Labour Day Weekend | 3 days of Good Vibes Festival in a Majestic Location
The Good Vibes festival starts Friday September 2nd at noon until 4 pm on Monday. Only a limited number of tickets are still available so act fast!
Good Vibes Festival is back for 2022! Don’t miss this wild electronic music festival that showcases local and international producers, live acts, DJ’s, video artists and circus performers. The musical menu is as eclectic as it is extravagant with a soundtrack provided by seasoned veterans and emerging underground talent. Four unique stages surrounded by immersive visuals will offer you 72-hours of non stop music!
I can’t think of a better plan for Labor Day Weekend than to go to my favorite electronic music festival! Located deep in the woods, the site is the perfect venue. It offers a majestic waterfall, a beach, a river for swimming, hiking trails, a suspension bridge and so much more! Such a beautiful environment for camping and dancing under the stars!
THEME
This year’s theme is DISKODYSSEY. Let me quote the press release to give you the lowdown :
“The Odyssey is an epic poem from Greek mythology. It is the story of Odysseus and his 20 year voyage to return to his homeland. The journey of the Good Vibes Festival team since the last edition in 2018 feels strangely similar. We just have to navigate past a few more mermaids and a cyclops and we will finally be home with our family!
Yes, we are talking about YOU, legendary festival goers; O ephemeral citizens of the glorious Sainte-Agathe-de-Lotbinière Falls! But what does all this have to do with DISCO ?!?!
It was in the mid 70’s that disco hit its stride. It began as a niche urban subculture, originally rooted in queer, African American, Latin American and psychedelic cultures. It led to the birth of Disc Jockeys and allowed the creation of dance spaces free of judgment, outside of the repressive conventions of the time.
Disco is the progenitor of the electronic music that we know today. As such, Diskodyssey invites you to celebrate this while wearing your most extravagant, glamorous and sparkly clothes!”.
STAGE BREAKDOWN
What makes this event truly unique is the sheer diversity of musical styles represented. Most electronic music festivals rely heavily on a musical format that dedicates each stage to one specific style : the Trance stage, The Bass Stage, The Techno Stage etc… Which often leads to people primarily staying at the same stage for the whole of the festival. The genius of Good Vibes is that they switch it up throughout the festival like a game of musical chairs. So that no matter what your taste in music, you can wander freely and enjoy every stage.
MYTHIQUE
The main stage is on the banks of the river, at the foot of the magnificent waterfall. This mythical place is where the creativity of the dancers meets that of the artists to form colorful surreal landscapes. This stage is powered by the pristine quality of a Void Acoustics Sound System. The stage design & decoration was by Mr Sun Eye Candy. He is also one of the VJ’s alongside DMTeam and Visual Drip. The lighting design and lasers were created by Glitchy Visions.
FABULEUSE
Nestled in a large clearing in the woods, this stage is powered by the Bassix Sound System. Designed by bass heads for bass heads, this is where you go to get bass in your face! I had the pleasure of performing on this sound system earlier this summer at the Groove & Bass Festival and I was blown away by the dirty sub bass! The décor & stage design was created by Artventure Immersion & Post-Bliss
CHILL’ART SPACE
Presented by Artventure Immersion, this stage is a massive tent that is both an art gallery and artistic creation space. Festival goers have access to a wide variety of art supplies with which to create. There will be eclectic live musical performances of ambient music, downtempo, dub, psy chill, minimal, deep techno, bass music, world beat, ragga, house, nu-disco etc… The performers were lovingly curated by Dominic Chagnon & Semira Weiss. The sound system was generously provided by Tekno Agricole.
In the daytime there is a break from the music. Lancelot Poutignat Palsky programmed a variety of conferences & workshops on scientific, spiritual, philosophical and technical subjects.
THE DECK
Located on the top of a cliff overlooking the water falls, the Deck is a giant gazebo with a proper wooden floor and a roof overhead in case of rain. What makes this stage special is that the performances are on a sign-up basis! Upon their arrival at this stage, up and coming artists can select a time slot, write their name down and reserve it on a first come, first served basis. It’s a brilliant way to provide a stage for emerging talent! The décor & stage design was created by Alix Brenneur.
The festival has a fully staffed medical tent known as the CAMELEON SPACE, an info booth known as THE PHARE (Lighthouse), THE SANCTUARY is the safe space chill out area and THE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE is to entertain the little ones. Also throughout the festival there will be video installations created by Kaléoptic.
INTERNATIONAL HEADLINERS
Now that we have set the scene, let’s dig into the lineup! In terms of live sets by international headliners, my top pick is DJNEE. Originally from France, she has traveled the world in the free party scene. She makes infectiously funky Tech House full of dirty bass lines and irreverent fun! Her sets have elements of electro. minimal, house, breakbeat and funk.
