Watch Deadmau5, Martin Garrix, Armin Van Buuren and many more on tonight's Ultra live stream on Youtube!

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It’s that time of the year again where thousands of EDM fans from around the world go to Miami to party while hundreds of thousands more watch it all live on Youtube. Tonight is day 2 of the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, and the live stream is completely stacked as Deadmau5, Martin Garrix, Zedd, Tchami, and Armin are all set to perform. Check out the schedule below (All times in EST) and enjoy!

Check out EDC Las Vegas and Shambhala's lineup announcements!

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Two major festivals have announced their impressive lineups. The first is EDC Las Vegas, a festival that has always been well attended by Canadians, have brought out all of the stops as they seem to have invited almost literally every big artist to Las Vegas this summer. The lineup is so immense that you can get mesmerized by just perusing the names on the poster (see above).

The second festival of note to reveal their lineup was The Shambhala Music Festival. This B.C. festival has been consistently growing their lineup for the past several years, but this year seems like their biggest one yet. With names like Kaskade, Silk City (Diplo + Mark Ronson), Zhu, and Bonobo (DJ Set), Shambhala has truly emerged into a major festival player on the circuit. Check out the lineup below:

Win 2 tickets to Escapade Music Festival in Ottawa!

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Escapade Music Festival is the National Capital Region's premiere EDM festival that attracts 30,000 fans to Lansdowne Park every year in late June for 2 days of non-stop music. This music festival has been a staple among EDM fans as it attracts many from Eastern Canada and the U.S. This year is headlined by Martin Garrix and DJ Snake, who are both regulars on top charts for the past few years and have both created EDM classics that will endure the test of time.

Escapade continues to embrace multiple genres with specific stage themes like the “Temple of Bass”, the Ferry Corsten Presents “Unity” trance stage, the Deadbeats Presents stage, and the “House Party”. When some festivals have chosen to blend hip hop acts with DJs, the organizers have reaffirmed Escapade as one of the premiere EDM festivals in the country.

EDM Canada is giving 2 GA tickets to Escapade Music Festival happening on Saturday, June 22nd until Sunday, June 23rd at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. To enter, simply log into the widget above (counts as an entry), and choose the various other ways to enter if you wish to do so. The contest starts now and will end on Sunday, March 24th. You must be 16+ to enter - good luck!

Sunset Festival takes on dance music

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By Ryan Hayes

Last Saturday was a first— a Lululemon festival headlined by Diplo, acting as the official after party for a half marathon. Initially filled with apprehension, past iterations of the Sunset Festival have hosted more eclectic indie rocker bands like Young, but the night continually surprised. As the event unfolded it exceeded my expectations at every turn. From a purely organizational standpoint there were no lines, no one waited for food or drinks for longer than a few minutes, everyone had space, the vendors/market were varied, and most importantly everyone in the crowd was respectful. There was definitely a clear divide between attendees who had purchased their tickets to see Diplo/Felix Cartal and those who were there as an extension of the half marathon; but everyone enjoyed themselves.

Felix Cartal took the stage first and weaved together an hour long set packed with originals like Mood, Faces, and a stellar intro edit of Fakin It. What impressed me the most about Cartal's set was it's cohesion; even when he was playing other artist's tracks. Every twist and turn fit neatly within the new soundscape that Cartal has carved out for himself over the last few years. It was a tight, well selected set, welcoming the diverse crowd at Seawheeze and easing them in to a world they may not be accustomed to. As the hour progressed Cartal picked up tempo preparing the audience for Diplo. Britney Spear's Toxic (played in full), and Cartal's final track, his rendition 1998's hit Get What You Give, unified the crowd of over 10,000 runners and dance music fans.

As a musical curator and track selector, Diplo is unrivaled in his field. Weaving together Diplo originals from all four of his side projects (Jack Ü, Major Lazer, LDS & Silk City), his set defied genre's. After announcing that this was his last festival of the 'summer season' (it was the first day of Fall) Diplo laid down one of the most fun, and free, festival sets I had seen in ages. The secret was that it didn't take itself too seriously. From decade spanning hits for the Seawheeze mainstream—Vengaboys' We like to Party & the Macarena, through to Kelis' Milkshake & Drake's In My Feelings—to future bass, house, & festival mainstay mashups—Ping Pong vs Tremor vs Freak & Beyonce Run The World (Girls) vs Duke Dumont's remix of Swish Swish—Diplo blazed relentlessly through his hour long set surprising marathon runner's and exceeding the expectations of dance music fans.

