IN CONCERT
Victoria Electronic Music
Festival featuring Photek,
Jesse Rose, Charles Feelgood,
DJ Craze, Rennie Foster,
Danuel Tate and more
When: Saturday and Sunday
Where: Various venues, including Centennial Square, Hush, Club 9ONE9, Lucky Bar, Touch and more
Tickets: $5 (Centennial Square); various prices for nightclub events
More information: vemf.org
It would be easy for John Fannon to look forward just a little bit, given the celebratory shindig he's planning for next year. But the man behind this weekend's ninth annual Victoria Electronic Music Festival isn't losing sight of the task at hand in what is his first year as the festival's executive producer.
Organizational duties for Fannon's electronic dance music festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday at eight venues around the city, have been handled by a small but dedicated team.
Fannon, who was also involved last year at the managerial level, has pitched in with a little bit of everything in order to make it work, and is overjoyed at the response the festival has received.
Twenty acts, which represent the bulk of the daytime festival programming, will take the stage in Centennial Square. Fannon expects the outdoor venue to be at its capacity (5,000) for the majority of the weekend. Seven additional venues, including three after-hours clubs that run until 5 a.m. or later, each which its own separate admission, round out the night portion of the festival.
"I would tell people to get their tickets now, because the clubs will be full, too," he said.
While he is looking forward to rebranding the festival for its 10th anniversary party next year, the roster of acts on tap this weekend could be difficult to upstage. From several headliners of international renown (including Photek, Jesse Rose, Charles Feelgood, and DJ Craze) to a strong local contingent led by Rennie Foster and Danuel Tate, among others, it's as good as any year previous, Fannon said. And for the cost of a latté - all programming at Centennial Square is $5 - there isn't a better bargain to be had this summer.
"There's some super, super stellar names on the lineup this year," said Fannon, who solicited help from one of the top dance music promoters in the city, John Beaumier of Whitebird Promotions. "Having John B. come on board this year, he's really stepped up to bat where that stuff is concerned."
Fannon's festival needed a motivational push going into this year, especially considering the amount of changes at the top. But while the stewardship of the electronic music festival has changed hands three times in as many years - after the 2010 departure of longtime producer Bruce Beil, former festival general manager Jason Guille left this year to focus on his club, the Sunset Room - Fannon has no doubt that fans of the festival will find it as entertaining as ever.
"We've kind of taken a step back this year and gone back to basics," he said.
Fannon says an oldschool festival philosophy will carry over into next year's festival. He wants VEMF's new mandate to be the old mandate, which was to showcase the often misunderstood music scene in an arena where all members of the community can participate.
"There has been an outpouring from the community [to get us] to go back to what the festival was all about. But there's also an outpouring of the population that likes the big headliners. I've got to find a happy medium between the two to make that happen.
"In the long run, I think we're going to put something crazy together. We're going to involve the community a lot more, and make it what this thing was originally all about."
