The first day was extraordinary as fans marched to the distant venue dressed in their best summer gear. A giant rubber duck greeted attendees upon entry. This enormous figure was not only adorable to take photos with, but used as a beacon to locate friends when groups split up. There was also a series of breathtaking trailers decked out by talented local artists.

After exploring the food options and scoping out the merchandise stands, people swarmed the Rising Stage to see DanceLoud. The Chicago-based duo, DJ Kristen Sanchez and drummer Desereé Fawn, was a unique standout showcase. The ladies first met attending Columbia College where they learned that Sanchez’s hip-hop scratches blended well with Fawn’s jazzy percussion style. After their set, DanceLoud was nice enough to give Quip a tour of their renovated traveling van and let us sample their sour ales drink in collaboration with local restaurant Estrella Negra.

Luna Stage is where many stayed planted to watch a slew of big-name artists back to back. Eazybaked [image above] got the crowd popping with their gritty, dirty bass tunes. As the name suggested, their tunes bring the wubbs out making it completely stoner-friendly. Eazybaked played mixes from their Intertwined album keeping things mellow for the relaxed fans.

LSDream came on next which really amped things up. His psychedelic style took us to outer space with his alien-themed. He got the crowd rowdy with his remix of Genuwine’s “Pony”. LSDream ended the set with a positive message: “This is all about love. Being present. Put your feet to the ground and breathe. We’re all one”  he said to the crowd before wrapping things up with “High Vibrations”.

Fans had the hardest decision when choosing how to end their first night: Kx5 [images above] or GRiZ. Both are heavy hitters and well-respected in the EDM scene. The legendary producers Deadmau5 and Kaskade were also something you didn’t want to miss. Kx5 is riding high with the release of their debut album and their club-centric turns definitely got the ravers going wild all through the night. If you’re more into the heavier bass and jazzy tunes then GRiZ was the place to be. Bouncing back and forth from DJing to saxophone and rap solos, GRiZ’s set had a bit of everything. Of course, if you did miss either set you could hit up one of their after-parties but it getting in would have been a miracle.

Day two, however, was a complete 180. The weather drastically dropped from 85º to 55º. The sun went away and in its place were dark gray clouds leading to persistent rainfall throughout the day. Being next to Lake Michigan didn’t help matters either and winds chills kept blowing by. Yet the fans marched forward in the freezing winds hoping Heatwave’s lineup could warm them up. Fortunately, Elephante was there ready for the task.

Elephante immediately lit up the crowd with “Plans”. The track had a guitar solo during the breakdown of the song, a great showcase of his versatility. He continued to perform tracks off his debut album I Am theElephante and Glass Mansion with songs like “Dynasty,” “Starbright,” and “Otherside” keeping the crowd engaged in their soggy hoodies.

For many attendees, the reason for this quest was of course Tiësto. Honestly, no other DJ could close out the event or make folks forget their troubles quite like Tiësto. The legendary producer had everybody moving along to “The Business” before reviving things up into the next gear with “Lay Low”. He continued to shake things up with his tracks “Red Lights” transitioning into “Chasing Cars” keeping the energy at a high pace. Tiësto did give us a moment to breathe with “I’ll Take You High”. But the excitement couldn’t be contained with pyro, fireworks, and elaborate light show beaming from the Nova Stage.

Overall Auris Presents team did a terrific job with Heatwave. It was no easy task to follow the event that was beloved last year yet they managed to pull it off. The change of scenery was a nice touch as it took over a space that other organizers rarely use.

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San Bernardino, California, was an incredible landscape to get lost in with mountains creating an idealistic backdrop for the event. Walking into the campgrounds you’re greeted with awe-inspiring recreations of Alice In Wonderland-themed interactive displays. It was like the characters from the renowned novel leaped off the page and came to life.

Further into the venue, there was a sobriety comfort zone where strangers can chat and open up about what they were dealing with. A wall of zany doors lead to a comfy tent area where you could sit on the floor and watch YouTuber Lyle Forever. Lyle sat and chatted with strangers in real life as well and yours truly got on the mic to do a quick beatbox cipher.

