The cancellation of FVDED In The Park in 2023 was a blow to Metro Vancouver’s ailing music scene. A year later, Holland Park in neighbouring Surrey hosted a celebration of life, not a funeral, for the summer music festival.
This year, FVDED has gone all-in on electronic dance music, gradually doing away with its 50-50 hip-hop split to make room for an elite lineup of DJs. It seems that omitting world-renowned rappers like Future, Jack Harlow, G-Eazy, and Young Thug has made room to build a brilliant EDM lineup. It was truly shocking to see such a wide-ranging lineup including Swedish House Mafia, Kx5 (deadmau5 and Kaskade), Chase & Status, Chris Lake, Dom Dolla, Gryffin, John Summit, SLANDER, and Zeds Dead on a two-day, three-stage bill.
Holland Park was pulsating with electrifying beats from 2pm to 11pm on July 5 and 6. However, two of the artists who stole the show this weekend were Deathpact and EDM.com Class of 2022 superstar ISOxo.
Deathpact, whichever member of the mysterious collective was present, would not be overshadowed by the industry giants on the bill. Diversity is one of the things I look forward to most at a major music festival and Deathpact created the perfect formula. Their performance brought out a wide range of sounds, including a standout DMX remix, and encapsulated them within the experimental bass music fans have come to expect. There was never a dull moment during the hour-plus set, especially the surprise b2b with Dr. Fresch and Jon Casey.
I arrived at the Northwest Stage midway through ISOxo’s performance. I made my way through the crowd, fanning and spraying sweaty festival-goers with water as a symbol of peace, to film a short video from a suitable line of sight.
The energy between ISOxo and the audience was palpable. The few minutes I spent in the center of the crowd were wonderfully overwhelming. I emerged from the tent to find my two friends waiting patiently to regroup with others. I grabbed their backpacks, used them as transparent armor adorned with trinkets and toys, and sent them out into the storm to experience it firsthand.
Speaking of the crowd, I’m happy to report that FVDED’s notoriously rough clientele was absent from this year’s show. I’d never attended previous editions at Holland Park, but was repeatedly warned about poor fan etiquette. It’s possible that the omission of rap music welcomed a greater proportion of festival-goers exercising the concert etiquette typically associated with ravers.
I had a few unpleasant encounters, but people were generally polite. I had a lot of nice interactions, including with several first-time ravers who were very excited about the weekend.
Cell phone service was scarce once the festival had about 24,000 people, according to Surrey, current leaderevery day, except for Freedom mobile users who experienced a rare victory, but that's not the fault of the organizers. It was difficult to reconnect with friends who had gotten separated from the group, but that was fixed on day 2 once we had acclimatized and meeting points were established. Plus, there's a lot of fun to be had in solo adventures.
Everything else went smoothly: lines were relatively short, food stands were plentiful, and bathrooms and water stations were adequate. The forest area offered ample shade, hammocks, and colored lights for great photo opportunities. It would have been wise to add a water station or two to help limit congestion at the most convenient locations, and if possible, additional shade near the main stage.
The FVDED in the Park festival was a resounding success. Last year, the festival was on the verge of dying, but in 2024 it has come back to life. The event reportedly sold out its 48,000-capacity venue, an encouraging sign for the Western Canadian music scene as British Columbia can finally count on a group of festivals that can stand up to the giants of Eastern Canada.
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