The first ever Sundance Beach Festival took place at HTO Park as the festivities for the Toronto International Film Festival were coming to a close. This event was probably one of the better orchestrated festivals of the summer and for its compact size it was actually one of the best. The venue overlooked the Toronto waterfront as well as had the backdrop of the CN Tower and Roger Centre to provide atmosphere.
Let’s admit it, we have all been holding back to accept the fact summer is over here in Toronto. Sundance did an incredible job on the setup, location and lineup for this event. I would even go out on the limb and say this was probably one of the top 3 events of the summer here in the city. Small, intimate and musically sound festivals should be the focus of our city’s electronic music culture.
The hand picked line-up was top, which saw: Audien, Mercer, Jerome Isma Ae, Jorn van Deynhoven, MaRLo, Saad Ayub, Shaun Frank and Andy Ares. For me, Mercer was the highlight of the night. He had a late afternoon set and seeing him spin at a few arms length away and then turning around to see the crowd’s reaction was spectacular. Audien also did a great job closing out the night as we got to hear big tunes and some of his well known remixes.
All and all I am excited to hear that they are already working on next year’s event. Considering the workmanship that went into this years I know that the 2015 edition will bring even closer attention to detail making it a festival to be sought-after by many.
