Oh Canada, how you keep bringing us back for more good times and great events. While much of the PNW is in full winter hibernation and trying to keep warm and dry. Our friends to the north seem to show no sign of slowing down. Returning for it’s 5th year, Blueprint Events brings us our favorite post-Christmas massive. Traditionally held the 2 days after the big holiday, Contact Music Festival has been an excellent excuse to get one last hurrah in before the New Year. With a lineup featuring Flume, Disclosure, Zeds Dead and more it was pretty much a no brainer for the DMNW crew.
Taking the title of “Western Canada’s Largest Winter Music Festival”, Contact did not let us down. The 2 day, 2 stage event was another Blueprint event for the memory banks and a great way to close out 2016. Surrounded by 36,000 other amazing people we danced the night away inside Vancouver’s BC Place; lights, lasers and smoke machines included!
We kicked off night one at the Main Stage for one of our favorite female acts, MIJA. This gal has been delivering the goods and breaking down genres barriers all summer. We’ve managed to catch nearly all of her PNW sets this year so it was fitting to get just one more dose before we jumped into 2017. We jumped over to the FVDED side stage…which was pretty impressive. Despite the fact it was in a hallway of the area we really liked the visual and lighting setup they had. The stage felt like an underground rave space with lights and LED screens lining the wall and ceiling. We caught a good portion of Shaun Frank before heading back to the Main Stage.
While Contact is an all-ages event they do offer a 19+ VIP area which we highly suggest. The small price in upgrading offered your own private bar and view area, which trust us, was entirely worth it. We undoubtedly had the best seats in the house and had plenty of room to dance. After waiting a short 5-10 minutes for some drinks we caught Getter’s bass filled set of dubstep bangers. At this point the main stage area was quickly starting to fill in so having our own area was really showing it’s value.
Having been witness to almost 3 hours now of heavy bass, we decided to slow things down a bit with Big Wild back at the FVDED side stage. We’d made mention prior to the event that his set was on our list of “Not to miss sets”, and rightfully so. With a live setup featuring all sorts of instruments and computer wizardry, we couldn’t have been happier. Undoubtedly the set of the entire weekend for use went to Big Wild and hope to see more of him in the future!
By now night 1 of Contact was in full swing and the majority of it’s attendees had made it to the party. Switching gears back to the main stage Zeds Dead was just taking to the decks. The Canadian duo is no stranger to playing for big crowds, and with a recently debuted LP, this set was likely going to be a big one. Dropping a little bit of everything from their catalog we weren’t disappointed. Our first look at the schedule had us feeling a little unsure of how the closing act would be able to follow up such a massive act. But if there’s anything we’ve learned in the past it’s never rule anything out.
Important things happen in Pacific Northwest nightlife, and DMNW will send you alerts!
