- San Francisco holds a unique place among major cities in the United States. Deep roots of civic activism, artistic expression and political progressiveness have allowed numerous cultural movements to spawn here: From the Love-In's of the '60s to the gay rights movement of the '70's on through to the Burning Man phenomena. San Francisco has always been a place where people who have left the conservative streets of mainstream America can call home.
So when the Berlin Love Parade was suspended in 2004, San Francisco seemed an obvious place to move it. Any other city in the States would have greeted an electronic music parade with a heavy police presence or simply squashed it before it could even take place, but the local San Francisco government embraced it. The Love Parade eventually returned to its home in Berlin, but the San Francisco dance music community was already hooked. In 2006, after renaming it the LoveFest, San Francisco began a yearly parade down its main artery, Market St., to the steps of City Hall in the Civic Center Plaza. Two years later, with an attendance of 85,000, it had grown into the largest single day dance music event in the US.
FRIDAY
Dirtybird Records Pre-Party at Mezzanine
There seemed to be no more fitting way to begin the weekend festivities than seeing the triumphant SF reunion of the Dirtybird Records crew at Mezzanine. Barclay Crenshaw, AKA Claude VonStroke, had spent the summer in Berlin doing the European festival tour but has recently resettled back in San Francisco. Now, VonStroke along with brothers Justin and Christian Martin, Worthy and newest member J.Phlip, took over one of SF's best venues for a schooling in their signature sound. I arrived to Christian Martin laying out a really deep tech groove to a packed main room that glowed under diffuse red lighting.
Photo credit: Don Yee
The room was bubbling with energy, which soon exploded when Christian seamlessly mixed into a remix of "Who's Afraid of Detroit?" Next to Christian in the booth was Crenshaw, smiling, drink in hand, a look of satisfaction on his face. Justin Martin came up next and the contrast between the two brother's personalities was quickly revealed in their mixing styles. Where Christian played a deliberate set, slowly building a steady flow with imperceptible mixes, Justin was free-spirited, working the EQ and effects with an improvisational flare. The lighting in the room deepened into purple and the SF LoveFest weekend was in full swing.
Lee Burridge Invites You to Get Weird at Mighty
Lee Burridge has made a yearly ritual of playing the Friday night of the LoveFest weekend. Previously, the Lovelee party was consistently one of the best parties of the festival. Now, with the help of Listed Productions, Burridge, who recently relocated to SF, has begun a series of parties called "Get Weird," the first of which took place back in July. The venue, Mighty, was lit with a netting of multi-colored live wire hung just above the crowds head, creating a more intimate feeling in the large club. Mighty's normal sound system is adequate at best, but for the event Whump Sound out of LA was brought in to set up a Turbosound rig. It made all the difference as the main room vibrated with thick sub-bass. The crowd was dressed in eccentric outfits, ala Burning Man, at the behest of Burridge, giving the party a Dionysian flavor. I arrived around 2:30 AM and the main room was still packed with enthusiastic people. Burridge was driving the place with a sound that lies somewhere between techno, tech-house and progressive without ever falling into the cliché of each genre. The crowd couldn't get enough and even with the prospect of little sleep before the parade, the dance floor remained full until the lights came up.
SATURDAY
SF LoveFest
San Francisco is known for its Indian summers: September and October are the warmest months of the year. But rain had been forecast all week and organizers and float participants were nervous at the prospect of improvising shelters to cover their DJ booths. Friday night was a cold, steady downpour, but by morning, the sun broke through and a gorgeous California sky shone above.
Photo credit: Don Yee
The parade itself is organized chaos. As the floats made their way down Market Street, revelers poured over the sidewalks and began dancing to each float's sound system. Tourists and city residents alike, unaware that the parade even occurs, stared with a mixture of awe and curiosity as the column of love machines drove towards their destination at the steps of City Hall with leather daddies and crusty hippies, candy ravers and yuppies all pulsing to the beat. The LoveFest organizers said this year's event drew over a 100,000 people. If this is indeed true, not only has the SF LoveFest become the largest electronic music event in the States, it has become one of the biggest festivals for any genre of music.
The local government seems to enjoy it: The City Hall was used as a VIP area as well as a venue for a fashion show. For sure, this wouldn't happen in any other city in the country. Although there is a large police presence, authorities seemed more amused than anything else by the half-naked freak fest dancing before them. This year there were twenty-eight floats participating in the event. Upon entering the square, each float is parked next to each other, with their sound system facing towards the center of the square. Instead of separating the various genres of music, drum & bass, trance, techno and house play side by side.