Of course, Insomniac went all out for the 6 stages. Again all whimsical themes with some being hidden inside domes. The 2 biggest stages were on opposite sides of the event making for a long walk to get to “Mad Hatter’s Castle” from “Queen’s Domain,” but boy it was worth it. The “Mad Hatter’s Castle” had the fortunate luxury of being at the racecourse half of the NOS Event Center. This meant that there was plenty of open space for fans to dance while also offering a seating section for those needing to relax. After walking 30k steps each day, having a seat felt like a godsend! After taking a seat to enjoy the scenery I immediately got back up to the opening sounds of Borgore.

Bolgore is known for the hardcore bass fans that love to headbang. The artist created such intensity it could give you a head rush but you can’t help yourself but bang along to the opening track, “Forbes”. He continued with bangers like a sped-up version of Bad Bunny’s “Me Porto Bonito”. However, some of his transitions weren’t the smoothest with some tracks abruptly stopping but fans didn’t care.

Dillon Francis kept the party going all night at the “Mad Hatter’s Stage”. He went off with an array of techno tracks and out-of-this-world light show that blew everyone’s minds. Francis does a great job of knowing how to integrate and blend catchy mixed genre songs like Tame Impala’s “Let It Happen” or the vocals of System of a Down’s “BYOB” with funky percussion to really make the tracks more vibrant. He was also kind enough to bless fans by sharing some new Diplo collab tunes.

The crown for best stage, however, went to “Queen Domain”. Redtape brought the heat early on in the day by playing a slew of Latino jams from modern artists like Bad Bunny and Cardi B to classic tunes we grew up with. His expert blend of salsa soul with house-dance music was a vibe everyone could get down with regardless of the language barrier. Another set that was great was seeing Alok. The Brazilian DJ rocked a gold, shiny robe and played tracks like “Fuego,” Souja Boys’ “Superman” and other fan songs from the yesteryear.

Heavyweights like Tiesto made it impossible to get under the tent with massive crowds flooding the area. There was no way to squeeze into the tight space where people had been camped out most of the day. Hearing “BOOM” mixed into his rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Grapevine” showed how effortlessly Tiesto could go from house music to trance.

The honors to close out Beyond Wonderland went to none other than Kaskade who took the crowd on a wonderful journey. First starting off light-hearted and fun and moving to a more of a darker atmosphere before bringing us back to peace. Tracks like “Bright Lights” and “Alive” had us all zoning out and grooving.

Beyond Wonderland is one of the best festivals any EDM fan can attend. It being their 30^th anniversary, Insomniac set the bar high, and it will be hard for any other fest to top it this year. The production value and set design were imaginative and a joy to be around.

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The layout of the festival was tight both literally and figuratively because the event took up about half of the space when compared to other events that occupy the same space throughout the year. Heatwave used this intimate setting to its advantage as it filled every corner with fun activities. From beautiful art pieces and interactive installations for attendees to pose with to food and drinks stations just steps away from merchandise vendors. And then there were various VIP lounges with exclusive meals, drinks, and viewing areas that made upgrading tickets worth the extra spend.

The main attraction, of course, was the music, 3 stages were situated in close distance from each so fans did not have to spend too much time moving around. Frank Walker took over opening duties on The Inevitable stage, wasting no time he riled up the enthusiastic crowd. With fog and pyro that surrounded his set, he hypnotized the audience with a thrilling performance. Walker’s finale was epic as well – he remixed The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” into Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” before ending the set with Daft Punk’s “One More Time”.

Borgeous took over after and played an interesting blend of heavy bass and dance beats fused with alternative rock throwbacks. Opening up with Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek”, he made the crowd sing along before cutting the track with a bass drop. Borgeous proceeded to play dance remixes of Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” and Linkin Park’s “In The End”, which was certainly different and got fans hyped up for his original track, “Breathe” [cover image].

Over at the Radiance stage, Westend was laying down some groovy tunes along the line of more traditional house sound, which of course, the Chicago crowd greatly appreciated. Rome Is Silver was cool too, offering a more European techno blend with Middle Eastern lyrics.

Galantis had a wonderful set filled with hit songs spanning every genre. The electronic duo opened up with their hit song “Runaway (U & I)” which got the crowd jumping. They revved up the party by mixing LeRoux’s “Bulletproof” into Madonna’s “Hung Up” which of course kept people dancing. The duo changed up the genres with White Stripes “7 Nation Army” and Eminems “Without Me” before taking it back to old school with Quad City DJ’s “C’Mon ‘N Ride It (The Train), and Fun’s “We Are Young.” Galantis ended their set by playing “Runaway” one last time accompanied by blazing lights that lit up the cloudy sky. 

