And this weekend proved I wasn’t the only one.
For the first time ever I ventured downtown to experience an event that has been going on since 2000. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival (all the cool kids call it DEMF) takes place every year during Memorial Weekend in Detroit’s Hart Plaza on the riverfront.
Why I had never attended up until this year I have no idea. Granted, I’m not even remotely a fan of electronica but just the experience of being down there in the midst of so many people and insanely loud music is worth it. And even despite the schizophrenic weather this past weekend, the Movement still managed to set record attendance numbers with the largest crowds recorded ever since the event started charging admission back in 2005.
Though I might not have been an electronica fan when I arrived downtown I think I managed to leave one (maybe). The people, the music, the lights, the smells make it nearly impossible to not get into it and just feel the beat. Granted the Movement might not be for everyone.
For starters, there were two constant and overwhelming smells: that of sweat and urine and of course, pot. Wait, that’s three. Perhaps not the best place to bring the kids for the weekend. And, if you thought Detroit was dirty before, well then quite frankly you haven’t seen dirty. Suffice to say, I’d hate to be the person that has to clean up Hart Plaza afterwards.
But, once you get past all that, the aspect of the entire event that caught my attention the most and really hit it home for me was the fact that, here I was, in the midst of thousands of other young people downtown in the city of Detroit having a blast!
It didn’t matter who you were, where you were from, how crazy you were dressed (okay, that one is kind of a lie) or whether or not you had ever even had the slightest interest in electronic music before this. Nope, none of that mattered while I and countless others jumped up in down in tandem with our hands in the air while sweating profusely. Because, at that moment it was all about the beat, the bass, the incessant boom, boom, boom that you can’t help but move your body to.
That’s exactly what this city needs: events like this continue to bring young people downtown. It also goes to show just how influential and important music still remains in the city of Detroit and is a testament to the power that music still has (and always will have) to bring people of all walks of life together.
There was a large sign hoisted up in the middle of the plaza that summed up the entire weekend pretty well: We Lift Detroit in Dance
And to that I say, Amen.
Check out full coverage and picture galleries from Freep and the Detroit News.
Photo by teahousemusic posted on Instagram.
