anabolic frolic

European-style rural rave hits sleepy Bobcaygeon

Lee Greenberg
The Ottawa Citizen


Thursday, August 01, 2002

When 7,000 soother-sucking youth converge on a cowfield in Bobcaygeon this weekend, they'll be dancing to the beat of the new rave: The urban dance scene is going country, at least geographically.

Raves began, of course, as secretive all-night warehouse parties, fuelled by thumping electronic music and the energizing drug ecstasy.

As raving has matured, it has become more sophisticated, more European.

"People aren't as interested in being so underground, in partying in dirty warehouses in the middle of nowhere," That's what Ryan Kruger, who also goes by the name DJ OS/2, organizer of this weekend's three-day World Electronic Music Festival in Bobcaygeon, some 30 kilometres northwest of Peterborough.

Instead, like the summer festival circuit in Europe, Canada's electronica fans want to take their beat appreciation outside.

In Europe, where electronic music has become a mainstream genre, outdoor summer events draw massive crowds. Creamfields, one of the largest electronic festivals in the UK, is expecting 55,000 people in Liverpool this August, drawn by acts such as the Chemical Brothers and DJ Shadow.

Moby's Area2 festival, which hits Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on Monday, is a day-long event featuring David Bowie and Moby, as well as dance luminaries John Digweed and Carl Cox.

Canadian promoters have a difficult time competing with these extravaganzas. Nevertheless, WEMF features 200 DJ's from around the world, playing on six stages. Christopher Lawrence, Graham Gold, Lange and Pulser headline an event which will also include live acts Liquified and The New Deal.

The event was marred last year by disorganization and legal problems when civic authorities received an last-minute injunction to shut the party down.

Police tried to send ravers packing, said Anthony Marko, 26, part of an Ottawa contingent running the psychedelic stage at WEMF this year. But as 5,000 ravers flooded into Bobcaygeon, the city had a change of heart.

City official Rosalie Evans said that while there were several complaints of "spaced-out kids not knowing where they were," of litter, noise and one case of a group of festivalgoers "running into (electrified cattle) fences," the overall impression was positive.

This year, WEMF was obliged to take out a $10-million liability insurance policy as well as making expanded provisions for security, health and safety, sanitation and parking.

A three-day event pass, including camping costs $80 before July 3 and $95 at the gate. Two-day passes are $60 before July 3 and $70 at the gate.

WEMF begins tomorrow at noon and goes until late Sunday. Tickets are available at Norml Clothing or through TicketMaster.