The floats ranged in design from the utilitarian through the sublime. Some floats were simply a flat-bed trailer supporting massive high-end sound systems like Funktion One and Opus. This year saw the return of Flavorgroup's Solid Gold Jacuzzi float with, yes, a gold Jacuzzi and dozens of scantily-clad solid gold dancers working out the 30 kW sound system. XEssential and Supperclub had an actual cockpit of a single-engine plane as the DJ booth for artists like Drop the Lime and Spank Rock's Devlin and Darko. Listed Productions enlisted the design talents of Los Angeles architect Raphael Vasquez and Reno's Overkill Productions in producing a Burning Man-inspired vehicle that evoked an aquatic flow with its abstract curves of steel and spandex. Local promoters Spundae and Skills along with Ruby Skye and Ultra Records brought in the big talent with a line-up that included Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond, SOS and Kaskade.
Photo credit: Don Yee
Musically, the LoveFest is eight hours of peak time music: Each DJ played as if it were 4 am on a Saturday night. There were throngs of people jumping up and down in front of each float the entire day. I overheard one DJ say playing this event was better than Burning Man. In the center of the square local vendors sold food and drinks to the ravenous crowds and recycling centers were set up to keep up with the LoveFest organizers intention to keep the party as Green as possible. At 8 PM sharp, all the sound systems cut off and the crowds wandered back into the streets in search of the numerous after-parties being held. The engines of the floats ignited back to life and slowly, in formation, they slowly parted the lingering crowds and disappeared into the night.
Om Records presents Love Is a Trip! at Mezzanine
Saturday night was packed with premiere events and The Om Records showcase brought me back to Mezzanine. The line-up included Mark Farina, Mike Monday, King Britt, and J-Boogie. Farina was DJing when I arrived, and it looked like Collette was keeping him company in the booth, enjoying her front row seat to one of House Music's masters. Farina was animated behind the decks, intense as he intricately blended various strands of deep, jazzy tech-house. The venue was full and the crowd dancing, but by last call the energy had waned enough for me to move on.
Kontrol at The Endup
The Kontrol crew have been torchbearers for techno in San Francisco. When I arrived in the city in 1999, there was hardly any tech-house to be found at clubs let alone proper techno. But over the past few years, Kontrol has been bringing in some of the world's top talent to San Francisco's legendary club, The Endup. Word seems to finally be getting out: Kontrol members Alland Byallo and Nikola Baytala, riding on their reputation as superior DJs, both recently finished extended European tours.
Photo credit: Don Yee
There was large line when I arrived, but it moved quickly and soon I found myself in the dark, sweaty confines of the club. Minimal techno was pumping and the crowd was definitely up for it. I made my way to the booth to find Speedy J working the mixer and effects. He confidently looked over the crowd as he deftly manipulated their bodies with old-school Plus 8-style beats: alien, acerbic and undeniably funky. Unfortunately, I only was able to catch the last forty minutes of his set, whereupon Josh Wink came up to close out the night. Instead of mixing out of Speedy J, Wink let the music stop and then dropped the energy level by switching to deep house music. From there he began a slow build through hypnotic, druggy beats along the lines of his Ovum Recordings label. His extended mixes were flawless, but the reverb-drenched drones and processed beats of the music was a little too much. I could hear that in an hour or so this slow build would eventually resolve itself into something more immediate, but I couldn't wait that long.
Raindance, DaxPresents and The MML present Pleasure from the Bass at Cellspace
It wouldn't be a proper night out in San Francisco without hitting at least one underground party. The lack of after-hour venues along with the 2 AM alcohol sales curfew has created a void that is filled by numerous underground parties across the city. Making my way through some side streets in the Mission District, I found a warehouse still packed and pumping with music. The crowd was a combination of ravers and hippies that enthusiastically danced to a very nice selection of tech-house. Apparently, I had just missed a Justin and Christian Martin tag-team set, but at 5 am the crowd was still celebrating the night. Artists were painting along the walls and the overall vibe was inviting and relaxed and was the perfect way to end the evening.
