Detroit is located in the Midwestern state of Michigan and it’s the proud birthplace of “Techno.” This intense and hard-working city has hosted the Movement Festival for the past 10 years, with 2016 being its decade anniversary. The Festival takes place on Memorial Weekend bringing together more than 100,000 people and it is currently organized and managed by Paxahau, one of the leading event productions companies in the US. Located on the southern border of Detroit and overlooking Canada’s City of Windsor is Hart Plaza, the site of the annual festival. The festival featured some superb sets by techno’s royalty ranging from Stacy Pullen and Carl Craig to Adam Beyer and Danny Tenaglia. There were also many wonderful and powerful tunes including tributes to the late Prince and David Bowie.
We traveled to Detroit a couple of days ahead of time to explore the city and experience some of the great food and bars the town has to offer (not to mention the friendly locals who make of this city a unique and wonderful destination). We found some great restaurants and met some lovely people at Slows BarBq, Park Bar, and Motor City Brewing Works.
As the first day of the festival arrived, we took an Uber to Hart Plaza. The expectations were high knowing that Movement is one of the biggest electronic music gatherings in the country. The festival had 6 stages, each featuring different electronic music genres but mainly focusing on techno sounds. The overall organization was on spot, meeting all standards. There were plenty of food trucks with diverse options, soft drink vendors, cocktails, dance-floor beer sales, and some shopping options for festival merchandise. All this was surrounding the Horace E. Dodge and Son Memorial Fountain. Each area was conveniently located, not too far from the other. They all boasted top sound system and proper stage setup. The visuals were on point without too much flash or exuberance while offering just enough to enhance the experience, something that we appreciate since at Movement “It’s all about the Music.”
Each of the stages was perfectly curated. We had the chance to stop by and listen to as many sets as possible. From this point on, we will mention what we thought were the highlights of the weekend based on our humble opinion.
