Movement

This is what editors used to call “burying the lede“, back when there were still gainfully employed editors who could tell you what a “lede” was.

Four paragraphs into this story published today about Juan Atkins and Rik Davis acting as a “symbiotic force” is news that DEMF – the precursor to Movement – will be returning as a free outdoor festival in Detroit this upcoming Independence Day, July 4, 2014.

This is liable to lead to some confusion, as most people who have been going for awhile still refer to “Movement” as “DEMF” (which stands for the “Detroit Electronic Music Festival”). And the festival organizers of the new/old “DEMF” are also introducing “FEMT”, referred to as “the biggest dance party you could ever have”, and held simultaneously – also July 4, 2014 – as DEMF, and also in Detroit. (Update: this piece from the Free Press clarifies DEMF/FEMT will span multiple days across the Independence Day weekend.)

While DEMF will be free, FEMT will cost $300 for a weekend pass and $1500 for VIP entry.

More details about new/old DEMF and just-new FEMT are to be released on DEMF.us (active but not especially helpful) and FEMT.us which is under construction. And relax: there’s plenty of time to sort it all out without going half-cocked on social media about how much you wouldn’t pay for events that apparently aren’t charging.

Our takeaway? While most people are focusing on how this impacts Paxahau’s Movement Festival in May, new/old DEMF and just-new FEMT add to a busy calendar for July 4 weekend in the Midwest. There were two festivals in Chicago that holiday weekend in 2013, The Chosen Few Picnic and Wavefront, and between them the events captured practically every aspect and sub-genre of the scene imaginable.

Adding another festival (or two, I guess) drawing on a more-or-less similar line-up and target audience seems to be relying on a scene growing faster than anyone else has noticed.