Published 08.04.08 —
On the weekend of July 18-20, 2008, electronic music fans gathered for one final hoorah at a summer event that has become a right of passage for many: the World Electronic Music Festival organized by longtime Toronto promoters Destiny Productions.

The festival initially started as the World Trance Festival in 1995, but morphed into the World Electronic Music Festival (or WEMF) two years later.

That fateful weekend in July 1997 was my first WEMF, and since then I have been hooked. This year was WEMF number 12 for me and will be my last if Destiny lives up to its word that this year was indeed the final event.

That being said, Destiny really went out in style and in the process returned the festival to its roots.

The first WEMF was at a campground north of Toronto. The main (Destiny) stage was set up in a field. At night we raved under the stars and lasers. There also were smaller stages playing a variety of killer music and a campground full of friendly people ready to have a great time.

This year, the festival took place on private property in Madawaska, Ontario.

The main stage was once again set up under the stars and featured massive sound. With a variety of killer music, and the campground once again full of friendly people, we were ready to have a great time. Sure the drive to get to WEMF was further than that first year, but I also didn't have to drive my 15- year-old Cutlass Supreme that was ready to overheat at a moment's notice.

I will have to admit that since I am older now, I didn’t attend for all three days. I was there for Saturday’s main event however watching Andy C rinsing out on three decks for three hours. His set at WEMF 2008 stands out as one of my greatest memories from all the WEMFs that I have attended.

Other highlights for me this year were Tali’s vocals over top Lynx and Marcus Intalex’s set, and Marty McFly winding down the night (well, actually morning) with a funk-filled breaks set.

I also have to mention that I met a lot of fun and interesting people this year, with many telling me that it was their first time attending WEMF. For those people, I have to say that I am glad you were able to attend at least one WEMF, and I hope you had as great of a time as I did.

Other stand-out memories from past years include watching the sun rise over Georgian Bay when the festival was held on Christian Island; seeing Rabbit in the Moon do their crazy live show; going swimming at Sauble Beach on Saturday afternoon while waiting for the music to start; getting a ride home from WEMF with two kind-hearted souls after getting stranded; the Numba 3 cube van; and partying like a rock star.

While writing this review, I tried to contact representatives from Destiny Productions to discuss their future plans, including their new Cutting Edge Music Festival (CEMF) which focuses on bands and live music, with some electronic dance music thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, they could not be reached for comment. They were probably busy setting up for second-annual CEMF which was held August 1–4, 2008, in Grand Bend, Ontario.

For a look at past WEMF events, check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Electronic_Music_Festival

For more info on CEMF, visit
http://www.cuttingedgemusicfestival.com/Damndjs.com