Piknic Électronik (June 28th Edition)
Loading ...Montreal has never had it so good when it comes to electronic dance music.
There are only a few great electronic music events in Montreal, and Piknic Electronik is high up there. While I’ve been to Bal en Blanc, Cream, Celebration/Resolution and countless of after-hours events with big name DJs, nothing comes close to Piknic’s setup. Take four parts of talented DJs (and maybe one or two that’s very well known internationally) throw in some powerful speakers and subs and host the event outdoors: you get a Piknic Electronic. What makes it better is that the event is on a Sunday and it starts at 2 PM and ends something close to 10 PM, so there’s no staying up late trying to enjoy the music. The cherry on top to all this? The entrance fee is only 10$.
The true electronic music lovers will recognize the big name artist in this lineup for the day, and that is the infamous Richie Hawtin who is an English-Canadian artist, owner of record label Minus. I could go on and on about Hawtin’s music style, but that is out of the scope of this review. The majority of Montrealers out there will most likely not enjoy minimal techno as much as I do, so I’ll leave it for everyone to hear for themselves and judge accordingly.
Last time I had a chance to attend the event was two or three years ago, or the last time Richie Hawtin was in town. There was something close to a thousand people and more wondering around Ile St-Hèlene, and a large portion of them dancing to the beats to the artist of the moment. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was in a damn good mood. If I’m not mistaken, I believe there was alcohol being served to the public, or it might’ve been people bringing in their own bottles of booze. I don’t remember much of my surroundings because I was dancing away to Hawtin’s music. What I do remember, however, is the amount of people smoking marijuana close to the water.
For June 28th, the line-up consists of the following artists:
- 2:00 PM: Stefny Winter
- 4:00 PM: Pheek
- 5:00 PM: Ambivalent
- 6:30 PM: Barem
- 8:00 PM: Richie Hawtin
Piknic Electronik runs from May to October, so check out Piknik’s website if you wish to know the upcoming artists and their respective dates.
I managed to get to the event at around 5:25 PM due to me getting lost, but all I had to do was follow the music. Parking cost me 10$ and was a good 7 minute walk away from the main event, but I didn’t mind it. At about 5:35, a rush of people started swarming in from a nearby metro station.
Entry was pretty quick; there was a lack of security as bags were not searched. Not that I fear that anything happens during these events, since rarely I hear about violence during an electronic music event. The lack of security, however, was made up for the fact that about twenty something police officers showed up to patrol the event. There’s no denying that drugs are being sold here and the cops want to crack down on it. I got a few looks my way while I sitting around watching people walk by. Perhaps they thought I was the one selling since I looked so suspicious.
This year, there are more people than ever, and to answer the mystery about the booze situation here: you can bring your own booze but don’t get caught! The trick is to either bring beer in cans rather than bottles. If you bring bottles, you should bring plastic cups. If you want to buy, there’s stands selling alcohol and food for the public.
Since I’m covering this event live (yup, out here with my camera and laptop) a lot of people came up to me asking why I’m on this darn thing. I told them I’m working and enjoying the music. 
More photos available, just continue browsing after the 30th picture.
