Canada Day weekend in Ottawa is typically marked by family-oriented events on parliament and an exceptional amount of fireworks. Fast-forward to 2013 where things have changed slightly courtesy of Escapade Music Festival, which has added electronic music to the mix and quickly become a ritual for Ottawa, Montreal, and surrounding area residents. Don’t fret though, fireworks come included with your festival experience.

Escapade Music Festival kicked off another great weekend of killer artists on June 29, and even Mother Nature held out and saved festival-goers from the rain. The new location at the RA Centre worked perfectly for the weekend, with the main stage on the grass and the Tech Stage hidden beneath a (very hot) tent off to the side.

The first day of the festival saw some of the biggest talent in the way of electro and house, including an early set by two members of Above & Beyond that filled the main stage. Playing hits from Group Therapy and releases under their label Anjunabeats, the crowd continued to pour into the festival. Closing with ‘Sun & Moon,’ they had the entire crowd singing along as they waved their hands in the air.

Over at the Tech Tent, there was an eclectic mix of DJs and producers from all of the world, including Daniel Dubb from Toronto, Spanish producers Chus & Cebellos and Russian producer Umek. Playing in an earlier set, Mark Knight filled the Tech Tent with fans of house music. The Grammy-nominated producer from the U.K. absolutely ripped the tent apart with his energy and had the crowd ready for the headliner for the night, fellow U.K. house producer and lover of Ibiza, Steve Lawler.

After Canadians Project 46 hoped onto the main stage and breathed some bass into the festival, AN21 and Max Vangelli hit the decks as the sun went down. The estimated crowd of 15,000 packed onto the grass, while VIP festival-goers stood on the bars if the balcony to get a better look.

By the time Wolfgang Gartner came on at 8:30, the field was absolutely packed and the first of a weekend full of bass had come in full swing. Playing hits like ‘Space Junk’ and ‘Shrunken Heads’ to a jumping crowd of thousands. With amazing lights and visuals, his set blew my mind. In my own opinion, it was one of the best sets of the weekend.

Headliner Ferry Corsten still managed to pump up an even bigger crowd, and with the help of a little trance and some end-of-night fireworks, the first day of Escapade came to a momentous close.

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For bass music fans, the big day was Sunday, as the Tech Tent became the Bass Stage with some of the biggest names in dubstep. Starting with Ottawa’s own DJ JC Boom and Montreal favourite Charlie Darker, the sun’s hot rays and a heavy dose of bass filled the tent. Charlie Darker played for longer than expected, with Candyland making a pit stop for drum sticks, but the crowd couldn’t get enough of it as he played some of his newly released music and even played a brand new song that Escapaders got to hear first.

Now I don’t know what everyone else expected, but when Candyland began with a drum set on stage, dozens of clear plastic blow-up balls and help from a few special guests at the front of the stage, my mind was blown. Not only did they keep us hard rock fans happy when Josie played System of a Down’s ‘Chop Suey!’ while Ethan hit the drums, but in a live Deadmau5-like way, Rage Against the Machine was played at the beginning of the set. Along with their own remix of ‘Pop Lock N’ Drop’ and a solid mix of bass heavy music, they kept the crowd jumping the whole afternoon.

OWSLA producer Seven Lions hit the stage next, with his melodic yet bass filled music, while Indiana’s Figure hit the festival early and scoped out the crowd. When Figure took to the stage, playing some of his greatest and bass-iest songs like ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Cut Throat,’ the crowd packed in the sticky tent for some of the hardest dubstep of the weekend.

Taking a turn to the main stage, Ottawa’s Mister Parker opened up a day of impressive artist that included 3LAU, Hard Rock Sofa and Deniz Koyu. Russian progressive house producer Arty pulled in a huge crowd just as his Anjunabeats label heads did the day before. Unicorn Slayer Markus Schulz came next, one of the worlds most popular trance producers, the day before his brand new music video for his song ‘Tempted’ came out.

If there was anyone that just about every festival-goer, regardless of musical taste, would go to see it would be Benny Benassi. Twelve years after ‘Satisfaction’ hit the airwaves, Benassi hit the main stage at Escapade to a crowd of screaming and dancing fans. Over at the Bass Tent, Italian DJ Crookers took over for Figure, even dropping some brand new OWSLA music for avid bass fans, as Escapaders began spilling out of the tent and watching from the side.

News of Rusko calling in sick saddened some in the crowd, but no one cared once Krewella took to the stage along with those awesome light-up robots. Staff at the festival were literally throwing water bottles out into the sweating crowd as they moved with force to ‘Play Hard’ and ‘Come & Get It.’ The sweat rained down, the light show was out of this world and Krewella were called back on stage for an encore from avid fans.

With Ottawa favourite and former Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello closing out the main stage with pyrotechnics that would put Canada Day to shame, Krewella taking the cake for the bass tent and a beautiful sunny day, the second day of Escapade was a huge success.

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Going back to their roots, DNA held the third and final day of Escapade at the original site on York Street in the ByWard market for Canada Day. After a bit of a set back with timing, all of the Tiesto fans didn’t seem to care when they poured in later in the afternoon. With an expected crowd of 3,500, the last day included a second set from Ottawa’s Ariyan, along with Joe Ghost, Frat House Music and Alvaro.

In a sea of red and white and glow sticks, Quintino got the fans jumping and excited for the arrival of the headliner. Moving around all over the stage, waving a Canadian flag during his set and getting up close and personal with the fans when he and Sandro Silva’s hit ‘Epic’ was played.

As Tiesto came around the side of the stage at 10, the crowd was chanting his name. With an explosion of red and white confetti and some amazing visuals, Tiesto had the crowd jumping for the last two hours, playing some of his biggest songs, and even replaying some Above & Beyond that lucky fans got to see two days earlier.

Amongst the fans dancing in the venue, to the hordes of Canada Day celebrators that basically created their own dance floor outside the gates, Escapade rose up from the previous year and showed fans how Canadians do it on the biggest weekend of the year.

Photo by Antony Doniewski – Full album for Day 1 here, Day 2 here and Day 3 here.

Read the story on theknwldg.com here.