- Two years ago, RA visited Movement Torino, one of Italy's biggest electronic music festivals. The event is the European incarnation of the seminal festival in Detroit, and has been given its blessings by numerous Motor City icons, but when Matt Unciomb attended, he felt that many of the finer details of putting on such a big event had been overlooked. Two years later, it was interesting to see how things had progressed.
Organisers brought back some of their favourites for this year's festival, among them Derrick May, the man they call the "Maradona of electronic music." A big cast of headliners were booked across the city over a period of seven days. There were eight events in total, with artists such as Laurent Garnier, Maceo Plex, Henrik Schwarz, System Of Survival, Dixon, DJ Harvey and Visionquest among the highlights. The festival was careful to mix things up, switching from more intimate venues to huge spaces that could accommodate thousands.
I arrived near the end of the festival's run, just in time for the main event, which took place at the cavernous Lingotto Fiere. The space is located inside a gargantuan former Fiat factory. Inside, as Magda took charge of the main stage, the room slowly started to fill up. Italian crowds like their beats pumping from the off, and Magda let loose with powerful, highly-charged techno to satisfy their needs. Meanwhile, in a smaller, more intimate space, Visionquest had just started one of their marathon four-way sets. This performance was part of the crew's 13 tour, with special emphasis placed on lights and production.
Throughout the night there was a constant flow in and out of both rooms, controlled by a one-way system and a stern yet friendly set of bouncers. The energy of the crowd grew as the venue filled out. Dixon, clearly aware of where he was playing, adopted a far tougher edge to his set than one would usually expect from him. Maceo Plex handled the big room with ease, while Mathew Jonson and Ben Klock pushed things into overdrive on the smaller second stage. One complaint was that, due to their proximity, the music from the main arena bled over into the second stage.
Meanwhile, in Visionquest's room, Troxler, Crosson, Reeves and Curtiss were in full flow, the space comfortably packed full of enthusiastic Italians. The DJ collective went one for one, dropping bomb after bomb, plus the odd obscure cut to keep everyone on their toes. Closing with The Stranglers' "Peaches," for example, proved an inspired move. At the afterparty, Maceo Plex and Troxler rolled out a five-hour back-to-back set that spilt well into Friday morning.
Two days later came the closing party with Detroit legends Terrence Parker and Derrick May. This one took place at a jam-packed, 1000-plus capacity venue called Audiodrome. With well-stocked bars both upstairs and down, a large smoking area and a sturdy soundsystem, it made for a more intimate atmosphere than the festival's main event. Italians DJ Rango and Lele Sacchi warmed up the crowd adeptly, feeding off the audience's lively vibe. By the time Parker stepped up there was no need to ease the crowd in, so he dropped into a series of mind-boggling scratch techniques that added dynamism to his set. Working his way through classics such as "Energy Flash," "Strings Of Life" and Cajmere's "Brighter Days," Parker even dropped New Order's "Blue Monday." That onslaught was followed by an equally furious set from Derrick May. The techno godfather seemed very much in his element, enjoying himself so much he overran the club's 6 AM licence by a considerable margin. Not that anyone cared.
Lessons certainly appear to have been learnt from two years ago: the festival ran like clockwork, the DJs were happy, the atmosphere was electric at every venue and, most importantly, the partygoers themselves were thoroughly well-looked after.