Next we have IXINDAMIX from the UK & Germany whose styles range from Techno to Bassline, Funk, Breakbeat, Electroswing and DNB. She has been rocking dancefloors since the acid house days in the UK when she was a member of the notorious Spiral Tribe.
VIPER is from Italy and was also part of the free party Traveler movement. Her music is a blend of electro and techno. Her music reflects her Tekno Tribe roots. It is infused with her values from living in underground squats and all the interesting sounds that crossed her path during her travels!
Another interesting headliner is MOSHÉ GALAKTIC from France. His techno productions are very much on the quirky and funky side. He also DJ’s Drum n Bass so his sets should be full of surprises!
On the harder and faster side of the musical spectrum, here are two artists to check out. XENROX from Austria is one of the leading artists in the Hi-tech sub genre of psychedelic trance and FROST from France makes hard techno infused with some breaks and dancehall vocals.
LOCAL ARTISTS
I am blown away by the sheer variety of styles and the quality of the local artists booked at this year’s edition. There are at least 20 local artists that I label as performances that are not to be missed! My top picks include Alicia Hush, Aikido, Ben Solo, Claire, Daoust, Derapse Machine, Flandez, Groovy UFO, Heavy Gemz, Icky Magdala, Moebius, Mini Malice, Mightykat, Mr Lion, Odonata, Orbital Mechanics, Pachyderm, Prana Papa, Quantaloop, Rickam, Seraphun, Snowphish, Soulwalker, SoundShaper, Virtual Light and Wally.
I am deeply honored to be be part of the team of DJ’s that will do the closing of the Mythique stage on Monday. The final three acts begin at 9:30 am with the amazing Dick Lee who is the co-founder of Musik Me Luv. He will do a set of Dub & Liquid Drum N Bass, that smooth ambient LtJ Bukem style DnB that is so perfect in the morning.
Then to deliver a final dose of Diskodyssey vibes, at 11 am I will perform as DJ Guapo. My set will be a Glitch Hop / Ghetto Funk / Bass House exploration of the roots of Disco found in funk, soul and reggae. Followed by the versatile DJ Sabi Non Stop who will play an all vinyl set of classic disco tunes! At this point all the stages will be closed except the Fabuleuse where IXINDAMIX will perform the final set of the festival.
ACROBATS, DANCERS & PAINTERS
Throughout the festival there will be a plethora of costumed peformers to entertain and delight! The performers were carefully curated by Gabrielle Roy Goyette. Fire dancing troupes like The Fire Furiads and La Caravane à Pied will perform and teach workshops. Les Enfants Terribles and Soly Luna will do dance & circus performances. Loli Pop will do a burlesque swing pole dance routine and Pierrot et Colombine will do a main à main dance performance.
There will be live painting on canvas as well as body painting by Lutrin lumineux, LP Montoya and Simon Provost. I met Simon at a festival earlier this summer and his work in mind blowing. Island City Glass will do live glass blowing. There will be a shop on site where the artists will be selling their work.
Pascal Duguay Gosselin will do an acrobatic aerial performancs while Andrea Barabino will do a slack line performance, a height line performance and teach a workshop.
MEET YOUR HOSTS
The Good Vibes Festival is run by the same crew that also created the Timeless Festival. It is a production of Festoche Bamboche which is run by Maxime Laroque (DJ Hibou) and Marilyne Parent (Maline). They are supported by Seb Pilote (Logistics Director) and Michael Pepin (Technical Director).
The performances at the Mythique and Fabuleuse stages were lovingly curated by Maxime Laroque (who booked all the trance artists) and Marilyne Parent (who booked the disco artists and every other musical style).
Returning to the team once again are the stage designers George Arvanitis AKA Mr.Sun Eye Candy the decor of the MYTHIQUE stage) and Simon Arbarak (who with his team at Artventure Immersion designed & decorated the CHILLART and FABULEUSE stages).
Like Odysseus, in the past few years the Good Vibes team has experienced the deaths of brave members of their crew like Jonas Abel (Good Vibes 20018 Artistic Director & Set Designer). This edition of the festival wishes to highlight these departures, to honor those who have marked our lives and our scene. So during the event do not hesitate to dedicate a space, a moment or a thought to a departed friend. Let’s remember them, pay tribute to them and rock the dance floor in their name!
For more info check out the Facebook event page.
You can purchase tickets here.
The site is a two hour drive from Montreal at Parc de la Chute Ste-Agathe.
