by\u00a0Harry Levin<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0the Chartmetric Blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n In 2024, everyone wants to dance.<\/p>\n The scabs of the pandemic have yet to fully heal, so if someone is going to spend their hard-earned money on a festival ticket (especially in this economy) they want an experience where they can express their wildest selves. They want a safe space to let their freak flag fly, move their bodies without inhibition, and make a ton of new friends doing it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the experience dance music provides at festivals.<\/p>\n Michael Berg is the lead talent buyer for prominent festivals like\u00a0North Coast Music Festival<\/a>,\u00a0Suwanee Hulaween<\/a>, and\u00a0Rose on the River<\/a>, and he feels the same spirit within the modern electronic music audience as he did when he was a kid going to festivals to see hippie jam bands.<\/p>\n \u201c[Electronic music fans] say \u2018PLUR\u2019 (peace, love, unity, respect). Plur lifestyle is the same thing as hippies. Do unto others as you would want to do unto yourself. Be kind. There\u2019s a lot of similarities between the communities. Even though the music can be so vastly different, people come together to celebrate that culture and to celebrate that community with the same spirit and for the same reasons,\u201d Berg says.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This overlap of electronic music and jam music has opened space for Berg to carve a path talent buying and producing festivals. Suwanee Hulaween \u2014 which was originally founded by the staple jam outfit, the String Cheese Incident \u2014 features an even spread of these two genres. Looking at the 2023 roster, electronic acts like John Summit and Elderbrook inhabit top slots alongside prominent jam acts like Trey Anastasio Band and Goose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, Suwanee Hulaween is actually the last multigenre festival under Berg\u2019s purview. North Coast Music Festival used to be a multi-genre festival, but now its lineup is entirely electronic.<\/p>\n Even major festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, and Bonnaroo that used to be hubs for rock, alternative, indie, jazz, funk, and tons of other genres are leaning heavily into electronic.<\/p>\n Coachella is one of the most famous multi-genre festivals in the world. It\u2019s full of big moments every year. Special guests. Bespoke production. Once-in-a-lifetime reunions. But the biggest moment in 2024 (well at the least the most publicized) was Grimes\u2019 DJ set during weekend 1. More accurately, Grimes\u2019\u00a0trainwreck during weekend 1.<\/a><\/p>\n The good thing is if any disappointed attendees wanted to see another electronic artist spin a DJ set they had plenty of options. Looking at\u00a0the festival\u2019s schedule<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for that day, the German techno DJs \u00c2me and Marcell Detmann were playing at the Yuma Tent, and the UK house maven Michael Bibi was playing at the new Quasar stage at the same time Grimes was playing Sahara. If those two options weren\u2019t ideal, people could wait a few minutes to see the techno icon Charlotte De Witte play the Mojave Tent.<\/p>\n This saturation of DJs and electronic music spans every tier of Coachella\u2019s lineup. In truth, the festival has always been welcoming of the genre. Per data gathered from Chartmetric, the percentage of electronic artists performing at Coachella has remained solid, growing from 40.30% to 48.00% between 2011 and 2024.<\/p>\n At the very first edition in 1999, the electronic pioneers, The Chemical Brothers, were the first name listed under the headliner, Beck. In 2006, Daft Punk played the dance tent (Sahara) at Coachella when they easily could have headlined. Their set is now credited with\u00a0popularizing electronic music<\/a>\u00a0in the United States.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.getmidnight.com\/b5a0b552ae89a91aa34705031852bd16\/2024\/06\/IMG_2615.jpg\")
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