The honors to wrap up the finale naturally went to Tiësto. It was a perfect ending. His set contained his old and new school music along with tracks that made him famous like “Adagio for Strings” and “Secrets”. His old-school techno brought back a lot of nostalgia for fans of the 2013 era, when EDM was still relatively less popular. It was great seeing a pioneer of the genre still in the game and evolving his style to adapt to the current culture while keeping to his distinct sound. With fireworks and visuals, the showcase was worthy of an icon. 

Heatwave Music Festival came in as an underdog going against heavy competition but after the joyous celebration took place over the weekend, the festival easily rose to the top of Chicago’s long list of events. It was the perfect blend of showcasing up-and-comers along with big-name stars.

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As teenagers in flower crowns (yes, that’s still happening) and neon tanks flooded the streets of Toronto, unloading trains and buses, the Flats of Ontario Place began to fill with energised crowds.

In its third year, this was the biggest festival in Toronto yet, an estimated 80,000 people came out, or at least tried to, some of them didn’t get past the security due to…being tired let’s just say, early on in the day. Electronic Nation, in collaboration with Uniq, Capture and a few other partners, made the festival bigger and brighter than ever before. The main addition was the fourth stage, Fantasy Land, located in the back of the island on the bank of Lake Ontario, occasionally gracing the audience with a sailboat or a pirate ship.

While small groups of people wandered the flats eating raw bell peppers, sleeping under trees, or chilling out in Muskoka chairs, crowds were gathering in front of stages in scattered dance circles. Fantasy Land proved to be just the right place for trance on a bright Saturday afternoon. With Saad Ayub and Alex M.O.R.P.H. people went into deep euphoria while the bigger beach was graced by Sébastien Léger, forming mosh pits on the sand.

The highlights of day one were mid-day/early-evening performances at the House of Boom: Hydee, Thugli, Keys N Krates and Crystal Method delivering serious hard-hitting trap and drum ‘n’ bass beats. Keys N Krates, known for their versatility, dropped a solid variety shredding tracks you may have already known off by heart to bits, while Crystal Method came here to show he’s not going anywhere, nor do his narrow retro shades.

On the second day of the festival, the vibe around the flats was a little more relaxed and a little less busy at first. People slowly trailed in for the first few hours just hoping to get some food, struggle with a warm $10.00 beer, and sway to some music until they got their energy back from the day before. The skies were clear, the sun was out, there was no shortage of bacon-wrapped hot dogs or deep-fried Mac ‘n’ Cheese, and the music was quickly taking over.

In the true festive fashion, Canadian DJ Jelo lit up the Dream Stage early on in the day. Known for his intense performances, Jelo came out in full force with some hard-hitting progressive techno and rock-and-roll-inspired mixes. A little heavy for some in the middle of the day, but his true fans and lovers of all things music kept the energy up, crowd-surfing deflating dolphins and lifting girlfriends in bikini tops closer to the sun.

The Chainsmokers hit the stage right after. This being their first year at the festival was eased by every self-obsessed teen’s favourite single, “Selfie” released earlier in 2013. The crowd was pleased and properly warmed up for Fedde Le Grand. While confusion began to spread across the crowd about set times and locations of things, Fedde started almost on time, causing crowds of sweating people to flock to the main stage across a shaking, floating bridge. Fedde brought a solid set playing a mix between his old and new hits like “Twisted,” but leaving out his infamous “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit,” and his new track “Love Never Felt So Good.”

For day two to everyone’s confusion, the new stage got renamed to No. 19 Social Experiment. This sunny and windy side of the Flats was where the festival came alive (and got wet). When long-time DJ Green Velvet (real name Curtis Alan Jones) hit the stage, the areas quickly became the busiest it had been all weekend. With a perfect view of lake, and a choice between dancing your heart out or chilling out on a hill with your posse, this was definitely the best part of the day. Green Velvet killed it as always even when Mother Nature decided to spring a rainstorm on everyone in the middle of his set, Jones kept on spinning. Most of the crowd ran for shelter, but his true fans could not be bothered by a little bit of water (ok, a lot). A few tiny technical glitches, a few thousand damp festival-goers, and about half an hour later, the skies cleared, and everyone was ready to take on the night to the last few notes of “La La Land.”

