Looking back at 2015 when half of the Toronto rave community was convinced Ever After was a fake festival, no one would have ever guessed that in 2017 it would be one of the most anticipated events of the summer here in the GTA. This years lineup was littered with talent, with international names like Bassnectar, Excision, Zeds Dead, Zomboy, Trampa, Snails, Ghastly, Sydney Blu, Deko-Ze, Jonathan Rosa only to name a few, playing across 2 stages over 3 days. The level of excitement on social media rave groups grew constantly for weeks, with Ever After also being the most affordable 3 day festival it seemed like everyone and their grandmother where going to this thing.
June 2nd finally rolled around, excitement levels were high, nerves ran rampant, no one knew what to expect of this years Ever After. 2 huge stages, 46 artists, 1 side stage, international giants, local gods of the dance floor and one bad ass “b2b2b” featuring 12th Planet, Cookie Monsta and Funtcase. It almost seemed too good to be true, but from the minute Adventurers set foot on that hill, every expectation was met.
The festival was hosted at the very popular Bingemans Amusement Center in Kitchener, Ontario. Loaded with a badass water park, a gorgeous camping area redesigned as the magical Enchanted Forest and a carnival which also happened to be stock piled with food trucks to fill the crave of whatever your heart desired, and did we mention there was a fire breathing dragon? There wasn’t much lacking, even when the closest water station broke early into Saturday, there were multiple points to get water surrounding and inside of the forest as well as a huge 25,000 gallon truck with fresh water provided. The place was pretty magical as they promised.
Both stages packed some intense heat all weekend, with some of the most of the most memorable sets by Snails, Excision, Zeds Dead, NGHTMRE, Ghastly and Herobust. Herobust’s set was so over the top that ravers nearly broke down the rail at the Oculus Realm from the intense rail riding. No one on social media could stop talking about Snail’s set and the slew of bangers he provided. Excision & Zeds Dead obviously took the show for having the most intense visuals/light show, it was absolutely breathtaking and nothing short of an amazing experience for many people from inside and outside the country. Excision displayed many of his famous, badass visuals and Zeds Dead melted our faces with an amazing tracklist, beautiful light show with crazy pyrotechnics followed by a dazzling display of fireworks.
Come the following morning, goers were treated to the news that the final night had received over 100 noise complaints. Though people laughed, as the complaints had come in after the event and ended, and noise readings throughout the city indicated the event had not exceeded any limits thus meaning a total success. If you missed out on this year… you messed up. Who knows what next year has to offer, but this is for sure. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT.
Photography and recap by Ben Nicholls and Carlos Gonzalez
See the entire photo album at : https://www.facebook.com/pg/Dub3ra/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1571405322893887