Concert Reviews

Ever After Music Festival Day 2: Diplo, Flosstradamus, Keys N Krates, Benny Benassi, Matoma

Photographs by Lilly House.

The second day that I reached the Bingeman’s center in Kitchener, it was a little less rainy but slightly more chilly. With our raincoats, ponchos and sweaters we all headed once again towards the main stage for the opening acts of day 2 of the Ever After Music Festival. When we reached the bottom of the hill we got to see artists such as Joe Ghost and Sydney Blue take stage, with their synth-oriented distorted bass sounds, and the crowd erupted into an ocean of dancing raincoats. They definitely set the tone for the rest of the lineup, which I was very eager to see.

When I listened to Matoma for the first time I came to the conclusion that he was one of the most creative producers I had heard. He process is beautifully simple; he takes old school hip hop vocals reminiscent of Biggie Smalls, Tupac and Will Smith, and produce background music to accompany it. The Norwegian-based DJ uses synthesized woodwind and brass instrument, primarily saxophone, to create a beautifully happy easy to listen to track, which in contrast to the original music for a lot of the hip hop artists brings a very distinct but pleasant contradiction to the sound. He took the stage and immediately started playing his popular remixes, such as “Wild wild west” and “Big poppa” and the crowd swayed enjoyable to the music. His visual presentation was fantastic – he produced an array of colours, transitioning from broad warm tones to sharp defined cool tones. He was visibly enjoying the show just as much as we were – producers should love their own music too. It was a great way to relax the atmosphere of Ever After, just before the headliners brought the hype performances.

Benny Benassi has to be one of the most respected artists on the lineup. The original dance party DJ brought us back to the early 2000’s with his VIP renditions of his hit “Satisfaction.” The blast from the past continued with his remixes of classic Benassi hits and as I was enthralled with the music I realized that this guy was still pretty energetic, given his age. He was jumping around, barely lowering his hands, increasing the crowds energy. It was almost like he hadn’t been doing the same job for 20 years, he was just as thrilled to perform. His visuals can only be described and spiderwebs, changing colour between variations of his name being displayed. He ended his set the way I thought I could only hope for – he started with his hit “Cinema” and transitioned into the Skrillex remix, blasting the distorted basslines through the main stage speaker leaving all who witnessed it totally speechless.

Then I had the immense pleasure of seeing one of my favourite trap artists to date – Keys N Krates. These three had one element to their sound unmatched by other trap producers and that was their live drummer. It brought such an authentic sound in comparison to synthesized drums, changing the game in electronic hip hop. The first thought that ran through my head was the amount of preparation it must take for each performance. Their sound is difficult to describe, offset bass lines, repetitive vocal samples and punching synth sounds that make them one of the most unique artists to date. One thing that surprised me was the group’s ability to incorporate improvised vinyl scratching into some of their more famous tracks, including an amazing remix of the verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.” They closed their set with a brand new track “Save Me,” that incorporated elements of Drum and Bass. I’m eager to see what they have coming next!

Flosstradamus has to be one of the most visually rewarding sets of the weekend, the extent of preparation that goes into their shows is apparent – for them, it’s not only about the music. They opened with their hype man running out in an all white suit, black bullet proof vest and a white version of the American flag with the Flosstradamus logo replacing the stars. They jump into their grungy trap style set, encouraging mass amounts of rowdiness that I’ve known them to do before. They played mostly remixes, throwing creative renditions of Rihanna, Big Sean, Kanye West and several others at the energetic crowd while displaying crazy visuals that can only be described as an epileptic’s nightmare. I was particularly excited for one specific song they dropped, their hit track “Drop Top,” which they transitioned into its equally creative remix by Party Favor. They ended their set by having everyone hold up their cell phones and take a picture of the stage, while they filmed the sea of flashing lights ahead of them.

Of course, who could not be excited for Diplo? I eagerly waited for the American-born trap artist to throw on his unusual hip hop oriented style through the main stage sound system. As soon as his set started, he played his famous track from his collaboration with Skrillex, Jack Ü. He started with “Take Ü There” and continued into his original tracks, but for the most part he played remixes of popular hip hop tracks, such as Bobby Smurda, YG, and even Flux Pavillion. His transitions were smooth and effortless, no pausing whatsoever. As he brought ethnic fire dancers to dazzle the crowd, he announced the special guest….and Wacka Flocka Flame took the stage. I will be honest, I was never a big fan of Wacka. However, he put on such an insane performance, it becomes difficult to not love him. He started hyping the crowd immediately while Diplo played Soca music behind him. He had everyone jump in time, then had the whole crowd- every last person – run from one side of the lot to the other. After this point, Diplo explored different subcategories of electronic music, delving into hardstyle and dubstep oriented remixes. Just before he ended this incredible set, he wanted to show exactly how much he appreciated Ontario…

“AND IIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOUUUUUU”

Seriously, he straight up played Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and with that, Ever After was over. I was expectedly exhausted after dancing for a whole weekend, but I will never forget this festival, and I definitely intend to attend its 2016 installment.

About author

EDM Writer at Live in Limbo and resident DJ of Method Sound.