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Molek FMPast Music Festival <> Future Music Festival
In the old days, music festivals were just mere visions and dreams rotting on a piece of crumpled paper, until Woodstock happened that is. Emerging into the sun and opening gateways for the future, Woodstock is the first ever widely recognised music festival that granted the people a 3 day experience of hippie indulgences such as that of peace and music. Ravi Shankar played through the rain, CCR put spell on you, and Hendrix lit you on fire to 400,000 peace enthusiasts floating on purple hills. Those were the times… and gone are the times when live music was at its prime where the sound of music was created before our very eyes. Then that was the last of it.
So that was a bummer. Nevertheless it did spark something in the minds of many greats, especially one Michael Eavis who spawned brilliancy in the form of the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Arts in England. Best known for other art forms – aside from music – such as dance, theatre, and cabaret (among many), the 1970 festival was heavily influenced by hippie ethics and free festival movement which in layman terms; pretty much Woodstock except that it’s still ongoing and in England.
As electronic elements slowly forced its way into the music community and exploded into a mushroom cloud, dance music fans became the hipsters of their time. Side by side underground punk shows, venues were dominated with the illegal raves of the ‘80s. Still unable to comprehend and accept this new culture, the scene came to a glaring halt and music was divided into instrumentalists and electro-whatevs. Like any underdog society, soon enough the fandom of EDM grew and eventually led to legitimate dance festivals such as the tragic Love Parade. Originating from 1989 in Germany, the 18 years running parade was a huge success among party animals but that was until a crowd rush caused 21 deaths and 500 injured, hence resulting in the demise of the festival too.
That didn’t slow anything down though, not by a long shot. If anything, all it did was just make the movement stronger. One after another was just series of newly produced festivals dedicated specifically for EDM. As big names in the ‘rock’ industry such as Big Day Out and Ozzfest started to lose its prestige, Creamfields and Tomorrowland became the go-to destinations. Tomorrowland was conceived in 2005 and has since became one of the most notable global music festivals, building every year in size and numbers.
There was a great imbalance in the force and festivals that previously only catered to bands, like Lollapalooza, went stale. The world cried out for a new change, something that could once again mend the brokenness of music demographics. And then there was Coachella; the grandchild of festivals. Young and fresh, Coachella was resurrected in 2001 from their hiatus in 1999 and has been growing massively ever since. The festival managed to unite music genres by including rock, indie, hip hop, and of course EDM into their lineup – making it the IT place to be and perform. Naturally, other festivals followed suit (disregarding genre-specific ones, of course).
With music genres finally gelling back together, the latest addition to the family and future of festivals have been born. Future Music Festival bloomed in 2006 as a one day independent festival in Sydney and evolved in 2007 into a massive tour around Australia, which soon led to the expansion in Asia in 2012; the very first Future Music Festival Asia. And whaddya know, two editions later, FMFA is still going strong with a 2014 announced recently. Greater things are yet to come, all in good time.
We are excited.
Future Music Festival Asia 2014 is set to happen on 13, 14, and 15 March ’14 at The Mines Wonderland, Mines Resort City.
Find more info at www.futuremusicfestival.asia.