At this point, most of the festivalgoers made their way to the main stage to reserve a decent spot for Tiësto. Eric Prydz got the crowd alive and warmed up after the storm and before you knew it, Tiësto was taking the stage. “How are you doing Toronto!” came Verwest’s excited Dutch accent spilling through the speakers.

Hosting Tiësto is a pretty big deal since he doesn’t tour much, so Toronto welcomed him back with open arms, fireworks (really, really sad fireworks), and a lot of fist pumping. Being an older DJ playing for a (mostly) younger crowd can be tricky, so it wasn’t too surprising that Tiësto played most of his recent club hits, but it was somewhat of a shocker that his set was nearly identical to the one he played last year on the same stage.

Looking up at the fireworks trying to make their way into the sky with no real climax, lighting up the city skyline, surrounded by thousands of people coming together for the love of music (drugs, drinks, and dancing), it was a good weekend to be Canadian and a great way to kick off the summer.

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Day one was off to a slow start, no lineups, no crazy crowds, just enough people to colour the park. With House of Boom being the first stage you come across after entry, it was the first area to get filled. Walking into a half point of Ricktoxic’s set, taking in the scene, dropping a couple moves while making our way to the front, soaking in the strobe light and the pretty damn awesome stage set up we quickly nicknamed the area the “Trap Tent”. With many options ahead of us we stayed behind a little longer to watch M|O|D light up the early arrivers on fire. Note to self, this one is a keeper.

“That area is my favourite! I love it! It’s my favourite!” screamed a young girl in cut-off shorts, pointing at the House of Boom just an hour later. This is the tent everyone loves, where the sun don’t shine, the drinks are plenty and the music doesn’t stop (all DJs smoothly replaced each other with an occasional parting hug).

A little later Fake Blood played an early show on the main, Dreams, stage. As soon as the first beat dropped you knew, this was it: tank tops are coming off, bodies are up in the air, Canadian flags are starting to unfold, and everyone’s favourite Nickelodeon characters are prying into the sky (Spongebob was a particularly popular one). People, get ready, now we dance. Following Mr Keating the most memorable act of the night was no other other than Paul Van Dyk. As soon as he graced the stage with his appearance the ground shook and the crowds shifted, the man still knows how to bring it and for that we take the hat of to him.

Day two started at the main stage with DJ’s Dzeko and Torres, it was obvious that Toronto was familiar with the duo and was undoubtedly ready to party…again. The tent and the Echo Beach were nearly empty while the main stage was already a hot mess for Dzeko and Torres’ midday performance. The bar for the rest of the day was set. By the end of their hype set, the grounds had filled to the rim, the fans were on queue, and the rest of the evening was up to the talent.

Moving on to the House of Boom, it was time for some hip-hop sound and hard beats. Taking the crowd by storm, Flosstradamus did what he does best: an intense, loud, and incredibly ratchet show for his fans. Feeling like you were in an intimate club with a full laser show and wicked sound system, he did not fail to make the crowd sweat.

We lingered behind to see Dillon Francis do his thing and watch the evening party starting to blow up one neon t-shirt at a time. As soon as his set was done, the entire venue looked like a carnival for EDM fans everywhere, complete with light shows, lasers, fur, wings, superhero masks, and, of course, a few crazy fans dressed up as Elvis (I mean why not, right?).

By 10 pm, The Flats were packed and the energy was insane. Most of the crowd was moving towards the main stage to see the final set of Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike with a mission to secure a decent dancing square for Wolfgang Gartner and Tiësto. If anything, even only in their second year, Digital Dreams has figured out how to go out with a bang. Getting the highest payed, and one of the most respected DJs in the world to end this two-day festival was a brilliant move. Tiesto seemed to be a joy for everyone that night. He and the crowd went through it, from the past to the present, Tiesto threw out his greatest hits from the ninety’s to his most popular songs of today, all lit up by fireworks and laser beams with bursts of confetti floating off into the jumping crowd.

Even if this isn’t your cup of tea, it is hard to ignore how much effort went into the festival. Even more so, the appreciation of music and the coming together of thousands of people in the city of Toronto are proof that this is certainly not the end of the dream. It just might be a rebirth of rave on this side of the globe.

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