The BPM Festival 2011 Review
The 2011 BPM Festival opened with a bang on New Year’s Eve in Playa Del Carmen. The much-anticipated festival once again touched down in the idyllic beach resort town in Mexico for the 4th installment of an event that is now a regular feature in the global clubbing diary of DJs and partygoers alike.
Initially engendered as a conference, BPM has built year upon year to a level where now the crème of the DJ fraternity can be found spinning every night of the week, as well as spending their holidays in the sun. The event organizers have successfully fulfilled their mission statement of ‘escape the winter doldrums and head for the Mayan sun for beats and beach fun’ in 2011, with over 25,000 clubbers from across Canada, the United States and Europe flocking to the event for over 35 different day and night parties which hosted over 120 DJs spinning the finest dance music in an abundance of backdrops.
2011 was all about offering more bang for your buck, with the promoters essentially doubling up on the number events taking place both at day and night. The music policy is strictly house and techno and allows for a full spectrum of artists and promoters to visit and work within the format outlined by the BPM organizers. Like last year, a majority of the daytime parties centered around the hub of the festival: Kool Beach Bar. The dance area is set around a pool which effortlessly flows out onto the beach, and the immense sound system keeps partygoers grooving from morning to dusk daily. Notable highlights down at Kool were Space Miami head-honcho Louis Puig, Miami’s favorite adopted Frenchman Cedric Gervais, and also a surprise set from Davide Squillace and Dubfire, whose gigs at Brahma the preceding evening hit capacity. The fans just couldn’t get enough.
There were some big venue additions for the daytime parties too. Both Mamitas and Canibal Royal beach clubs are the kind of beach bars that you could wile away at all day. The addition of parties hosted by Culprit and No.19 Music, featuring the likes of Lee Foss, Jonny White of Art Department and Droog, as well as Mexico’s most internationally renowned imprint Akbal Music, put these venues on the map as a day time destination for many of the festival attendees. Not to mention spectacular DJ sets by Three and Lee Burridge, who filled in last-minute when Mr. C couldn’t make it.
From the daytime, partygoers could segue into the evening to continue at a number of parties in some really impressive and at times intimate venues. The Blue Parrot Beach Club (complete with sandy dancefloor) this year played host to some DJ heavyweights, and it was the parties hosted in this venue that really signaled the growing popularity of the event. Both the Richie Hawtin and Loco Dice parties were at-capacity, as fans sought entrance to the beach front club to witness their respective brands of techno and tech-house. The NYE event was also held here, with progressive house heavyweight Hernan Cattaneo playing to another sold-out crowd. Other nights included performances by big time house artists Laidback Luke and Swedish House Mafia don Steve Angello!
La Santanera’s boudoir-esque décor played host to the Air London duo of Nick Curly and Simon Baker playing a memorable night. The club also notably hosted Lee Burridge for a sold-out gig, and also a Kompakt Records party, with Michael Mayer and Superpitcher playing back to back!
Brahma was again a focus club for 2011, with Detroit innovator Stacey Pullen closing out the festival he has grown to love so much on the last night, and also the likes of Paul Ritch and Paco Osuna playing dancefloor-destroying sets. And who can forget Dubfire’s wildly packed gig, with partygoers dancing the night away, despite being hot and sweaty due to a broken air conditioner.
One of the highlights of the week was the party hosted by one of the top record labels of 2010: The Crosstown Rebels party at Alux Cave aka the ‘Rebel Rave in a Cave,’ which definitely provided an interesting backdrop, and a breathtaking night of music alongside the cave’s growing stalactites. The converted cave gave that literal underground feel, and a line up of Damian Lazarus, Seth Troxler, Jamie Jones, and Art Department meant the music complemented the strangely weird venue perfectly.
As always, there was a wide plethora of artists comprising the line up this year in an attempt to deliver something for all dance music aficionados. It’s official: The BPM Festival is exponentially growing, with an increasing fanbase and bigger lineups playing more diverse music at an expanding number of venues. The BPM Festival will definitely continue to fill the niche for wintertime sun-filled festivals for years to come.
