Chasing Summer brings the beats
The beats are back. Chasing Summer, the largest EDM festival in Western Canada, returns to Calgary this weekend with some of the world’s biggest stars behind the decks. Three stages will be running Saturday and Sunday at Max Bell Centre Festival Grounds,
1 Lineup: The list of big-name beat-providers is once again an impressive one, featuring established artists, up-and-comers and some still-to-be-discovereds. Headliners for Saturday are: Roses and Don’t Let Me Down duo The Chainsmokers; breakout Dutch house DJ Martin Garrix; T.O. electro combo Zeds Dead; epic American trance and dubstep producer Seven Lions; and Canadian hardstyle king James Bayliss. On deck for Sunday are: Another Netherlander master of house, Hardwell; Swedish Runaway (U& I) team Galantis (a.k.a. Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw); and masked mystery man Marshmello. Other notable names throughout the weekend include Jauz, Don Diablo, Netsky, Andrew Bayer, Cookie Monsta vs. FuntCase, Kyau & Albert, Moti, and Gabriel & Dresden. Set times are available at: chasingsummerfestival.com
2 Location: This year, to accommodate the large crowds, Chasing Summer has jumped across the Deerfoot, moving from Fort Calgary to Max Bell Centre Festival Grounds (1001 Barlow Trail S.E.). “With the help of the City, we were able to secure a new location that will bring to life the vision we have for this festival,” Harvey Cohen, vice-president of talent at Live Nation Canada, which produces the festival, said in a statement. That means it’s a significantly bigger plot of land that fans can stretch out on and experience the three stages, and it meets their green initiatives being a five-minute walk from the Barlow/Max Bell LRT station. The latter is important as there is no parking at the grounds, so transit is your best option.
3 Attending: If you have not yet secured yourself a ducat for the party, they’re still available from the aforementioned website. General admission weekend passes are $159.95 with singleday tickets also purchasable for each day for $99.95 (both plus service charges). Unfortunately for underage EDM fans, this one is an 18-and-over event, meaning that, yes, the entire site is licensed so you can wander around and sip from a Solo. There will also be food vendors and free water at various locations on the site to keep people fed and hydrated.
4 After-parties: For those who don’t want the party to stop once the clocks strikes 11, there are official after-parties at a trio of local hot spots each night of the festival featuring some of the talent from those big stages in a more intimate setting. On Saturday night you can catch Zetsky and guests at the Marquee Beer Market and Stage, Gabriel & Dresden with ZTKO and Jason X at the Bespoke Nightclub, and Seven Lions plus others at Flames Central. The next night and in the same order Marshmello and guests, Hannah Wants with David Stone and Seelo Mondo, and Galantis are at the same venues. Oh, and if you want to get primed for the weekend, there’s also an official pre-party on the Friday night at the Marquee featuring Zeds Dead. Tickets can be procured from the same site.
5 Everything else: Doors open both days at 1 p.m., but you might want to get there a little earlier. Security will be searching every patron, so be prepared to empty your pockets and open any bag you might have, and there will also be extra policing inside the gates, enforcing the festival’s zero tolerance policy when it comes to drugs. There is also no re-entry, so plan ahead and bring everything you might need to make it through the day. As for all of the other don’t brings and can brings, there’s an extensive list on the site so check it out before you go, with the only items on the organizers’ list of must brings to Chasing Summer are a valid ID and positive vibes.