After declaring he had one last track for us, Diplo proceeded to play for an extended twenty minutes past his scheduled set time. While many Seawheeze attendees proceeded to file out, hoping to be the first in line at the shuttles, Diplo delved in to Shiba San's Okay; seemingly signifying it was time for the pure house portion of the night. Whether it was Anti Up's Pizza, Fisher's Stop It, or Camelphat & Elderbrook Cola...Diplo didn't seem to have a road map anymore, he was simply feeling house music. It was an after party hidden within a festival. Traversing through extended mixes of tacks void of traditional festival drops/hooks groups of die hard dance music fans began to pop up and cluster together throughout the crowd—smiling because they knew what was going on and were excited, even if the majority of the audience didn't. It was a risk, but that's what Diplo does best, he exposes people to new genre's of music and pushes them to the forefront.

When all was said and down Seawheeze Sunset Festival was a massive success. Everyone, regardless of their musical leanings, enjoyed themselves, and both artists walked away from the night with legions of new fans. Here's to hoping Seawheeze 2019 also has a dance music lineup.

Where you’ll find the real beauty of raving (The Flag Gang Interview)

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All photos by Cédric Berger

The Flag Gang is an Internet sensation. Today their instagram page has reached over 27,000 followers. This is an EDM specific page that aims to unite people from all over the world together. I was lucky enough to sit down with Mathijs van Dam and Renata Stuckert Vasconcellos, the creators on The Flag Gang. Their instagram page has become one of the most recognizable names in the rave community. From the idea of bringing people together with an online page to Laidback Luke wearing their logo, it’s been an exciting journey through electronic dance music for this wonderful couple.

We finally sit down after having to pull Mathijs and Renata out of the heavy bass music from Riverside Festival and people asking them for selfies. Mathijs started by saying that he was very impressed with the festival we were attending. Originally from the Netherlands and Renata coming north from the hot country of Brazil, the couple explained why they fell in love with raves and the rave community. “You go out to meet people, but it’s very difficult to meet people. So I brought a Brazilian flag and lots of people were approaching me. So he got the idea and he started this” said Renata with a unbreakable smile. Mathijs then added that flags made an easy door to conversation so from there on in, he started bring a bunch a different flags for people to wear while they were people’s shoulders so he could take photos of them in their most beautiful moments. And that was the start of an instagram mega page.

For people who have been to so many different concerts and raves, I asked them what was their best show that they’ve ever been to. Mathijs responded: “Virtual Self at New City Gas a couple of weeks ago was an experience for me. It was so different. It made me feel so nostalgic of the music I used to listen to back in the day. He’s just so different everything that we hear today.” His Brazilian better half had a bit of a different opinion. She mentioned that Virtual Self wasn’t her cup of tea but added that Oliver Heldens’ three hour set at Ile Soniq a couple of years ago was sensational for her.

The Dutch media entrepreneur went on to tell of the meaning behind The Flag Gang. If you check their instagram page, you’ll notice that their posts are crowd specific. It’s not about the DJ’s; it’s about the people. They’re promoting good vibes over who’s playing. “But we also want to have good music” affirmed Mathijs. Uniting people and creating one big family is the main goal behind the page. “We have a slogan for a while now which is ‘Break borders and party together’” said the EDM craving couple.

Today the page has caught the attention of thousands of people including some big time DJs. This summer at Ile Soniq festival in Montreal, Laidback Luke was wearing a The Flag Gang t-shirt at his set on the main stage. This story started a couple of years ago. The couple won a meet 'n greet with Laidback Luke at New City Gas. As they finally meet him and explained their concept of The Flag Gang to him and he thought it was a great idea. Weeks go by and one of Mathijs’ friend went to a DJ conference where Laidback Luke was also attending it. Mathijs jumped on the opportunity to give his friend a TFG shirt to pass on to the famous DJ. When Laidback Luke came back to New City Gas in January of 2018, Mathijs tweeted at him asking to wear his TFG shirt during his set. He tweeted back responding: “I forgot it at home” so nothing came of it, but his Ile Soniq set, he came to stage and played his whole set wearing the The Flag Gang shirt. “It was such a beautiful gesture and that I am very thankful,” said Mathijs.

If anyone is wanting to see the beauty behind the raving community, their instagram page is where you’ll find it. These two amazing souls have not only found themselves, but a whole other incredible family.