Michael : EDM Community

Cole Hess

Professor Cryer

Engl 122

4 September 2018

Michael: Opening Up  

Turns out dance festivals are about more than doing drugs and dancing, for a lot of people it is a communal escape from the responsibilities of the “real world”. This is supported by an interview conducted with my composition II classmate, Michael. These shows can be a nervous experience for many people, but with insight it’s easy to see this is a community that is accepting to all.  

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals are shows of music and typically lights, usually outside and at night. These festivals are different from most concerts, in that they can often span many days and nights. Also this community is different than most because it’s not a recurrence of community members you’ve seen at a festival before, it's just the idea of the community that keeps everyone together. One thing is for sure about EDM festivals, whether you’re dressed for show, there for dancing, or into the drug scene, everyone is there for the incredible DJs and talented musicians.   

Michael’s involvement with EDM festivals was not something he initially sought out, he was encouraged by a friend and stumbled upon an incredibly accepting community. He likely had less anticipation for his first festival than most do, reluctant at first. Some research and listening to a little of the music with his friend that was trying to persuade him seemed to be enough encouragement for him to buy the ticket. He had been listening to more of the music and that was the main reason he was interested. His first Festival called “Spring Awakening”,  was in Chicago. Michael and his friends left Kansas at 4a.m. only to be pulled over and consequently late for some opening acts, one of which they had specifically come for. Even though this would only add to the nerves and uncertainty that he would enjoy his time, Michael had more fun than he ever imagined: “A feeling I had never experienced before”. Being accepted and able let go of any worries he had in or outside of the massive overbooked stadium he was attending sparked Michael’s passion for dance festivals. This naturally led to him enjoying the EDM played at this festival, as well as expanding his tastes to sub-genres he hadn’t heard of yet.

Michael has other accounts of less intense events, that provided a different but still enjoyable time. The smallest concert he has attended was a party of ten to fifteen people, all friends enjoying each other and the music. Michael recalls, “It was just a chill time, with my friend being the DJ I wanted to support him and have fun.” This may seem like an irrelevant piece to share, but it reveals even more about how the EDM community is less interested a large “Community”, than it is about building small friendships around a central idea of escapism and acceptance.

This does not mean that the experiences are always positive, sometimes these shows can be so stimulating that it leads to a panic attack, seizure or other serious health issue. Michael goes on to describe a less than pleasurable reaction he had at the Midland Theater, a venue with half the maximum capacity of his first concert. “There was such heavy bass, and I felt a lot of claustrophobia being in the middle of the crowd. I had to move to the edge and get some space”. He hasn’t found a specific trigger for this event, just that it was a an isolated incident and hasn’t happened since. Michael isn't the only one to feel discomfort at these events as you may have guessed,  it can be obvious that there are drug related deaths pretty often. But the most dangerous part of any of these festivals is the possibility of crowd trampling, there were 11 people trampled to death in Morocco’s Mawazine Festival in 2009, and 15 killed in Germany’s Love Parade just a year later (billboard.com). This is more so a representation of how crowded these events can be and what the source of much anxiety is for them.

It is rather obvious that Michael has done his research and spent some time in these festivals, providing a seasoned point of view on the community and best practices. He has experienced some of the negatives and knows what to avoid at this point in his community. “I just feel less anticipation around the events anymore, like more comfortable. There is less planning involved... I would say I just go with the flow. I also feel like I worry a lot less about what others are doing and what is going on around me”, Michael provides excellent support for the idea that there is a communal escape and and acceptance for those around you, as they likely have for you. He goes on to show his rank by providing some advice for newcomers: “Avoiding the things you’re worried about will only make them worse, especially in an environment you aren’t comfortable in. Get in the middle of the crowd, try genres you think you won’t like, and go to types of festivals you would never normally go to.”

At this point Michael has been to five different EDM concerts, has tickets to two more and plans on purchasing a ticket to a third. He says that the EDM festival scene has, as with any activity, become more comfortable with practice. Michael describes his manner at festivals as more laid back, and  he has less anxiety. This all comes from his leap into something he had never tried before, that lead him to a community he now can’t see himself without. The people he met on the way only became a part of his true EDM community, those who escape together.