Tribe Called Red the winner was not announced until after 2 in the morning. The judges seemed exhausted, the competitors were completely beat, and the tired crowds were slowly wondering out of the building, leaning on walls and poles, or slowly swaying in anticipation. The hard core dancers stayed behind for AutoErotique while the rest exited the venue smiling, looking for street meat and a way home.

* * *

This is not an event that happens often. This is not the kind of show you would see in any of the participating venues on an average Tuesday or even Saturday night so people gave it their all. Most attended at least a couple days and the select few were fortunate enough to hit up the Art Of panels throughout the week at the Thompson Hotel. Most of the judges were either on the panel or in attendance every day tipping hats to each other throughout the discussion, sharing personal stories and insights. We’ve talked about the history of music with DJ Denise Benson, went way back to the beginnings of DJ culture with the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff and got to pick A-Track’s brain before his set at The Hoxton.

If you were really committed to experiencing Red Bull Thre3style you are probably exhausted and fulfilled, probably enjoying a caesar this afternoon with a tired smile. If you only had a chance to see one of the events you should head over to Thre3style homepage and watch the daily highlights, they’ll make you feel like you were there.

Having been there for nearly every event for us here at Quip this was a week of DJ Olympics, next time we do this I’m taking the whole week off.

Photo courtesy of Red Bull

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