Music
Festival combats EDM clichés by adding vinyl-only stage
by Jeremy Mersereau
January 28, 2015
In the dark age of 2015, when any aspiring Tiesto (or, much worse, the actual Tiesto) with Serato or Ableton can flawlessly mix cheesy drops into really cheesy drops, it takes a real hero to stand up and say no, dance music should be about everything but the auto-sync. Fortunately, Belgium’s Tomorrowland organizers are up to the task, and they don’t care whose toes they step on.
By which I mean, they’ve added a vinyl-only stage to one night of their massive EDM festival. The stage will be masterminded by techno lifer and Cocoon Recordings label boss Sven Vath.
Since 2005, dance fans from all over the world have converged on the small town of Boom (nice), Belgium, some 16 km south of Antwerp, to feed their addiction to brain-melting beats and $40 shuttle rides. The inaugural Tomorrowland featured performances from such electronic music superstars as Yoji Biomehanika, Technoboy, and Coone (damn, they got Coone?!), with last year’s edition featuring massive names like Skrillex and Diplo.
The inclusion of vinyl-only stage, along with the announcement that those raving maniacs the National Orchestra of Belgium are booked to perform, shows a much-needed willingness to push EDM past the cliches and played-out SNL sketches. Finally, a vinyl-only stage for one night at a massive festival! They said it would never happen, but here we are.
