Movement Festival hosted more than 30,000 people per day in Detroit over Memorial Day 2023, and the event had a mix of house, techno, and other artists from across the electronic music scene.
When it comes to the top house and techno events in North America, Movement Festival always ranks near the top of the list. Annually attracting a fanbase and artist lineup from across the world, Movement is a must-attend for fans of house, techno, and electronic music on the fringes of the underground.
Founded in 2000 as Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Detroit has been a Memorial Day destination for electronic music fans for decades. The flagship festival has gone through many changes over the years and continues to evolve in different ways. Movement 2023 saw one of the festival’s most mainstream lineups yet. Acts like Skrillex, Zeds Dead, Kaskade, Fisher, John Summit, and Dom Dolla drew even more attendees than usual to Hart Plaza.
Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit sometimes feels like it was built specifically for Movement.
Featuring a main stage built into the architecture and a basement-like space with a dark room and hard-hitting techno, Hart Plaza is a public park that hosts Movement ever year. It isn’t anywhere near the scale of Lollapalooza and Grant Park in Chicago, but it doesn’t get much more convenient than attending a music festival in the middle of a big city. And Detroit is a huge part of what makes Movement Festival so great.
Upon walking into Movement, you’ll be in the middle of Hart Plaza after walking past the Stargate Stage, merch booth, and vendors. It’s right along the coast of the Detroit River, and stages like the Waterfront Stage and the Pyramid Stage feature scenic views of the water and Windsor, Canada across the border. The event space is a bit small considering the level of talent that comes in, but the crowd situation is no worse than something like Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
However, Movement felt particularly overcrowded in 2023. Much more so when compared to previous years. There were multiple instances of security not letting people into the seating bowl at main stage, basically preventing fans from seeing artists that they paid to see. The same thing happened at the Pyramid Stage during acts like Fisher. It wasn’t even worth trying to get in to the stage area unless you were there early. It was basically impossible to see some of the biggest acts, and hopefully Movement will address these issues next year.
Even with the larger crowd in 2023, Movement still had the underground electronic music vibe that made it famous.
Taking place from Saturday-Monday, Detroit is undoubtedly the place to be for Memorial Day Weekend. The entire city is taken over by afterparties that literally go all night, as the rules for nightclubs are pretty relaxed in Techno City. Aftershows at Leland City Club, Magic Stick, Marble Bar, Spot Lite, TV Lounge, and many more give this festival incredible character.
While the Movement 2023 lineup was one of the festival’s best in recent memory, it was noticably stacked on Monday, and the first two days had much fewer conflicts. Some of Saturday’s highlights included ONYVAA, Zeds Dead (Altered States set), Masters at Work, and Basement Jaxx. Sunday had Chris Liebing, Ben Klock, DJ Nobu, Robert Hood, Ben UFO, and more.
Monday at Movement Detroit 2023 was one of the best days in my four years of attending the festival.
After starting the day with a live set from Audion, I made my way over to the Pyramid Stage for Heidi. Growing up across the river in Windsor, Heidi’s energy was contagious and the final day was off to a strong start. After staying at the Pyramid Stage for a bit of Rebuke, it was time to descend the stairs to the Underground Stage. This is undoubtedly the most unique feature of Movement Festival. Hosting artists that often perform almost strictly overseas, the Underground Stage is a rave-like environment with high BPMs and even higher energy. Sara Landry, SPFDJ, and Klangkuenstler all delivered stellar sets to high expectations on Monday.
The Underground Stage was the place to end the weekend. There wasn’t a shortage of acts on the the outdoor stages either, including FJAAK, Fisher, Stephan Bodzin, Underworld, and Multiples. And even with the time slots of Skrillex and John Summit b2b Dom Dolla overlapping, both sets unsurprisingly drew massive crowds.
The afterparties in Detroit lasted until early Tuesday morning.
TV Lounge notoriously goes all night until noon the next day, but we spent our time at Leland City Club. LA-based promoters Dirty Epic, 6 AM, and Synthetik Minds threw some of the best parties of the weekend, including 999999999, Dax J, Perc, and more at their Anthology event at Leland on Monday night.
Movement Festival 2023 was a successful weekend, and I left looking forward to returning next year.
While it did sometimes feel like they sold too many tickets, the vibe of the festival prevailed and the result was an amazing weekend. There are other festivals that market towards an older audience and a more mature taste, like ARC Music Festival, CRSSD, and Seismic Dance Event. However, these events generally focus more on house rather than techno. It’s appropriate that Detroit hosts one of the country’s best techno events considering the genre started there in the 1980s.
Movement Detroit showcases music from across the electronic music and festival scene, as well as a touch of other genres like hip-hop. Three 6 Mafia and Kash Doll graced the stage this year, while past Movements have hosted Wu-Tang Clan, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, and Danny Brown. There’s also the Detroit Stage, hosting local talent, and a VIP pop-up that hosted stage takeovers from Mija and Soul Clap.
If you have a taste for the finer styles of house and techno or a desire to see some high BPMs in a dark basement or warehouse, Movement Detroit is the festival for you. It’s a long-standing event in a historic American city and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Festival season 2023 is just getting underway, but our Memorial Day 2024 is already booked with a return to Detroit.
Story: @michael__premier
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