SUNDAY
The Morning After the Love: The Official Love Fest Closing Party at The Endup
It wouldn't be a weekend out in San Francisco without hitting The Endup on Sunday. Listed Productions had a complete line-up including Bill Patrick, Three, and Lee Burridge to join Sunday residents Nikita and Nikola Baytala for a massive 16-hour party. By the time I had arrived in the afternoon, Lee Burridge and Bill Patrick had settled into what turned out to be an eight hour tag-team set. The programming of the set flowed so smoothly that I couldn't tell it was two DJs spinning together. By early evening, Burridge and Patrick were knee-deep in some spacious tech-house. Besides Speedy J's set, this was by far the best music of the weekend I experienced, and with the outdoor garden adjacent to the dance floor it was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun setting on a beautiful California day.
Stompy & Sunset present Keep the Love Alive at Cafe Cocomo
The Sunset crew have been fixtures on the San Francisco scene since the mid-'90s, building a huge following from their free outdoor parties. Stompy began as a group of club promoters and has evolved into a digital music download service that specializes in house. Together they do regular Sunday events in the Potrero Hill district at Cafe Cocomo. The club is a sprawling compound with a large outdoor area and a big open dance floor and stage that usually hosts traditional Latino music events.
Photo credit: Don Yee
When we arrived, Mike Monday, the special guest, was DJing. Having recently released a full-length album of minimal tech-house on Om Records, I was surprised to hear him playing a set of funky, West Coast house. The crowd though seemed worn out from the weekend though and the garish décor of fake plants, pleather booths and bright lighting didn't offer a comfortable space.
Power to the People
What separates the SF LoveFest from other large-scale events is that the production team is a non-profit organization comprised primarily of volunteers from various local community groups. Instead of making a profit for themselves, the organizers use proceeds from the event to support other non-profits such as Next Aid, AIDS Housing Alliance, Burners without Borders, SF Suicide Prevention, Bay Area Young Positives, The Center for Sex and Culture, and Beat University. So, in addition to creating an event that brings people together, the SF LoveFest takes the resources of the electronic music community and gives back to local and international causes that need financial support.
But none of this would happen without the support of local authorities. I spoke with Syd Gris, in charge of Promotions and Marketing for the SF LoveFest Board of Directors, about how the SF LoveFest maintains such a good relationship with the local government and the community at large. "We owe a great amount of our ability to do this event to John Wood and Terrance Allan, founders of the San Francisco Late Night Coalition," he said, mentioning two of the SF LoveFest's Board members, "They laid the ground work through their political organizing and ability to reasonably work with the city, the police, neighborhood groups and related interested parties to make an event like this possible."
Several years ago, the police were intent on shutting down dance clubs, in particular 1015 Folsom, in the SOMA district of San Francisco. In response, the San Francisco Late Night Coalition was formed to create a unified political front to work with government officials, in particular, San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, to create lines of communication between the city government, clubs and promoters. The SFLNC helped to build the foundation upon which the SF LoveFest was allowed to flourish. Though, as Syd Gris points out, "We are lucky to be part of a history of a culture of tolerance in San Francisco where we have the chance to prove we can do an event like this and do it safely and responsibly."
Photo credit: Don Yee
Indeed, it isn't easy to organize a group of volunteers to handle an event of this scale. "Getting 100,000 young people together in a festive atmosphere without major problems is no easy task," Syd told me, "and it's a testament to the quality of the majority of the attendees and the values of the electronic dance music culture in general." One of the major legacies in the evolution of dance music culture is that it's the first movement in history that has successfully been able to peacefully bring together people from all disparate social, racial and economic backgrounds. As Syd Gris states, "We believe in the transformative power of dance and the values this community and event espouses—peace, justice, tolerance, love."
In addition to becoming one of the major music events in the US, the SF LoveFest is becoming a role model for how the electronic music community can integrate into the larger framework of society. Instead of hiding behind the closed doors of clubs and warehouses, the SF LoveFest has shown that it is possible to dance and celebrate openly while still being able to contribute to the welfare of the community at large. The music is more than just an escape and a good time, it's a form of artistic expression that is capable of peacefully bringing together people from different social, economic and racial backgrounds.
As Dr. Motte, founder of the Berlin Love Parade puts it in his statement of support for the event, "The new San Francisco LoveFest experience is at the very heart of the dance culture phenomenon that is spreading rapidly and unstoppable around the world...The San Francisco LoveFest itself is part of a much wider personal, social and spiritual transformation-revolution which will utterly change our world over the coming decades." Considering the economic and political turmoil that was a backdrop to the event, it was good to see the SF LoveFest not succumb to the fear that grips the country and prove that people can still come together out of a sense of love and community.