Midwest rivalry over electronic music festivals

By JASON SINGER, Staff Writer

DEMF, short for Detroit Electronic Music Festival, has become a huge event for young Detroiters and fellow dance music fans across the Midwest each year during Memorial Day weekend.

But now there is competition.

Officials just announced that Electronic Daisy Carnival in Chicago will also be taking place that weekend leaving musicians and DJ’s to be caught in a tug-o-war between the two cities. Now Detroit finds itself fighting another uphill battle struggling to keep its music lineup and not losing out to the Windy City.

“We’ll definitely be bringing a different kind of environment and musical landscape to fans in that area. There’s not a ton of crossover. The vibe of the events is fundamentally different,” says Erika Raney, spokeswoman for EDC producer Insomniac Events.

Last year DEMF enjoyed its biggest outpour yet, with crowds over 100,000 people in Hart Plaza making it official that DEMF has become an electronic festival to be reckoned with.

Although EDC has attracted some of the biggest DJ’s around like Tiesto and David Guetta, DEMF’s increasing popularity is putting it on the music map. Thirty-eight performers have been announced for this year’s lineup taking place May 25-27.

Thousands of people will descend on Detroit bringing consumerism, attention, and a rowdy crowd of young people eager to dance. Though the scheduling conflict has roused some concern among festival goers about Chicago stealing some of Detroit’s lineup, officials for DEMF say they are unconcerned.

Because as locals here always know, Detroit has faced tougher battles before.